b'Presidents MessageImproving Our IndustryKevin Gwaltney, MRCA PresidentThe MRCA Board of Directors recently met for the winter meeting in Palm Desert, CA.We were fortunate to enjoy three days of sun and warm temperatures, as well as the fellowship of being together and working to provide additional benefits to our membership.Personally, I value the chance to interact with my fellow contractors and industry professionals.This marks my 13th consecutive year attending these meetings.From 2007 to 2019, I have enjoyed my experience with my fellow directors, associates and staff.These people have been my mentors, teachers, people I try and emulate and friends.I would like to say thank you to these people of the past and present.At these meetings, we mix fun with hard work.This past meeting a group of us had the chance to participate in a BMW Performance Driving Experience. In fact, one of our own, Bob Poutre MRCA Director, received a standing ovation for his timed lap of 26.01 seconds.Later, we found that this is very rare for someone to record such a low time.I would like to thank the attendees for participating.We had a blast!During the committee meetings, we were hard at work planning the convention in Overland Park, KS on November 20-22.Our past convention in Omaha, NE provided a recipe for success and in an effort for continuous improvement, we plan to make a few small tweaks to the schedule.At our upcoming Spring meeting in Overland Park, KS we are planning a conference promotion pre-show party highlighting the upcoming show.We will be inviting local contractors and associates to this event asking for their support of our convention and requesting their efforts in attendee recruitment.I have challenged our committees and made it a priority to be creative and engaging to provide exceptional contractor member benefits on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.That being said, I am excited to share with you that MRCA has partnered with Naphis Mitchell-Reyes of Engineering Safety Consultants to provide safety consulting services.I think you will find many new enhancements to our Sharp+ Safety programming.One of the aspects I find most engaging is the addition of short 3 to 5 minute digital videos on safety training.For example, a short video on how to set a ladder. I think it is important as an industry we find new innovative ways to teach safety and create a culture of safety inside our company.I believe the Operations and Safety Committee are well on the path to offering this exceptional benefit to the MRCA membership.I am thankful of the support of our membership, directors, associates and staff.I am looking forward to the implementation of additional ideas that are taking form inside our meetings.Please stay tuned in for more to come.As always, MRCA is available to be a resource if you are struggling with a problem, need an answer or have an idea on how to improve our industry that we work in.In addition, I can be reached by telephone, text or email.Kevin Gwaltney2019 MRCA PresidentDiamond Roofingkevin@diamond-roofing.com620-255-34784 www.mrca.orgMidwest Roofer'