The time has arrived to award the 2015 Industry MVP and for
the 2nd year in a row, my choice happened to be involved in a
billion dollar deal. Though this time the
deal came before I named the winner, but still… nice to be associated with mega
world changing events! So my latest
recipient is a gentleman that I believe met every parameter that I had
envisioned. He is extremely involved at
the trade level, leading GANA’s largest division and biggest event. He also sits on the board at NACC, the
glazing certification effort that I believe is very important to the future of
our industry. Our winner also has
written some excellent educational articles and presented on some seriously
large stages. His company is active in
the industry, involved in the various shows and conferences. So with that said, our winner this year is
Jon Kimberlain of Dow Corning. To me
this is much deserved recognition of an excellent and dedicated industry
player. Another key attribute? Jon is extremely likable. His personality
allows him to deal with all styles of people, and as we know this industry
surely runs the gamut on that. So
congrats to Jon and to our runners up as well. I will say every year as I do this process I
find more and more amazing people, which makes this decision so much harder but
also excites me that we’ve got talent and skill to keep moving this industry
forward.
Elsewhere…
-- So the giant deal of Dow and Dupont hit this week and now we
wait and see for the effect on our industry.
The big part for us, in my opinion, is Dow Corning goes from being a
50/50 deal between Dow and Corning to a part of this deal, and so what happens
then to the culture of the current company.
As noted above, Dow Corning is a very active company in our world, and
that changing would have a negative feel for sure. So it’s a wait and see with regards to this,
hopefully like CRL showed, you can be a part of a major deal and still be
active out there. Obviously the other
thing to watch is the typical items in deals like this: Service, support, and potential talent
disruption- does it get better, worse,
stay the same? We’ll see…
-- Another good list to review; this is the top 5 Real Estate
markets to watch in 2015. Here goes:
5- Atlanta- I am surprised given the amount of inventory I
always assumed was out there. So
evidently that must be getting snapped up and growth is on the horizon.
4- Seattle- Lot’s of industry and growth and powerful corps
like Amazon and Microsoft I am assuming.
3- Charlotte- So evidently this area is really bouncing back
strong after all of the bank mergers and issues of the recession.
2- Austin- May be “weird” but is obviously a red-hot area to
be in
1- Dallas-Ft Worth- Well this area is rolling. Cost of living index is still on low side,
and it’s a business friendly region. As
we’ve seen in the glass industry with several players either opening and/or
expanding there, it’s hot.
-- Normally this would be my video of the week, but it’s too
good to have there. A great parody of
the Adele song “Hello” set to life as a salesperson. So true in so many ways.
-- Last this week… so this is the last post of 2015, unless of
course something major happens. It’s
been a wild year overall and one that absolutely just flew by. With my first post of 2016, I’ll look back at
the year and the predictions I made for it.
That should be fun. In the
meantime, it is my sincere wish to all of you for the happiest of holiday
seasons (Including the wrap up of Hanukah ending now) and a HEALTHY and
prosperous new year! See you on the
other side. Thanks for reading!!
LINKS of the WEEK
-- I guess this is a very popular idea… name a cockroach after
an ex?
-- Seriously bad soccer sportsmanship. Though I will say when my favorite team of
all time (Anchor Bay HS Girls Soccer) lost a title game in PK’s I would’ve been
all for them doing this to win!
-- The lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots Scott Weiland passed
away this week- he battled some serious demons and his ex wife and family wrotean amazing piece asking not to glorify the tragedy
VIDEO of the WEEK
Looks like Thursday night I will be in a packed theater
watching the latest Star Wars with my son.
While I want to see this- I did not want to be there opening night… I am
not a crowds sort of guy any more… oh well, should be memorable!
1 comment:
Congratulations to Jon Kimberlain! You certainly put forth a great effort for the industry in 2015 and well deserving of MVP status. Time to get excited about another great year in 2016.
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