In 1991, Mike and his wife Colleen opened Sutter Masonry. Mike lives the “Givers Gain” philosophy in both his personal and professional life. Mike’s greatest gift to the industry is the investment of his time and service to our state and national masonry associations.

Mike has been a member of the Arizona Masonry Contractors Association since 1994 and a board member since 1995. He has served as President, Vice President, and Treasurer and Apprenticeship Committee Chair. In fact, he played a pivotal role in getting the apprenticeship program up and running in Arizona. In addition to serving on numerous committees such as Certification and the Regional Fastest Trowel Competition. He also served as Chairman of the Golf and Safety Committee.

Mike has also been a member of the Arizona Masonry Guild since 1995 and a board member since 2000. During his involvement in both associations, he has chaired many committees and participated in the development and implementation of many AMCA and AMG initiatives and programs.

Mike is very passionate about workforce development for the industry. In 2017, Mike’s passion for recruiting our next generation of mason led him to form a partnership with the Construction Trades Program at West-MEC’s Verrado Campus. In typical Sutter style, Mike offered to provide an experienced mason to work with students during the masonry unit only if the school was willing to increase the length of instruction time from 2 weeks to 8 weeks - the school agreed. Mike Gray from Sutter Masonry along with Mike Sutter spent most of August and September of 2017 working with the 1st and 2nd-year construction students. Sutter Masonry’s investment of time in that program has paid off! In the October 2017 Masonry Skills, Mike’s West-MEC students swept the competition taking 9 of the 10 top spots in the high school division. Sutter Masonry also sponsored the top 3 West-MEC students and their instructor to attend the Masonry Madness Day during the World of Concrete/World of Masonry Convention in Las Vegas. In addition, 6 of the students applied for and were accepted into AMCA’s Central Masonry Apprenticeship Program and had jobs waiting for them when they graduated.

Over the last few years, Mike has played a pivotal role in the industry’s lobbying efforts at the state capital. His testimony during various legislative committee hearings has helped prevent bills from going into effect that would have been detrimental for our industry. Mike’s participation in stakeholder meetings for House Bill 2114 Declaration of Independent Business Status during the 2016 legislative session led to the construction industry being carved out of the bill. Without this change, the practice of misclassification of employees as independent contractors in the construction industry would have become even more widespread than it is today and make it more challenging for companies who comply with the state and federal regulations and laws to compete on a level playing field.

More recently, Mike has been the driving force behind the development of a new funding program which will be a “game changer” for the masonry industry throughout the entire state. When launched, the program would establish an Arizona Masonry Council and finally provide the financial resources to move our industry from its traditional reactive position to being a proactive industry.

Those are just a few of Mike’s contributions to our industry at the state level. But his contributions do not stop there. Over the years, he has made a number of contributions to the industry at the national level.

In January 2018, Mike completed his term as Chairman of the Mason Contractors Association of America and Colleen as First Lady of the Masonry Industry. Although his term as Chairman was only two years, he served a total of eight years on the MCAA Executive Committee, and that does not include his years of service as Region G Vice President and Arizona State Chair prior to that.

During his term as Chairman, Mike and Colleen spent numerous hours away from their company in order to travel to various MCAA chapters and other masonry state associations meeting and events. This was all done at their own expense.

During his tenure as Chairman, MCAA went from a membership of 620 members to 930 members - which set the recorded for the largest growth in membership in any two year period in MCAA’s history.

Under his leadership, MCAA also developed a Silica Train-the-Trainer Compliance program for members. MCAA has trained over 520 trainers across the US. MCAA estimates that these trainers have since trained close to 3,000 masonry employees since the program was launched in early 2017.

Mike also played a vital role in deciding to bring MASONRY magazine back “in house” under MCAA after a period of 20 years. This move will allow MCAA to more effectively communicate its message and has had a significant impact on membership recruitment and many other initiatives.

As Chairman, Mike oversaw MCAA’s purchase of the Masonry Design publication which is targeted to the design community and will provide MCAA with the means to communicate the advantages and benefits of designing with masonry products and systems.

Mike also pursued the goal of securing MCAA state chairs in every state. He reached a high number of State Chairs, and as a result, the participation level of the state chairs has increased significantly during his term.

Mike initiated the development of employee onboarding videos for members in order to continue to add value for members. These videos will be safety driven and will be free for members to use to train their new employees and prepare them within a day for going onto the job-site.

In February 2018, Mike was the first recipient of the Clem Hellmann Leadership Award, which was established to honor the memory of Clem who passed away in October of 2017. The Clem Hellmann Leadership Award recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions to the masonry community through leadership of and involvement in initiatives that have resulted in industry-wide impact.

Despite his success, he still is very grounded and humble. He is the first to credit his extraordinary team for their support which over the years enabled him to be so actively involved in the state and national masonry associations and know that everything back at the office is in good hands. This team is lead by his partner in life and business - Colleen Sutter; his daughter, Aimee who has become an integral part of the Sutter Masonry organization; and his brother Jack who has worked with Mike since the beginning of Sutter Masonry.

When he is asked what he does for a living, Mike doesn’t say he owns masonry company or that he sits on various boards and committees. He simply replies, “I’m a bricklayer.” To us and many of our counterparts across the country, Mike is much more than simply “a bricklayer.” Through his active involvement, leadership, and dedication to our industry, he has laid the foundation for many generations of block and bricklayers to come.

Opened Sutter Masonry, Inc. with his wife Colleen in 1991. Served as MCAA Arizona State Chairman, Region G Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Vice Chairman, and Chairman; AMCA Apprenticeship Committee Chairman, Safety Committee Chairman, Treasurer, Vice President, and President. Head judge for several national and state competitions. Played a pivotal role in the industry’s lobbying efforts at the state and national level. Driving force behind a funding program for the Arizona Masonry Council. Awarded Clem Hellmann Leadership Award in 2018 and C. DeWitt Brown Leadman Award in 2019. A leader whose dedication to our industry has laid the foundation for many generations of block and bricklayers to come.

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Roles

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