2021 Annual Meeting of the Members

The IIBEC 2021 Annual Meeting of the Members took place on March 8, 2021, via webinar. IIBEC President Scott Hinesley, RRC, PE, welcomed attendees and expressed his hope that this would be our last Meeting of the Members that would be entirely virtual. Hinesley called the meeting to order, and invited IIBEC’s Secretary/Treasurer Amy Peevey, REWC, RRO, PE, CDT, to read Article 21.

Hinesley then gave the report of the president. He noted that it had been “a wild ride, but a fun ride.” He talked about his history on the executive board. He was director of Region II for two years. After his first meeting as a member of the board, the Executive Committee was notified that the then-EVP/CEO was retiring. Hinesley’s first year on the Executive Committee included searching for and finding a replacement for James Birdsong, who had been EVP/CEO of IIBEC since the early 2000s. Birdsong’s replacement, Lionel van der Walt, only stayed at IIBEC for about 18 months, so Hinesley says he took that as “strike two.” The committee went through the whole process again, and found IIBEC’s current EVP/CEO, Brian Pallasch. After just a few months of Pallasch being instated in his new position, COVID-19 hit. Hinesley jokingly said it made him feel like maybe he was bad luck for the association.

Hinesley thanked the IIBEC staff, noting that they made his job as president much more enjoyable than it could have been, and that he appreciated the fact that IIBEC has continued to provide events and educational offerings similar to what would be available in a “normal” year.

“Kudos to Brian and the entire team for making this happen. We keep using the word ‘pivot,’ and it’s truly applicable in this instance,” said Hinesley.

Hinesley also expressed “deep appreciation” for the rest of the board, saying they had helped him and supported him as well. Hinesley went on to say that he expects great things under the upcoming leadership of Ted Sheridan, RBEC, RRC, REWC, RWC, PEng. He apologized for being a poor steward of the turnover chain, a large version of the president’s pin that was created and given to Bob Card when he began his term as president. He promised to mail it to Sheridan soon. He noted that he would miss opportunities to communicate with Bob Card regularly.

Hinesley then explained the procedure for asking questions in the virtual webinar software, and noted that questions would be answered at the end of the meeting. Hinesley closed by saying he looked forward to seeing everyone in September at the 2021 International Convention and Trade Show.

Next, Chris Giffin, RRC, AIA, was introduced to provide the Report of the Second Vice President. Giffin reiterated the dates and location of the IIBEC International Convention and Trade Show. It will be held September 15-20 in Phoenix, Arizona, and will offer 24 vetted educational sessions and two auxiliary seminars in person. As a hybrid event, there will also be online access. He noted that the trade show portion allows attendees the opportunity to meet and learn from manufacturing representatives from across the building enclosure industry. Up to 33 CEHs can be achieved by attendees. Giffin noted that he also looks forward to meeting in person and celebrating this past year. He stressed that attendee safety will be of utmost importance, and that safety precautions as suggested by the CDC will be in place. Giffin encouraged attendees to reach out to IIBEC staff if they have questions about the 2021 IIBEC International Convention and Trade Show.

Giffin then turned the screen over to Amy Peevey for the report of the secretary/treasurer. Peevey also noted that she looks forward to seeing everyone in September in Phoenix. She reported that with strong staff management, we were able to keep IIBEC’s finances in the black despite being down 21% in revenue from previous years. There was increased revenue in registrations, publications sales, and the new continuing education hour (CEH) provider programs. This program allows outside organizations to offer education for CEH credits. Groups that wish to offer IIBEC pre-approved CEHs must maintain an annual IIBEC Provider account.

Next, Chair of the Nominating Committee Mike Clark, F-IIBEC, RBEC, RRC, RWC, REWC, RRO, PE, CSRP explained how the 2021 IIBEC elections process was modified to accommodate the pandemic. He noted that all voting was done online, and that a candidate forum was broadcast live as a webinar and then made available on the IIBEC website. Clark noted that the election was conducted in two phases. Phase one, which ended on January 25, elected the region directors. Phase two was for executive committee candidates. While electronic voting was open, every eligible voting member of IIBEC received emails with instructions on how to vote. Reminders were sent out until they had cast their vote, concluding when the voting window had closed on March 8.

Newly elected (or re-elected) region directors for 2021 will be as follows.

Region I: Julie Palmer, LEED AP

Region II: Michael Fell

Region III: Charles T. Sietmann, REWO, RRO, CCCA, CIT

Region VII: Jennifer Hogan, RRO, LEED AP, Certified Passive House Consultant

Continuing their terms are:

Region IV: Neal Johnson, RRO, AIA

Region V: Szymon Zienkiewicz, RRC, RRO, PE

Region VI: Burt Carver, RRC, RRO

Rotating up in the executive committee, Chris Giffin will serve as first vice president, and Amy Peevey as second vice president, with Ted Sheridan moving into the position as IIBEC president. Clark then announced that the winner of the secretary/treasurer election was Robért Hinojosa, RBEC, RRC, RWC, REWC, F-IIBEC, PE, CDT. Clark thanked all candidates for running, and for their willingness to serve IIBEC.

Bob Card moved that the ballots be destroyed. Stephanie Robinson seconded the motion. Members were then given the opportunity to vote on this motion via electronic poll. The motion passed.

Brian Pallasch then gave the State of the Association Report. He thanked Clark for serving as nominating committee chair. He noted that he was also hoping that though this is our second Annual Meeting of the Members that has been 100% virtual, he hopes that this will be the last, and that going forward we will be able to meet in person. He voiced appreciation for the help received from members and the IIBEC staff for making the year a success. He shared a “cloud” of pandemic words, and noted that he wanted to stress the word “resilience.” Pallasch said it has been a very challenging year for all of us, and most of us have been working from home. He said the staff have grown stronger as a team.

IIBEC’s HQ moved from West Raleigh to Downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, and Pallasch urged members to visit once we are fully open. He voiced appreciation for the board of directors and executive committee who have had to meet more frequently than in a normal year, as decisions such as whether or not to have premiere events in person had to be made, sometimes in short order.

He also shared that IIBEC created a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force, and hoped to share results of that in Phoenix.

Pallasch went on to talk about how we held three premiere education events virtually, and shared the following statistics:

• The 2020 International Convention and Trade Show had 1001 attendees and 65 exhibitors.
• The Canadian Building Enclosure Symposium had 155 attendees and 10 exhibiting companies.
• The Building Enclosure Symposium had 334 attendees and 14 exhibitors.

All three events were entirely virtual. IIBEC has received positive feedback on all three events. IIBEC will have one more all-virtual meeting, the Virtual Spring Symposium, which will be in May of 2021.

Other learning events were updated and brought online, to be more in line with the current state of practice. Participation in the IIBEC Online Education Portal jumped dramatically.

Pallasch took a moment to highlight the fact that Kris Ammerman retired after 24 years at the helm of IIBEC Interface and IIBEC’s Communications Department. He thanked her for her service. He noted that we have increased social media followers, as well as website visitors to the new iibec.org website.

Technical services released the updated IIBEC Manual of Practice, which has sold well. Pallasch reminded attendees that they had received a coupon for a discount on the aforementioned manual, as well as for the Roof Drainage—Second Edition, which was sponsored by the RCI-IIBEC Foundation.

IIBEC formed a new codes and standards committee to be more focused on codes and standards both nationally and locally.

Membership struggled somewhat due to the pandemic but is on the rebound. The first two months of 2021 have already seen an uptick in membership.

IIBEC saw an increase in people receiving IIBEC professional registrations, illustrating an understanding of the value of these registrations. In addition, Pallasch said, we have the new IIBEC Continuing Education Provider Program, which allows organizations to apply to get their courses reviewed and pre-approved for IIBEC CEH credit.

The IIBEC Certified Building Enclosure Commissioning Provider (CBECxP) application will be available in the next few months, and we anticipate that in the late third quarter to early fourth quarter, we will have people taking that test and becoming certified. This certification is developed in accordance with ISO 17024 standards and currently pursuing accreditation through ANSI/ANAB.

Pallasch next discussed regions and chapters. The IIBEC Leadership Development Workshop, which is usually presented over a day and a half in Raleigh, became a series of virtual education classes. Twenty-two chapters participated in those sessions, and they are available on the IIBEC website for chapter leaders to review throughout the year. Growth also occurred this year, as IIBEC now has branches in Mexico City (its first international branch), as well as an Alabama branch, and a West Michigan branch. IIBEC afilliation in Arizona has graduated from a branch to a chapter. The Outstanding Chapter Award program has also been reweighted, with more chapters submitting for work completed in 2020 than in previous years.

Public policy was conducted virtually, yet was largely successful. In Virginia, legislation related to cooperative procurement was defeated early in the year. At the end of 2020, several pieces of IIBEC-supported legislation were included in the final bill that was passed. Report language instructing the General Services Administration to follow QBS for A/E/C procurement was included, as was legislation to ban reverse auctions for federal A/E/C procurement. Brian Gardiner retired in the fall, and John Boling has been hired as director of government relations.

The RCI-IIBEC Foundation had a sucessful year. The Joe Hale Public Library of Ft. Chiswell, Virginia was supported by a $40,000 donation from the Foundation, which was more than matched by donations from individual members, allowing us to honor long-time member and dedicated supporter of IIBEC and the Foundations, Joe Hale.

Scott Hinesley then took the floor again. He noted that a lot of former presidents were present in the virtual audience, and that he was impressed that so many were still so engaged. “Thanks so much, we’re glad you’re here,” he said. There were not many questions in the queue at first, and Hinesley relayed a recollection of a past Annual Meeting of the Members. In this story, Sid Hankins, who was the outgoing president,  got a very difficult question. He gracefully tossed the question to President-Elect Jean-Guy Levaque. Hinesley said he had hoped to do the same to incoming President Ted Sheridan.

Sheridan chimed in that he would take the hard question.

“It’s true,” he said, “What Jennifer Hogan has just mentioned. There’s also a new IIBEC Quebec Ontario Chapter, which is officially starting in 2021. It’s in my home area, and it’s a big deal for us. It’s a chapter where we’re going to be trying to use two languages to comminucate to our IIBEC members. Thanks to Stephanie (Robinson), Michel (Paulin), and everyone else who contributed to its formation.”

A question and answer session followed.

Q: What is IIBEC’s specific definition of “equity,” and how will this be applied in IIBEC?

Hinesley: The actual name of the task force is the Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion.  We had a member study a few years ago that determined that our members are largely male and caucasian. This (task force) is trying to figure out where our blind spots are, and answer the question of “Are we doing something as an organization that is not attracting different races and females to our organization.” We do want to be inclusive, we want to be welcoming of all professionals regardless of background, and we want to learn what we can do better to help make that happen. Some people say it’s a sensitive subject. To me it’s not a sensitive subject at all. I think we need to splay it all out there and admit that we’ve had shortcomings in the past. Let’s do better.”

Sheridan: I think IIBEC is starting to lead by example in that respect. As well as having the task force in place now, we’re adding another region director who’s a female, and that’s going to give us the most gender-balanced board of directors that IIBEC has ever had, so I do believe there’s been progress, and there will be more progress.

Pallasch: I won’t belabor this, but part of what the task force is going to work on is putting those sorts of definitions together.

Q: What’s the back-up plan if we can’t meet in Phoenix?

Pallasch: We have always presumed that we would have a hybrid meeting, and what we mean by that is that we will have a virtual and an in-person component in Phoenix. So we do have a plan that we will default to a virtual meeting. But my sense is that at this point it will be hybrid, and some people may not be comfortable traveling, and they will have access to the same content.

Q: Convince me to purchase the Manual of Practice—Second Edition.

Sheridan: I’ll give this answer. I was formerly involved in some of the exam-writing subcommittees. One of the problems we always had in those committees was finding references for common-sense answers that we wanted to put in the exam. A lot of times, the only place we could find a common-sense answer to a question was in the Manual of Practice. The new one is improved in several ways, and it’s going to have all those answers and more, and it’s a great fundamental tool for some of those things you can’t find anywhere else.

Q: At what point would the in-person 2021 International Convention and Trade Show be called off?

Hinesley: That’s difficult to answer, but it would certainly be in time to notify everyone to cancel travel plans. Listen. I’m gonna be there in September. Even if Brian says the meeting’s canceled, I’m going.

Pallasch: We have to follow the public health guidelines. Karen (McElroy) and Mendy (Cunningham) are in contact with the Phoenix Convention Center and the Downtown Sheraton, and I feel very comfortable that we’ll be able to make a decision in the right way. I feel strongly that we’re going to be able to be there. I think it’s going to happen. We will make the decision as quickly as we can.

Q: Why not combine the BES (Building Enclosure Symposium) and Convention?

Pallasch: The decision has been made to do the Virtual Spring Symposium, which will essentially take the place of this year’s BES, because it wasn’t going to be possible for us to produce two large meetings within a few weeks. There are nine presentations that have been approved (for VSS). That was the decision that was made.

Q: Does IIBEC list members with diversity classications—women-owned, disabled, vet, black-owned, etc.—and are there any plans on pursuing this topic?

Hinesley: Honestly I don’t know, and that’s why we created the task force, and that’s what we want them to tell us. They can make recommendations to the board of directors on how we ought to proceed.

Pallasch: We’ve partnered with NIBS and about a dozen other organizations in a large diversity survey. We expect that tool to be completed, and IIBEC members will get an email explaining where to go to fill it out. That will give us some information about what our members think about diversity.

Q: Since we’re moving the convention back to September, is that going to be our plan going forward, or will we get back to the March timeline? What’s the opportunity in the future of combining the two events (BES and Convention)?

Hinesley: If we could be in Phoenix right now, we would be. Our goal is to return to “normal” as soon as possible. We heard a lot from our members saying that they were locked out of travel, and we had to make a decision based on what our members could do. Our intent is to go back to the spring convention, fall symposium.

Pallasch: Some of this is predetermined because we have contracts. We are moving back to the March timeframe at a minimum through 2024. The IIBEC International Convention and Trade Show will be in Florida in 2022, Houston in 2023, and in 2024 we’re back in Phoenix, all in the March timeframe.

Q: What plans does IIBEC have to reach out to colleges and universities?

Pallasch: Part of what we’re doing is using the RCI-IIBEC Foundation and their work with students to engage with university students that way. But we also need to see how we can reach directly out to university engineering and architecture departments to see what resources we might have for their students and teachers.

Q: Will there be a report from the Foundation?

Pallasch: There was a summary, and a blurb from Mike Blanchette, who expresses a great deal of gratitude for everyone who continued to support the RCI-IIBEC Foundation and the RCI Foundation Canada in a very difficult year. He would like to express a special thanks for all the donations received this year.

Q: What are the key objectives/plans for 2022?

Hinesley: IIBEC’s Strategic Plan is available on the website, and that is the board’s reference for objectives.

Q: There is a question about going to Rosen Shingle Creek (the resort in Florida) again.

Hinesley: Our organization is at a weird size because we’re too big for some places and too small for other place, so our options are sometimes limited.

Pallasch: When our contracts are completed in several years, we will be looking for new options.

Q: Any thoughts about IIBEC advocating for a four-year college degree program on the building enclosure?

Sheridan: There are four-year degrees in building enclosure. Where we’ve seen them in Canada is starting at community colleges. We’ve actually hired people with bachelor of building science degrees.

When questions were completed, Hinesley thanked everyone who took the time to type in questions and participate in this format. He then re-introduced the 2021-2022 IIBEC Board of Directors.

Then new Board of Directors was formally announced by Immediate Past President Scott Hinesley.

Incoming President Ted Sheridan noted that Hinesley’s claim about being bad luck to the organization was “hogwash,” and that Hinesley was nothing but good luck. He thanked those who ran for secretary/treasurer and congratulated Robért Hinojosa for winning the election against stiff competition. He gave a “personal shout-out” to Bob Card for giving his all to IIBEC for “What seems like 40 years. If we could all be a little more like Bob, what a wonderful world it would be.” Sheridan gifted Card with a Blackberry swagbag as an outgoing immediate past-president present. Sheridan noted that IIBEC is on solid footing, and heading in some new and exciting directions. He is really pleased at our education programs and advocacy efforts. He thanked everyone for attending, and reminded all attendees to register for the IIBEC Virtual Spring Symposium, and save the date for the IIBEC International Convention and Trade Show in Phoenix in September.

Amy Peevey moved to adjourn the Annual Meeting of the Members. The motion was seconded by David Balistreri.