By / Joey Fabing, President, TIAC
As I am writing my report, we are only one month away from our 2023 Conference in Whistler. The team has been working diligently on the planning and logistics, including finding additional hotel rooms (at a reasonable rate) because the original block of guest rooms sold out in May! Tristan has been reaching out to our members across the country to encourage them to come out and experience what TIAC has to offer. I feel we will see some new faces this August!
In addition to promoting the Conference program, Tristan has been engaging in discussions with members about what they would like to see TIAC focus on or areas where they could use additional support, resources, and training. Tristan has also started attended provincial association outings to get facetime with the TIAC members. I have heard nothing but positive feedback from our members about Tristan being part of our team. If he calls you or introduces himself at a provincial association event, please take some time and talk to him. It only benefits all of us.
Tristan was recently in Denver at the MICA Conference getting to know the MICA Board, NACIIS Manual Committee, and all of their members. He will be taking over TIAC’s NACIIS Manual Committee position from James Low, who we thank wholeheartedly for doing an excellent job of representing TIAC for the past few years.
The Innovators are continuing to explore how TIAC can help to attract different professionals to the industry. Their target audience is installers, estimators, project managers, sales, accounting, engineers, and so on. They are hoping to develop short videos for use on social media to expand TIAC’s reach. I cannot wait to see how well they do selling our industry.
Our friends at AIQ are continuing to spread the word throughout Quebec that their Quality Assurance Program is up and running. To date they have made presentations to a number of engineering firms including GBI, EXP (Quebec City), Carbonic (Ste-Thérèse), and Martin Roy (Saguenay). GBI has confirmed that they will use the program for their private jobs and will be running a pilot project in Montreal involving the six Quality Controllers who have completed the training. Denis Beaudin is continuing his outreach to the engineering community, and they expect to have additional meetings set up for late August and into the Fall. See page 14 for a full update.
Good news for our Francophone members is that the North American Commercial and Industrial Insulation Standards Manual has been translated and is currently being reviewed by a team from AIQ. We will have an update on timelines for the French release at the Conference. For the Denis Formula, TIAA continues to work on the updates. The team is still trying to build the history of the Denis Formula—if you have any information on James S. Denis, please email us at info@tiac.ca.
As I reflect on the last four years, first serving as vice-president and now president, and looking forward to holding the past-president position, I realize what a great opportunity it has been to work with this wonderful group of people. I have learned many things from everyone who sits on the Board with me. We have accomplished a lot within the last few years. Shaun carried us through COVID and laid the groundwork for our new North American Standards Manual. AIQ built the Quality Assurance Program. We have strengthened our partnership with NIA and are working hand and hand to make this industry the best it can be across North America. We have hired a full-time staff member that has the passion to move the needle in terms of the impact that TIAC makes on this industry.
When I sit around the Board table and hear that passion and conviction from each individual Board member, I truly believe that this association is only going to get bigger and better with the team that is in place now. And, with the support of our members, we can all make this industry what it deserves to be. I ask all members, step up, put your hand in the air, ask questions, give answers, and talk to people about what you do. I have said it before: the more we get the word out there about who we are and what we can do, the more respect we will get.
In closing, and this being my last report, I would like to thank my staff at Custom Insulation Systems Ltd. who have covered for me while I’ve fulfilled my TIAC responsibilities. To my family, Carolyn, Emily, and Cameron, thank you for being supportive and understanding when I cannot focus my time on you. To my father, if it were not for him, I wouldn’t be where I am today. He always has my back, and I couldn’t ask for a better mentor. My TIAC team, thank you so much for trusting me and for the backing on anything that we needed to complete. And of course, our members. I have met so many wonderful people throughout the years, and I hold you very close to my heart. I believe we are one big family and only here for the betterment of our association. We are all in good hands with our incoming president, Rob Bertram. He is a real leader, and I look forward continuing to work with him. Thank you all very much for the wonderful last few years, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for all of us! ▪
