teve Rowe, co-owner of Swalling General Construction, says he was “blindsided” when Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Alaska Executive Director Alicia Kresl announced he was selected by AGC staff as the 2025 Stan Smith Volunteer of the Year at November’s Dinner Dance, the capstone event of AGC’s annual conference.
“It was awesome,” Rowe says. “There are so many members and companies and so many people doing great things in the state for AGC, and they only give one award out a year. So it’s truly an honor to even be considered for that, and then to win it is something really special.”
Kresl told Dinner Dance attendees that it is Rowe who brings something special to AGC.
“This person is always willing to lend a hand and will come into the office or give us a call with four simple—but very meaningful—words: ‘What do you need?’” she said in remarks preceding her announcement. “Not only do they participate in the committees and events that we already have on the books, but they come to AGC staff with additional ideas for not just helping our industries but also helping our community.”
Rowe’s been part of the industry for twenty-six years, starting when his mother, a construction accountant in Hawaii, got the “rambunctious” 18-year-old a job as a laborer. After four years building houses and running excavators, Rowe returned to Alaska, where he spent time at Watterson Construction. “They pretty much taught me just about everything,” he says. Rowe went on to work at SNC-Lavalin, Cornerstone General Contractors, and Swalling General Contractors.
“I worked all the way from a laborer to a carpenter foreman,” Rowe says.
When Rowe, Paul Swalling, and Brian Van Abel took over Swalling General Contractors in 2016, he traded his carpenter bags for a desk job and began handling the company’s operations. The transition, while bittersweet, meant Rowe could devote more time to AGC.
“I’d always wanted to get more involved, but I kind of had to be the ‘guy in the chair’ to become some of those things,” he says.
Rowe has become so involved that it takes him a beat to remember every AGC committee he’s involved in. He’s a member of the safety and legislative affairs committees, helps organize the annual Sporting Clays Shoot, and—his favorite—spearheads AGC’s Toys for Tots drive, encouraging members and member organizations to donate cash or toys to the efforts.
Rowe says working so closely with AGC has given him greater insight into the extent of the organization’s efforts to support Alaska’s construction industry and how “our voice becomes louder” when working together.
“There is this whole other side to AGC that people don’t see, and the things that they do,” he says. “We’re in Juneau every year, and Alicia is always making testimonies and statements, and we’re fighting for what makes the construction industry as a whole stronger. We need help on so many issues, and the more people we have that can join in and get our hands dirty, so to speak, helps.”