Director's Message
Posted on Monday, November 23, 2015
I
begin this issue’s message as I
wait in the Las Vegas airport
for my flight home from my first
PCI Annual Meeting as your new
Executive Director. I saw a lot of
familiar faces and was very pleased
to meet a good number of people I
hadn’t previously met. What a great
crowd of interesting people and PCI
supporters. I come away enthused
and feel assured of good things to
come from PCI. To all those who
attended, thank you for taking time
to join us for our 2015 Annual
Meeting and for all of your encouraging
comments.
We began the Annual Meeting
with seven committee meetings:
Custom Coaters, Education and
Development, The Future of Technology,
Industry Communications,
Market Intelligence, Membership,
and Regulatory and Advocacy. Our
committees are a great place to
step into greater involvement in
our association. A huge thank you
goes out to those who took the
extra time to attend, offer suggestions,
and help PCI to prioritize its
direction. For a summary of each
meeting as well as what to expect in
2016, turn to page 15.
We also appreciate our guest
speakers Scott Bjornstad (McGladrey
LLP), Michael Gallery
(OPIS), Guy Colonna (National
Fire Protection Association), and
Greg Jones (Smartforce at The Association
for Manufacturing Technology)
for their interesting sessions.
If you couldn’t join us and missed
these terrific presentations, be sure
to check them out in the Members
Only area of the PCI website. This
is a valuable benefit of your membership!
Michael Gallery facilitated our
roundtable discussions with his
unique take on problem solving.
Thank you very much to those of
you who contributed to our collection
of input on several topics.
That feedback will help us greatly
as we prioritize our efforts to ensure
PCI is the voice of powder coating
technology globally.
It is important that I recognize
the GMI staff for all their efforts in
making this event so special. Even
with so many details to cover in our
recent transition, they did a fantastic
job of making everything click
together for a great meeting.
Of course, our Board of Directors
dedicates a great deal of their time
to ensure that the association’s mission
is carried out . I thank them
and their organizations for allowing
us to use their knowledge and time
to help PCI with the promotion of
powder coating technology.
I also must thank our three new
inductees to the PCI Hall of Fame
for their many years of devotion
to PCI: Donald Tyler, Tim O’Brien
and Greg Bocchi. It would hard to
imagine PCI as we know it today
without the influence they brought
in the developmental years. For
the web-exclusive full story about
our inductees, be sure to check out
www.powdercoatedtough.com.
And last but not least, I want to
thank all of our members for seeing
the value in PCI. I am excited to
tell you about POWDER COATING
2016, our conference and tabletop
exhibit event slated for April 11-14
in Atlanta, which is another valuable
resource put together with you
in mind. It will consist of a two-day
technical conference featuring general
sessions and breakouts.
PCI’s 101 workshop and a tabletop
exhibition will complement the
technical conference. You will see
the full schedule in Powder Coated
Tough’s January/February issue. In
the meantime, mark your calendars
for this special event. It will be a
great place to learn and mingle with
powder industry experts. You won’t
want to miss this!
By the time I write my next Director’s
Message, we will have rung
in the New Year. Please keep PCI in
mind as you make plans for 2016.
Your support is invaluable.
Trena Benson, Executive Director
832-367-5173
trena@powdercoating.org