A Salute to an Incredible Career

Happy New Year!  Hope the season was smooth for everyone.  Big and great year ahead! However, one thing that will be different in 2025 is that a huge person in my life and this industry will no longer be in the day-to-day churn for the first time in 45+ years.  At the end of 2024, my brother Steve retired. 

In a year that featured massive retirements, this one loomed the largest for me.  My brother’s career has been beyond stellar, and his influence on our space is immense.  So, I wanted to take a bit to recognize and salute this all, as he deserves serious props.   My brother always wanted to be in the industry.  When he was in elementary school, he drew a picture of a building with windows and put on there that when he grew up, he wanted to be a “glass jobber” – he had caught the family bug early (it took me 22 years to catch it- not Steve, he had it from birth) and it was his destiny.  The pull of this business was so strong that after one year at the University of Miami (FL) he came home to Pittsburgh to finish school and work with our Father at Perilstein Distributing Corp. (Also known as PDC or “Perilstein” and is now a location of Trulite, where many who worked with our family are still employed) Who leaves Miami at 18 to come back to Pittsburgh?  Someone who loves this business, that’s for sure. 

My brother grew quickly, and his energy and drive launched PDC forward and changed the industry.  In the early 80s, customers had to wait weeks for tempered glass, and often, that tempered glass was of the “hung” variety that featured unsightly tong marks.  My brother saw that as a problem and went about delivering the solution.  He went out and bought a tempering oven and determined and demanded that tempered could be provided much much quicker- like the next day if needed!  That was NOT common back then like it is now.  That move changed our company's trajectory and impacted the industry, and many others in the region followed suit.  Over the years, as our father reduced his role, my brother stepped up more.  He kept expanding and growing, finding new products and partners. One vendor called him a “visionary,” and while my brother laughed at that- it was a proper description.   In addition, he kept developing people.  That was one massively underrated thing about my brother- his ability to recognize and foster talent was second to none.  Truly a gift.  Another gift?  No one can sell like him.  Yes, I am biased, but I do think, given a few minutes, he could sell snow in the Arctic. 

The next step was after we sold the company and joined in with the Silverstein’s at Arch Aluminum.  It was there that my brother had an opportunity to work with locations and people all over the US, and it was there that his influence reached its peak.  He got to work with many who are now amongst the best in our industry, and that combo was magic. Then, in his final chapter, my brother bought into WA Wilson in West Virginia and grew that company the same way he did at PDC.  He was back to his roots with a nimble single location, and it fit him like a glove, and Wilson experienced off-the-charts success. 

Retiring won’t be easy, and I don’t expect him to go fishing.  (Many who know him will chuckle at that comment) He’ll surely stay active with some consulting, and that’s a good thing, as that means his skills can go to good use!  In closing- from a more personal side, I got into this industry when my brother asked me to “give it a shot…it’s in your blood,” and he was right.  My life is tremendous because I’m in this industry and that’s because of his initial push to get me here- so I am grateful there.  So please join me in congratulating Steve on an epic run in this industry and a great next chapter to come- no matter what he does!

Love you Bro!

Elsewhere…

-- Big health scare with one of the best people in our space- Rob Struble of Vitro.  At the end of the year, Rob had a heart attack but thankfully got medical attention in time; a 95% blockage was cleared, and he is recovering well now.  I am so glad Rob is OK and wish him a continued easy recovery and truly now a happy and HEALTHY 2025!! (On a marketing note- with how brilliant Rob is marketing-wise, I can only wonder what ideas he had come up with while under anesthesia during surgery- we’ll surely see!)

-- Right before the holidays Vetrotech ceased operations in North America.  Very tough timing for those who worked there- though I am pretty hopeful that the reps and others there will find new employment soon (if they have not already).  As for the business aspect, the question was whether this resulted from a slowing economy or something else.  Personally, I don’t see this as a slow business call, but obviously, I am not privy to why- I just think that while things have been tougher for many, the next step of shuttering operations is still a little further off. (In my coming predictions for 2025, I’ll cover that more.)

-- Last this week- did you catch the Wall Street Journal’s report on glass used in schools for security?  It was a heck of a read for many reasons.  You may be able to read it HERE, but it was behind a paywall (not sure if it still is) so if you’re interested and can’t see it let me know and I can send you a gift link.  The headline was:

“Schools Squander Millions on ‘Bullet-Proof’ Glass.  It Doesn’t Work”

The body of the story, though, focused predominantly on how film on glass doesn’t work. And that is something we’ve all talked about here forever. In our industry, we have many vendors making incredible glass makeups that meet and exceed standards and can keep students and teachers safe. We will continue to promote that fact so we don’t get stuck in the same messaging about products that are not as good.

(NOTE! There will be a “School Security” Workshop at the NGA Glass Conference: Carlsbad.  You need to be there if you are anywhere near this business segment. Kudos to Urmilla Sowell and the team on this one!)

By the way, some of the comments below that article were wild, including one person who suggested putting glass “with the wires in it” in all schools to keep people out. I am sure some of our key code people would have a field day with that one.

LINKS of the WEEK

Thankfully, Murder Hornets are now eradicated. Whew.

https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/murder-hornets-eradicated-in-us-agriculture-officials-say/

Always happy to share the clutch dog story!

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/missing-dog-returned-family-home-rang-doorbell-117151243

One thing I just learned?  The Bald Eagle was not officially the USA’s national bird until recently.  Wow.

https://www.npr.org/2024/12/18/nx-s1-5231827/bald-eagles-national-bird

PROJECT of the WEEK

I am a big Mitch Hawkins fan (I wonder when the next season of his pod with Matthew Krier is coming out), so when I saw this one, I knew this had to be a project of the week here.  This is a job almost completed in Morristown, NJ.  Beautiful glass on here and Viracon crushed it!  According to Mitch’s post, it is VE-48 and was installed by County Glass & Metal Installers Inc. Kudos to all involved- as when this is done and landscaped, it’s going to be really special.  Good work folks!!

MVP, Runners Up, and Year End Podcast

Here we are… the last scheduled post of 2024.  This year did go by quickly, and I am glad about that. I am more than ready for 2025.  Bring it on!  On this post, I have a new podcast episode, another tease, and then we get into the 2024 MVP race and results.  First up, my annual year-ending solo podcast, and this time it features 2019 MVP Bill Sullivan of Brin Glass.  Bill announced his retirement this year, so this was a good way to catch up with him and talk about his career, industry advice, and what’s next.  Class act as always, and I am glad I got to chop it up with him.  Check it out, and thank you so much for the support- the growth of the podcast has been mind-blowing.

VIDEO

AUDIO (And you can search for “From the Fabricator” wherever you get your podcasts.

Thank you to FHC- Frameless Hardware Company for supporting this episode!

Elsewhere…

-- Before we move on- another big retirement went down recently, but I am saving that one for the first post of the new year.  What a year for significant folks in our industry moving into that next phase. (Bill, Mike Synon, Terry Hessom, Stanley Yee, Nicole Harris, and probably a few others I missed)  Congrats to all!

-- MVP.  Here we go… So many people made major impacts this year, and narrowing down the list was tough.  But I did it, and I think we have some very deserving people ready for recognition.  Remember, this is my annual contest, and I am looking at people who volunteer their time and efforts to support the industry AND/OR lift the industry with innovation and advancements.  I have named people and companies to this list in the past 13 years and tried to mix it up amongst styles and personalities.  That all said, here goes…

The Runners Up for the 2024 Glass Industry MVP Award were all “dynamic duos.”  I have 3 sets of people who brought it day in and day out.

Joey and Matt Aragon- Aragon Construction.

These two for me popped on the radar a few years ago and from that moment they have been truly on fire in our space.  Both guys have stepped up at the NGA level to volunteer time and insight.  Matt’s interview with the architect Keith Fine earlier in the year at BEC was a showstopper. Joey’s continued focus on helping the installation committee at NGA and building the BEC program has been invaluable.  They’ve also supported many other “good for the industry” approaches that aren’t super beneficial to their company- so I love that lack of selfishness.   They are also incredibly nice guys, always with a smile and warm greeting, and they cut me slack when my mush brain calls them by the wrong brother's name. (And seriously, I know the difference, but count on me to screw that up here and there)  In any case- great young guys kicking tail in their own business and industry!

Cal Beyer-SAFE Project and Dave Argus-Karas & Karas Glass.

You may say whoa Max, Cal is “not” an official industry person, but I’d reply that his care for our space and specifically the people in our space easily makes him a part of us. These two have stepped up educating our industry on the health and wellbeing aspect of things- from positive mental states to drug addiction, etc- showing that there can be a path for folks who’ve run into trouble. The compassion there is enormous and needed. From a personality standpoint, you can’t beat what these two bring.  Cal is a wonderful, classy and caring human, and Dave is truly a tremendous one of kind guy.  Having them out and active in our industry not only makes our industry better, but our world too.  

Carolyn and Michael Spellman- IGE Glass Technologies

Many out there will say- of course Max chose them, he loves them.  Yep.  I do.  They’ve been great to me, so I have my bias.  But the facts are that these two changed our industry with how they brought and revolutionized machinery in our world.  And they continue to do so.  This year, they brought more groundbreaking machinery and material (and don’t sleep on VacuGask with VIG gaining steam) to our world, and all of it is primed to make us better. That is a big key.  We need to always be improving efficiencies and offerings because it’s a tough world out there and standing still isn’t a winning play.  And obviously, “standing still” is not part of the IGE or Spellman vocabulary.

And now to our winner this year.  No duo, but a solo choice and one quite overdue, really. Here goes…

The winner of the 2024 Glass Industry MVP is 

Julie Schimmelpenningh of Eastman.  Julie is the OG.  Flat out what she’s done and CONTINUES to do is amazing.  Julie is tireless, and her care and drive for her work in this industry are unmatched.  This year, like many before, saw Julie involved in major technical items, all of which are crucial to our industry.  The laminated space, where Julie is embedded, has grown dramatically with the needed push for school (and other) security and the influx of bird-friendly, so having someone who is a positive & fair influencer in these areas is huge. As a resource, there is no one better- true brilliance in all things lami and given her volunteering, she’s sharing that knowledge.  Also, Julie deserves major props for the fact that once upon a time, she was either the only woman in a meeting or one of a few.  Those days could not have been easy, but Julie being so good, so driven, that was not going to stop her.  And thankfully, it didn’t because our space is so much better off thanks to her.  So there ya go.  2024, your Glass Industry MVP is Julie Schimmelpenningh!  CONGRATS!!

That’s it for 2024 on the blog and podcast! So, to close it out, I just wanted to first off THANK all of you who read, listen, and watch my content.  I am grateful for that. It never ever gets old when I hear someone say that each Sunday they read the blog or note they’ve checked out the pod.  I truly appreciate that.  Next, to all of you- a happy and HEALTHY 2025!  I know for many, 2024 was a bit rocky, but I am confident in a better year for all ahead!! See you then!

LINKS of the WEEK

Modern-day “Golden Girls” – could this be a new trend?

https://www.businessinsider.com/family-and-friend-built-compound-home-to-grow-old-cost-2024-12

Somehow this read on an EV Owner bringing their car in for a check up was riveting to me.  Just between the dealer and costs etc- I couldn’t stop.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2024/12/08/kia-ev9s-first-service-cost/76700999007/

AI being put to use to curb phone scammers.  Let’s go!

https://www.npr.org/2024/12/10/nx-s1-5220362/daisy-ai-granny-o2-fraud-spam-prevention

PROJECT of the WEEK

And since I am singing Julie’s praises and noting Eastman, why not put them in the spotlight for Project of the Week? This is Milton Elementary School, featuring a nice range of Eastman Vanceva colors, as fabricated by the folks at Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope. Nice work—it's a great-looking school. Kudos to all involved!!

BIG News

By now, you may have seen or heard that the President and CEO of the National Glass Association, Nicole Harris, announced her retirement.  This is massive industry news since Nicole is the leading figure in our space, and her work over her career has been crucial for the industry and many of us in it.  Nicole noted she will wrap it all up in June of 2025, so as that gets closer, I’ll be writing something more in-depth as a tribute. Needless to say she was the ultimate in game changers. But for now, it’s just taking it all in (I was stunned when I initially heard) and being grateful for all Nicole has done for me, my family, and our industry.  These will not be easy shoes to fill, that is for sure! Congrats, Nicole, on all, and if you missed her announcement- it can be found here: https://www.glass.org/news/2024/my-third-act-message-nicole-harris

 Elsewhere…

-- Next week, in this space, I will announce the 2024 Glass Industry MVP Award winner, along with the runners-up for the year. I started this program in 2013 to give recognition to folks/companies who go above and beyond for our space, and it’s been a great mix of people & companies from far and wide in our space.  Below is the list of past winners and past runners-up.  My goal is never to repeat any, and I think once again this year, I’ll be successful in that effort.  I admire everyone on this list in one way or another, and I appreciate all they have done and, in many cases, continue to do. I’m excited to unveil who gets the nod in 2024 next week!

Starting with the past winners- your previous MVP’s were: 

2013- Tracy Rogers

2014- CR Laurence

2015- Jon Kimberlain

2016- Chuck Knickerbocker

2017- Joe Erb

2018- Nathalie Thibault

2019- Bill Sullivan

2020- Tim Kelley

2021- Matt Kamper and Steve Dean

2022- Jodi Martinez

2023- Ron Crowl

And the long list of previous Runners Up:

Tom Culp, Mark Silverberg, Ed Zaucha, Mic Patterson, Oliver Stepe, Dr. Helen Sanders, Scott Thomsen, John Wheaton, Rick Wright, Tom O’Malley, The late great Bernard Lax, Garret Henson, Walker Glass, Dip Tech, Kris Vockler, Mike Albert, Thom Zaremba , Urmilla Jokhu-Sowell, SAPA, GCI, Darijo Babic, Cathie Saroka, Felix Munson, Jeff Haber, Glenn Miner, Rob Struble, Greg Oehlers, Courtney Little, Scott Rowe, Rowe Fenestration, Syndi Sim, Dustin Anderson, Casey Anderson, Sam Hill, Bill Daubmann, Keith Daubmann, Dr. Kayla Natividad, Kyle Sword, Adrian Lowenstein, Tom Jackson, Stanley Yee, Chris Phillips, Frameless Hardware Company- FHC Matt Day, Tyler Faulk, Brandon Bellegarde, Jennifer Lang 

So there you go- next week, we’ll know who’s on the list for 2024!

-- ICYMI, the latest From the Fabricator pod, is out.  This one is getting a lot of play, especially with a lot of future-focused conversation from Scott Smith at LTS and Conley Oster & Gary Chen of Raise Robotics.  Product insight from Scott got people going and the possibilities of Raise indeed had an impact.  I love the feedback, as always, and I also should’ve noted thanks to Thomas Cornellier of TSI Corporations for introducing me to Conley and Raise.  Very cool to be on the cutting edge!!

VIDEO

AUDIO (Or search “From the Fabricator” on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts)

Once again, this episode was sponsored by the fine folks at FHC! Thank you to them for the support.  Note- NEXT WEEK will be the annual year-end podcast, which is always a solo effort with one major newsmaker/influencer, and I am very excited about that one.  Please stay tuned, and thanks again for checking it all out!

-- The NGA Member spotlight this week focused on Northwest Glass in Iowa.  I was unaware of their challenge from a brutal food this past summer. 

This sums it up: On June 22, 2024,  70% of our City of Spencer was flooded with 7' of water in a national disaster.  In a 10-week period, Northwest Glass alongside their employees cleared debris and cleaned four 3,200 square foot buildings and were able to reopen our doors to help the local residents and businesses get re-opened and moved back into their homes. Northwest Glass lost 100% of inventory, 9 company vehicles, all computers and files and yet we refused to give up. We had to replace all the sheetrock, wiring, computer wires, flooring; it was a complete gut job for all four buildings. We are proud to reopen without much assistance. We do have a GoFundMe account set up and appreciate any industry support. 

As an industry, we always step up for others- so please check it out and support and to learn more about the great people at Northwest – here’s the NGA piece: https://www.glass.org/member-spotlight/northwest-glass-llc

-- Glass Magazine review time… the latest issue with the cover on D10 is a good one. Good coverage from GlassBuild and the obvious focus on Division 10 lead the way, but of course, I have my favorites.  The fantastic Mary Avery of Tubelite/EFCO/Alumicor & Linetec delivered a great piece on door construction. My guy, Devin Bowman of Technical Glass Products and AD Systems, provided a tremendous resource on the future of glazing.  I always have been a fan of Devin’s, and stuff like this is why.  (Also a very cool dude too)

Ad of the month continues always to be challenging to pick a winner on, but this month, the title goes to PRL for their clean and sharp piece that had the right mix of text and imaging and smart use of the QR code.  Good job to the team at PRL on this one!

-- Last this week… If you are lucky enough to be in the right seat and right flight, you could be served “Shake Shack” food on your next Delta flight.  That would surely make the flight go faster, right?  If any road warriors get lucky enough to experience this, please let me know.  Can’t wait to hear how it is!

LINKS of the WEEK

This is wild. It's a forgotten/hidden street in Scotland.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly2l119zlpo

Good warning if you have a PC

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2024/12/01/microsoft-windows-warning-do-not-install-this-app-on-your-pc/

Every year on Thanksgiving in the US there’s always multiple fires caused by people trying to cook their turkeys in different ways. (Deep frying usually)  This time a 4 million dollar home went up in flames.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/4m-connecticut-mansion-burns-down-181726190.html

PROJECT of the WEEK

I’ve always been a fan of the work that Bagatelos Architectural Glass Systems does, and this one surely fits the bill.  Here’s the details:

BAGS provided over 120,000 sq ft of bespoke curtain wall façade for the Berkeley Commons campus. The curtain wall includes 16’ insulated glass units and Terracotta tiles integrated into the curtain walls.

Good stuff, and kudos to the always classy Chris Bagatelos and team there- as well as everyone who collaborated and supplied!