The National Association of Home Builders’ Women’s Council recently announced its name change to Professional Women in Building (PWB) to best fit the council’s mission and reflect the profile of its members.

The new council name was officially approved by the NAHB Board of Director’s at the Fall Board meeting Oct. 3.

While the national council name change is not a mandate for state and local councils, several local councils in California, North Carolina and Oklahoma have adopted this name in recent years.

Established in 1955, PWB was primarily an auxiliary for builders’ wives. Today professional women make up more than 10 percent of the NAHB membership and 100 percent of council members.   PWB members are builders, architects and engineers, as well as related technical, marketing and sales professionals.

PWB supports these women through networking and educational opportunities, legislative awareness and outreach, and professional and personal development.

“In the last decade, we’ve seen more women successfully working in various areas of the industry,” said PWB Chair Karen Dry, who is also principal of the consulting firm Building Basics in Thousand Oaks, Calif. “As the demographics of our council membership changed, we evolved into a more professional organization and needed a name to reflect who we are and what we do.”

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce and are projected to account for 49 percent of the increase in total labor force growth through 2016. In addition, women-owned firms represent 30 percent of all U.S. businesses and between 1997 and 2004, the number of women-owned firms increased by 17 percent nationwide — twice the rate of all firms.

“We are so much more than luncheons and social meetings,” said Linda Hebert, PWB member and president of Diversified Marketing and Communications in Pleasanton, Calif. “We’re entrepreneurs and professionals in a male-dominated industry. I met many of the biggest industry builders through women in our council and quickly learned that this network is essential to my success.”

“When I started my business 10 years ago it was with accounts I got through the women in building network — and those projects helped increase my profitability,” said Hebert. “This organization also gives me the opportunity to help other women in grow their business. Lunch is truly just a side benefit.”

For additional information, visit www.nahb.org/womenschannel.

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ABOUT PROFESSIONAL WOMEN IN BUILDING: The Professional Women in Building Council is the voice of women in the building industry, dedicated to promoting industry professionalism and supporting our members at the local, state and national levels by offering networking and educational opportunities, legislative awareness and outreach, and professional and personal development.

ABOUT NAHB: The National Association of Home Builders is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing more than 200,000 members involved in home building, remodeling, multifamily construction, property management, subcontracting, design, housing finance, building product manufacturing and other aspects of residential and light commercial construction. Known as "the voice of the housing industry," NAHB is affiliated with more than 800 state and local home builders associations around the country. NAHB's builder members will construct about 80 percent of the new housing units projected for 2009.