2021 MVP and OBE
Big week, and unusually long post here. Normally I use my last blog of the calendar year to announce my MVP, but this year I have something special for next week, so at the end of this post will be the MVP, runners up, and details.
But before I get into it, obviously the news that Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope may be sold rocked our world this week. Obviously when a company that size makes news that big, it can shake things up and this sure did. My take is that this leak was no accident, the news was dropped out there for a reason; this isn’t 2007 anymore (when I broke the story of Oldcastle buying Vistawall) and people are great at keeping things silent, unless they don’t want to do so.
There’s not a lot of people who can step up and spend billions for a company, and in our industry there’s probably only two true candidates, one of which I just don’t see happening and the other would be the ultimate ending of years-long rumors of their desire to be a force in North America. After that, it’s more conglomerates or private equity.
My feeling is, you either see this deal completed quickly and the news leak was meant to tighten it up, or we won’t see movement for a while and news was meant to spur some action. My ears are to the ground, and we’ll see what happens next but no doubt this spiced up a very mellow year-end news cycle.
ICYMI: From the Fabricator Podcast
Quick reminder if you missed my podcast from last week―please check it out. The reactions to all three guests have been great and I’ve enjoyed the feedback. Thank you again for the support!
MVP Hall of Fame
Now on to my annual Most Valuable Person in the industry awards.
For those new to this blog; each year as the calendar wraps up, I announce the winner and runners up of my industry MVP award. This recognition is something I created back in 2013 to show my appreciation for those folks and companies who are always pushing for the best in our industry. What I am looking at is people and companies that are active in the industry at the trade and technical levels. Folks that are always promoting glass and glazing and are constantly hustling to push the greatness of what we do to the forefront.
As a look back, here are the wonderful and talented people who have been recognized previously in this program and pretty much all of them are still very active in advancing the glass world.
Note: I like spreading the recognition, so I won’t be repeating anyone ye,- though many of these runners up are easily MVP caliber every year.
2013
Winner
Tracy Rogers
Runners up
Tom Culp
Mark Silverberg
Ed Zaucha
Mic Patterson
Oliver Stepe
Dr. Helen Sanders
Scott Thomsen
2014
Winner
C.R. Laurence
Runners up
John Wheaton
Rick Wright
Tom O’Malley
Bernard Lax
2015
Winner
Jon Kimberlain
Runners up
Garret Henson
Walker Glass
Dip Tech
Kris Vockler
2016
Winner
Chuck Knickerbocker
Runners Up
Mike Albert- S Albert Glass
Thom Zaremba / Urmilla Jokhu-Sowell
SAPA
2017
Winner
Joe Erb
Runners Up
GCI, Podcast
Darijo Babic
Cathie Saroka
Walker Glass
2018
Winner
Nathalie Thibault
Runners Up
Felix Munson
Jeff Haber
Glenn Miner/Rob Struble
Greg Oehlers
2019
Winner
Bill Sullivan
Runners Up
Courtney Little
Scott Rowe / Rowe Fenestration
Syndi Sim
Dustin Anderson
2020
Winner
Tim Kelley
Runners Up
Casey Anderson
Sam Hill
Bill & Keith Daubmann
Now on to 2021… and this was an insanely challenging year because I think I met and really learned from more people this year than normal thanks to my podcast and from having amazing friends like Andrew Haring who always introduces me to the best of the best.
MVP 2021: Runners Up
A combination of Dr. Kayla Natividad and Kyle Sword, NSG Pilkington
I really loved the way these two people burst onto my radar this year and their dedication to education and industry support was incredible. They both brought great energy as well, which I totally love. Seriously talented duo that were involved at the trade level, but active wherever they could be with speaking roles and other appearances. (Like they had Hollywood booking agents, especially Kyle― seemed like he was on every energy-related panel going, which is a good thing).
The best interests of our industry as a whole were an obvious priority whenever they did speak, and that was huge for me. Also, super nice folks too who really get the vibe of this industry.
Adrian Lowenstein, Skyline Windows
I also only met Adrian this year, and he’s been a force. I believe 2021 is just scratching the surface of what he’s going to do to support our industry and efforts.
His lessons on LinkedIn are now stuff of legends (I learn every single time) and the positive exposure he’s brought to our space has been fantastic and appreciated. Whenever you can get all parties of the chain commenting in the same thread on the best approach to a curtain wall (or some other relevant subject) it’s a win. Great guy, but he’s so popular now that I think I have to go through his secretary’s assistant to say hi or to reach him. Lol. Just joking, very happy to make this connection and love what Adrian did in our space in 2021!
Tom Jackson, Steel Encounters
Just had him on my podcast and if you listen/watch you’ll know why he’s on this list. Tremendous man and asset to our industry, and the work he was a part of to get the Utah Glass Association up and going was awesome.
He has shared so many great lessons and tactics that others probably would not (out of fear of competition) but Tom put the good of the overall industry first and that earns him this spot. Plus, the work his company does is awesome and deserves recognition too; it makes our industry shine! Also, like the others listed on this page, incredibly nice guy too.
2021 MVP
And now to our winner of the 2021 Glass Industry MVP Award…or I should say winner as for the first time it’s a duo taking home the top honor here. Congratulations to Matt Kamper of Alliance Glazing and Steve Dean of Permasteelisa!
2021 MVPs Matt Kamper and Steve Dean
So why Matt and Steve?
These two guys have dedicated so much of their free time to the betterment of the industry in their leadership of the NGA’s installing committee that it’s really blown me away. And they do it with so much in mind, including beyond what happens with the glazier. They see the entire picture and they have been active in trying to get everyone to widen that scope as well.
They are dedicated to the betterment of what we do and how we do it. They work in tandem to bring great insight to the committee then beyond. The care and passion they both bring is impressive. To me their personalities and approaches are different, but they mesh well together and at the end of the day get the important work of that committee done. I have been involved as they work to make the meetings and conferences as valuable as possible for the attendees―that’s a hard task with so many divergent interests, but these two have gotten it done. Also, side note, if they were a wrestling tag team, their manager bringing them to the ring would be NGA’s Jenni Chase―she’s surely a big part of being able to get the vision these two talents bring out into the masses. Great work and congrats to Matt and Steve, you guys are deserving winners of this award!
So, there you have it… 2021’s awards are in the book. Congrats to everyone here, and also those who were noted in the past who keep rocking every single day, it is appreciated! Next week I’ll end 2021’s run with a special start to the blog and some news and views catch up…
