At this GlassBuild, the biggest question was – “how are YOU doing?” and not in the personal sense, but business-wise. Everyone wanted a gauge on how things are in different markets and segments. The common answer? It was along the lines of “we’re hanging in there and fighting the battles” sort of thing. GlassBuild 2026 was a huge help in giving everyone additional visibility into business planning. Whether it was the always incredible Connor Lokar on the economic landscape or the multiple education sessions at the Main Stage built for business insights. Good stuff. So, as I have been known to preach- keep at it, work your business, know costs, and keep an eye on diversity of offerings. Eventually, the arrows will all be pointing up. Or this could be my delusions, writing this after 3 very busy and long days on the show floor!!
And now on to that… my annual- who I saw and what I experienced at GlassBuild. And as always, buckle in; this is a long one with a ton of name drops.
I’ll get this out of the gate quickly- one of my absolute thrills is meeting new people in our space, and for whatever reason this year had more of that than normal. Before the show opened, I met three fine folks from Glasshape. Troy Hale, Vanessa Violante, and Mitch Curran were at their first-ever GlassBuild, and hopefully it all went well. Given they were there with the always incredible Shelly Farmer, I’m assuming the experience was great! Very cool to meet Stephane Denis of Synergx, thanks to old pal Terry Gibney being there. Enjoyed meeting Sean Capshaw of Walsh Facades; he was lucky enough to be hanging with the always excellent Erica Couch of Tristar Glass. As a glass geek, I was very excited to meet the great Lisa Heschong! She’s so brilliant and has done a ton for our space. I got to meet the video star Jim Young of Moffat Glass. If you don’t follow him on LinkedIn, you should. Tony Torreano of Dow said he had met me previously, but my mushy brain didn’t remember, so it was nice to reacquaint. Obviously, inside the Dow booth, seeing the Kentucky legend Jon Kimberlain was simply off the charts. I have seen Mark Melious of Precision Glass online; great to put a face to a name. And the bonus of also meeting Lulu Montes. Had a quick hello with Bill Lambert, as well as Stephen Mullins (he’s trending upward) and Roy San Diego (along with the super Diana San Diego). I was grateful that Calvin Craig of Cici & Nomo pulled me out of the aisle to say hello, and it was awesome to get to chat with him and get pictures, along with Lana Gardner of Dakota Automation- she’s new to the space, but I think she's going to fit in nicely.
On the flip side, I missed seeing a bunch of folks like the Beards (Tyler and Brandon), Ty Clem (again), Pat Pennington, and Ryan Shoemaker. And there are certainly others in this category, and I am sorry I missed you.
For the first time in a while, I got to see the whole Viracon crowd. Garret Henson, Seth Madole, Brian Savage, and Cameron Scripture. Plus, I met Chris Ede, who happens to be their new President, and he was extremely impressive, and I think he enjoyed me picking on our shared rival, Ohio State. Also in the Apogee crowd, the Apogee Architectural Metals team had a booth for the first time in a long while. Fantastic group of people there, and I got to say hi to my Diet Dr. Pepper pal Sara Barchak. Another group was the trio of Kendal Rowe, Lindsay Parker, and Scott Rowe. Three people who just radiate coolness. Love it. Gatsby Glass had quite a few people there, and I got time with Jeff Dowd, which I always value, and I also met Kelly Hoven and Jessica Ruenz.
It was neat to put faces to the names of Katie and Sean Roudabush of Sero Glass, and Karolina Styk from Press Glass, since this was the first time outside of a podcast Zoom that I could meet her. Same with Ivan Samalot from Andluca. Excellent people all.
Lots of folks from the past were there; Joe Marini was on hand, and it was fun telling the stories of Joe training me way back in 1991. The “Mayor of Glasstown,” Jon Johnson, is simply one of the best men around. The great Jeff Ziesche of JAZ Sales was on fire throughout the floor, so I only got a little time. The Pompeo’s were on site though, I missed seeing Dan. And speaking of missing- I did not have a chance to see Bob Cummings. He announced his retirement at the start of the show. Bob will go down as one of the greatest to ever do it in our industry. His sales skills are unmatched, and he’s also as nice and classy as they come. Our industry will miss having Bob with us- and I hope he can have as many good times as possible in his next phase of life.
More marvelous people seen and visited included: Drew Forester, Pat O’Connor, Mike Ondrus (who doesn’t age) the GCC 3 of Randy Reynolds, Sean Weir, and Matt Hannah. Also, Oliver Reed, Chris Fronsoe, Evan Afenir, Kim Dodge, Dave Miller, and the Industry Front Man Carl Christ. I count myself as super fortunate that those fine folks gave me a bit of their time. Plus, the PA contingent that featured the always brilliant and stylish Emily Yukish of Specified Systems as well as Cory Brown and Ryan Cully of United Plate Glass-UPG. I actually went the wrong way down an escalator (and almost pulled whatever muscles I have) to catch them and say hello.
I think the best pre-show promo, by far, came from Learn Glazing’s Alex Buechel-it was a “where’s waldo” sort of play and very well done. As was the Elvis get-up he had on in their booth. I thought for a moment I would not see Danielle Whatley and Emma McLemore other than a very quick hello at registration. Lucky for me, I saw them on Day 3. They truly are wonderful people.
On the “booth” beat- kudos to my guy Rob Botman from Glassopolis for a very unique booth listing first names of some of the 25,000 customers they’ve served. I was thrilled a “Max” made the board. I was pumped to get a few minutes with Ricardo Maiz of Vitro at his stand, and I did make the big GardnerWalker debut party but was late and missed the ribbon cutting; that was a bummer. At the Wood’s Pwr Group booth, it was super nice to have a personal product tour from Barry Wood. He showed me several new innovations led by the Pwr Lift 1600, which changes the game in the glass manipulator space. Excited for him and the team.
Guess who was the very first attendee in line for the floor on Day 1? The Comeback Kid- Billy Britt of Britt-Tilson Glass. The world is right when he’s walking our floor! And that world would not be the same without the tremendous duo of Andrew Haring and Kevin Hardman. I had them on a pod promoting GlassBuild, and they came, saw, and conquered all. Both of those guys treat me better than I deserve- I’m a fan.
Painfully missed? The Rockstar Melanie Dettmer wasn’t there in person, but she was in spirit and on certain pairs of socks! Also bummed no Scott Goodman there- he’s always that happy show presence.
OK, almost done. Two more items. First, a sincere thank you to the team at the National Glass Association. They once again just get it done, and this year there were more moving parts and pieces than ever. The warrior that is Molly Grenn delivers year after year; she’s the engine that runs this thing. I am honored to be on her side. And on NGA, I have to stress that it is a privilege to represent this group and our industry. You all know how much I love it.
And speaking of love- my brother, Stevie P, made his return to GlassBuild. He’s been retired for 7 years now, but you’d never know it by the throngs of people he met and talked to. Could he be like those professional boxers and come out of retirement??? In any case, it was pretty awesome. I am honored to be his brother.
So there ya go…. And I am so sorry if I missed noting you. I sincerely cherish every moment I have with our industry folks!
No links or project this week because of this length! It’ll return next week with a new podcast episode too!
