Adobe Stock Image | Mike Prandini comes from the accounting world, spending decades as the City of Clovis finance director before taking the helm at the Building Industry Association for Fresno/Madera Counties.

A familiar face to those in the local building industry will be retiring after nearly two decades of service.

Mike Prandini, president and CEO of the Building Industry Association (BIA) for Fresno/Madera Counties, will retire after 19 years on the job.

Born in 1955, Prandini is a Fresno native, growing up in east Fresno near Peach and Belmont avenues — then called the Clovis Joint Union High School district.

He graduated from Roosevelt High School, attended Fresno City College then went to Fresno State.

While in school, he worked at a Richfield Gas Station as a pump jockey, cleaning windows and checking oil and tire levels. Gas stations provided full service at a price of 29 cents a gallon.

Prandini, 78, has watched Fresno change over the decades. He still remembers when Fashion Fair Mall was a drive-in movie theater and going to Clovis meant “you were taking a trip.” And of course, houses were built.

“Everything has grown together, and things have improved,” Prandini said. “Times have changed, and populations have increased.”

He began his accountancy career at a local firm and was then hired as deputy finance director for the City of Clovis in 1971. He was promoted to finance director a year later and stayed in the position until 2004.

Prandini began his advocacy work for the BIA in 2004 and has been there ever since.

He considered retiring with the City of Clovis back then. However, he got word that the BIA CEO and president of the time, Jeff Harris, was leaving. Harris is now the chief operating officer at Wilson Homes

“I knew what was going on with the industry and what the issues were. I checked to see what the position was, and it sounded like something I could do, and I wouldn’t have to move or travel far,” he said.

Prandini said he has had a good experience working at the BIA, and learned a lot more than he ever thought he would.

He works with the California Building Industry Association and gets together with other executive officers to look at regulations and government affairs, watching for new regulations and laws with the potential to impact the building industry.

“It’s a constant effort on our part to pay attention to what’s going on at the state level, so we don’t get blindsided by unusual regulations or new laws,” Prandini said.

Builders are concerned with California Environmental Quality Act, he said, which was meant to protect the environment, but has now been weaponized to halt or delay construction projects.

Prandini said he hopes he added value to the BIA after nearly 20 years of service, and really enjoyed working there.

Darren Rose, executive director for the Madera County Economic Development Corp., will fill the president and CEO position starting June 1, but Prandini said he will be available for Rose to help.

Once retired, Prandini plans to do some work on his house, help his wife, who is bound to a wheelchair, with backyard planting and her flowers, travel and spend time with friends and family.

“It’s time for me,” Prandini said. “I put in my work and now I want enjoy the life I have left.”