A truly GREAT state of Texas

Fun industry week as both the events in Texas and Washington D.C. were massively successful. Texas Glass Conference IV raised the bar again. From having 45 people and 4 sessions in 2017 to 155+ and 8 sessions, this event is on a rocket ship. I am honored to still be on it! Congratulations to the Board and Membership of the TGA for an awesome effort. Some highlights and people sightings…

Educationally a few moments stuck out. Jeff Wolfla on insurance, planning, and risk management was fabulous. Great speaker that left you with a lot to think about and implement. The Kyle Jones panel on new products was super and had the room buzzing, with some jaw droppers from “Stone Cold” Jeff Haber. You had to be there the next day to grasp the “Stone Cold” connection. Tyler Hall gathered a general contractor, developer, and architect and it was a stunning session filled with insight and followed by some excellent questioning on some ridiculous overreach by the consulting community. That subject could be a full day. Of course, the sessions were kicked off by legend Greg Oehlers enlightening all of us about the challenges of glass and glazing right now and solutions coming down the pike. Greg was also awarded the Lou Green Award which is a deserved recognition for his amazing contributions to our industry.  

As for the people side, Texas always delivers and so many cool folks made the trek to Austin. I loved visiting for a brief moment with Felix Munson Sr. and Dennis Bevans. Great people always and I’ll always appreciate their support. And on support, hard to ever quibble with how great the Country Glass team is when it comes to our world. Brian Risinger and Joe Lambertson are always classy and front and center and was cool to meet Brian’s impressive son Daleton.  

I only get to see the amazing Jacque Freeman of Binswanger at events like this- and that helps make it for me. She continues to crush it out there and I am so proud. Also on fire is Shelly Farmer of Pellucere. She’s moving that company forward with top skill.  

I always enjoy expanding the network, two new adds for me with getting to know Mark Vando of Reflection Glass and Robert Taylor of RT Drafting Services. It was an absolute trip to visit with Scott and Amy Bolton of the red-hot Bolton Glass. I have not seen Scott in many years and did not think I’d see him or Amy here. I figured GlassBuild with it being in Dallas, so that was a wonderful surprise. So happy for them! I also ran into James Stammers of Everlam, super to see him in this great new spot. 

A few others to mention including the Tristar pair of Erica Couch and Jack Wickstrom. I love how Tristar always supports. Great to visit with Greg Grothoff of GlassFab, Kyle Lamb of Universal Glass, Rick Newnom of HouTex Glass, and of course Sam and Chris Hill of Oak Cliff and Salient. Grateful for the time from them!  

Last a heartfelt thank you and congrats to Kyle Sharp from Sharp Glass for his work in setting this up and having me at this huge success of an event and Jennifer Fontana for all the organization. Great stuff! I’m more fired up than ever to return to Texas in the fall for GlassBuild!

Also to my friends in Houston, thinking about you all post storms. Hope all is OK and you get power back soon!

Elsewhere…

Glass and Glazing Advocacy Days

Glass and Glazing Advocacy Days was a huge win from all accounts. Quite a few high-level visits took place and serious dialogue at a few different levels make it a positive going forward. You know an event has touched people when they do their own LinkedIn posts and make goals on them. That happened. A lot! Kudos to the NGA and every volunteer who took the time to attend. Way to step up for the industry!

Best Presenter/Speaker

Last week I listed by “Best Presenters/Speakers” in the industry and I had a huge miss. I failed to list Syndi Sim of DFI. Syndi is an unreal presenter, tons of energy (shocking right, you follow her on LinkedIn and she seems bored… LOL LOL) and information in every approach and she has a very punchy delivery that sticks. Sorry Syndi for not having you on the original list! You deserve the recognition!

Architectural Billings Index

This week we’ll have the latest edition of the Architectural Billings Index. Last month was a shocking surprise with a brutal showing of 43.5. Break-even is 50 and previous month was 49, so we thought we were close. What happens this time? Given the rate debacle was still raging until this past week and a decent inflation report, I’m thinking more of the same. But we’ll see…. Until then we soldier on out there!

Welcome back to the industry

Good news, Bob Cummings is back in the glass fabrication side. Bob has joined on at Hartung and it’s a great fit. Bob is one of the best ever, and he knows that Hartung world and culture well. Hartung has brought in some super people between Paul Mahedy, Jeremy Hoy and now Bob they continue to move the needle. And on Bob, his hire had me thinking about my brother Steve’s “tree”, folks that were either brought forward in our industry or grew under the tutelage of my brother. It’s an impressive list and a legacy that my bro should be proud of, though he is the one that stuck all of you with me… so deduct a few points!

New pod next week

Last this week…if all goes well, I will have a new pod episode for you all next week. Two sets of guests with some subject matter I have never had before on my show, so that will be interesting. In June I’ll have my special 50th episode featuring Cal Beyer and Dave Argus covering the range of mental health and addiction awareness and support. That episode will be an amazing one for me, and may end up being a two-parter. Can’t wait! Thank you all for following and listens. Was neat to hear from Dorothy Gurka, the incredible lead at the Houston Area Glass Association tells me this week how she immediately played my current pod with Kyle Sharp, so awesome when I catch stuff like this.