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!

The Future + Free Education & More

I'm back at it, and I’ve got a new episode of the “From the Fabricator” podcast for you to take in. This time out, I start with Scott Smith of LTS.  He's a fascinating guy, and he had excellent thoughts on products past and present (and future), along with so many other takes that made that segment fly by.  Impressive guy with a great organization.  Thanks to Tim Boswell for making the recommendation to have Scott on!  Then I was joined by Conley Oster and Gary Chen of Raise Robotics.  These two are flat-out brilliant, and the robot they have developed for the installation side of the business is an absolute game changer.  Conley also asked for input/participation from glaziers, so if you’re interested, please hit him up or contact me, and I’ll get you connected.  Bottom line is these guys are doing something huge to help and change our world!  Thanks for checking it all out! 

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. 

Elsewhere…

-- HUGE news this past week with the NGA announcing that MyGlassClass.com classes will now be FREE for members.  That is awesome. Training is crucial, and NGA has developed and continues to develop world-class resources.  So, if you are a member- take advantage, and if you are not, you need to get on board and join now!

-- Also, from the NGA side of things… NGA Glass Conference: Carlsbad registration is now open. Urmilla Sowell and team always put together amazing events, and this of course will be more of the same.  It is the setting where technical guidelines get done, and the table gets set for issues that affect our space on a daily basis.  By attending, YOU get a voice in the process, and that is pretty valuable.  Learn more and register now at https://www.glass.org/event/nga-glass-conference-carlsbad

-- My admiration for the great Dr. Kayla Natividad of NSG Pilkington knows no bounds, and this past week, she did it again with a fantastic post from a viral video that showed a football fan accidentally breaking the glass in a handrail.  Kayla serves these sorts of things up all the time, and the community jumps in with great insight and opinion.  Here’s the link- check it out!

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kayla-natividad_glassinmedia-activity-7267020016867254273-Fh6Q?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

Also, I saw the movie “Wicked,” I now await Kayla’s report on that.  Lots of glass comes into play and especially some serious need for unique “bird?” friendly.  If/when you see it, you’ll get a laugh out of the “bird” comment and probably note some problematic code issues too…. LOL.

-- On my podcast noted above, Conley said that post-election things seem to perk up in the marketplace, and now the latest two econ reports backed that up- even though I think both of their appeals were probably more due to interest rate adjustments than being after the election (because of timing) but still I’ll take it.  The Architectural Billings Index was up into + territory for the first time in forever, and architects surveyed felt confident about 2025.  Nice.  The Dodge Momentum Index was also up 4%, led by a nice run in our non-residential space.  So, all nice to see, but I have heard from a few that would like to see things happen quicker to them in real life vs the indexes. Hopefully this keeps things moving that way!

-- Last this month…  do you know what the Top 10 retail chains are in America right now?  I have to admit I was surprised.. and you know me I love lists.. so let’s take a look.

10- Home Depot

9- Target

8- Aldi- Really surprising!! Never thought they were that big.

7- Kroger

6- Chik Fil A- Had it three times last week by accident, really, so that ranking may be because of me

5- HEB Grocery- The only one on this list I have never been in.

4- Costco- I am more of BJ’s guy regarding these sorts of warehouse stores.

3- Starbucks- Despite all you may read on them “struggling” they’re still a powerhouse

2- Publix- Love this chain- my kids are convinced that I will work at one if I ever retire from the glass business.

And #1- as you may have guessed… Walmart.  And Walmart is down in sales the last two years but still pretty dominant. 

LINKS of the WEEK

Duct tape can be used for anything really.

https://nypost.com/2024/11/20/us-news/american-airlines-travelers-duct-tape-unruly-passenger-who-tried-to-open-plane-door/

A tractor, a boat, a flood,and lots of confusion here

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14129263/Tractor-driver-arrested-speeding-flooded-save-child.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

Some serious twists in the “fake your own death” saga

https://www.fdlreporter.com/story/news/crime/2024/11/21/ryan-borgwardt-wisconsin-man-who-faked-death-in-contact-with-authorities/76455109007/

PROJECT of the WEEK

Stunner in BC.  From the folks from PFG Glass in Canada and again I’ll use what they wrote on their LinkedIn post:

Situated in the Panorama area of Surrey, the Panorama Office Park is a multi-phase development, located on the east side of 152 Street just one-half block south of #10 Highway. Our team supplied the Solar Blue Reflective paired with Cardinal LoE 270 vision & spandrel insulated glass units and fabricated railings for the latest phase of this executive office space currently under development.

Good stuff!  They did additionally note that the spandrel was from my tremendous friends at ICD- so I loved seeing that along with just a picture-perfect building.  Congrats to everyone involved!