b'Presidents MessageIMPROVING OUR INDUSTRYBill Seibert, MRCA PresidentT he MRCAs Board of Directors recently held our Spring meetings in Omaha, Nebraska. After three days of meetings and camaraderie it has become even more clear to me that the MRCA is the Roofing Contractors Advocate, and this Board has some of the most talented people in the roofing industry on it. Through many years of efforts of these Board Members the MRCA has some incredibly exciting things happening and I am blessed to be a part of it and fortunate to be the President as many of the past efforts are coming to fruition. Over the course of the last several years the MRCA has been working on many new programs for the Roofing Contractor and while I cant entirely let the cat out of the bag, I can confidently say that there is no better time to be a member of this great organization. A few years ago, one of our great Past Presidents, Mr. Fred Horner of Advanced Industrial Roofing Massillon, Ohio, came to the Board with his vision of creating a workforce development program that could be used as another benefit for our membership. Fred had created a program for his own company and was willing to share that proprietary information with the MRCA in the effort of creating a similar program that any of the MRCA membership could use. After many years of effort from a multitude of Board members and Mr. Horner himself, I am proud to say that the MRCA Workforce Development program is ready to be released to our MRCA membership. Whether you use this program in its entirety or just use bits and pieces to add to the program you already have, I think you will all see that this newly added member benefit is one that will be of great help to Roofing Contractors. I would like to thank Fred for his leadership, vision, and unrelenting willingness to improve this industry and those who serve it. Another program that has been in the works for many years is being released to the industry this year as well. With the leadership and incredible talent of another MRCA Past President, Mr. Jim Ramser of Highland Roofing Company Louisville, Kentucky, the Hot Air Welder Training (HAWT) program will hold its inaugural training session in late April 2023. This safety training program is groundbreaking to the industry and will very quickly become a must-have training for all contractors that perform Hot Air and Induction Welding. Classes have been filling very fast so the best advice I can give you today, is when you see a class openregister ASAP as spots will be limited per session. There has been an incredible amount of work put into this program and I truly believe this program will be another industry changing safety training program, like that of CERTA. The MRCA Technical and Research Committee is known as one of the leaders in roofing industry research. Thanks to the leadership and knowledge of Past President, Randy Adams of R. Adams Roofing Indianapolis, Indiana, this committee continues to lead in industry research. Under Randys leadership, the T&R Committee along with Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates will be conducting two MAJOR roofing industry research projects this year. The results of these research projects will be released to the industry at the MRCAs 73rd Annual Conference and Expo in Omaha, NE October 18-20, 2023. Having been involved in the T&R committee meetings, I can assure you that both research projects are of high interest and for the first time in T&R history one of the projects revolves around steep slope roofing. As a steep slope contractor of almost 30 years, I believe the information that will come from the steep slope project will be industry changing and you will not want to miss its release at our 73rd Annual Conference.These are just a few of the many highlights coming out of the Roofing Contractors Advocate. The talent of this Board of Directors and the MRCA staff is unparalleled, and these people continue to work on improving this industry. As a member of this great association, you can be proud to know that your membership dollars are getting put to good use and that the members of this Board are continually working on being the best Roofing Contractor Advocates we can be. NowSpring is in the air and its time to make it happen. Stay safe out there.Bill SeibertMRCA PresidentFisher Roofing of Kearney4 www.mrca.orgMidwest Roofer'