Fourth General Vice President Billy Kenyon retires

On June 30, 2026, SMART Southwest Gulf Coast Regional Council President and Fourth General Vice President Billy Kenyon retired, bringing an end to a decades-long career spent serving fellow members.

Kenyon began his career doing a six-month pre-apprenticeship, prior to serving a four-year apprenticeship at SMART Local 54 in Houston, Texas. In a harbinger of things to come, he was awarded the outstanding apprentice award when he completed the program in 1996.

At the start of his journey in the trade, he was employed by various contractors, starting at an HVAC shop, then working at a spiral pipe shop, before finally moving to a heavy industrial shop where he continued working as a journeyperson.

In 2000, Local 54 was accepting applications for an organizing/marketing representative, so Kenyon applied and was appointed to the position. He served the local as an organizer for the next nine years. In June 2009, Brother Kenyon was elected by the Local 54 membership to the position of business representative. He also served on the Harris County AFL-CIO Executive Board from 2012 to 2019.

In 2012, he was elected to serve as Local 54’s business manager/financial secretary-treasurer and continued in that position until 2018. During that time, he was elected president of the Southwest District Council, where he served until the formation of the Southwest Gulf Coast Regional Council in 2016. Kenyon was appointed to the SMART General Executive Council on February 1, 2021, advancing to fourth general vice presi­dent before retiring.

“Since the first day I started working with Billy, he would always say, ‘Eddie, I just want to leave everything better than how I got it,’” said new Southwest Gulf Coast Regional Council President Eddie Gonzalez. “Well, my friend: Congrats! Mission accomplished!”