By Christian Hamaker
More than 50 IIBEC chapter leaders and sponsors traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina, for the IIBEC Leadership Development Workshop, October 7–8, 2025, where they heard from IIBEC leaders about how to support and encourage interest among IIBEC members at the local level.
Steve Drennan, chair of the IIBEC Chapter Development Committee, opened the meeting by recalling his early years as an attendee, when, he said, the meeting could be “a firehose of information.” The workshop is now more a way for chapter leaders to learn how to get the information they need by being directed to resources and staff who can help. “Talk to the leaders in this room. Ask them the hard questions,” Drennan challenged attendees.
IIBEC President Chris Dawkins, PE, expressed gratitude to all of the consultants who had taken time off their regular work to attend the workshop. “Thanks for your service,” he said. He recalled 10 years earlier, being part of the same conference with Jennifer Hogan, IIBEC’s current first vice president, when they were both rising presidents of their respective chapters, and how the workshop spurred ideas and initiatives that boosted their chapters and furthered their IIBEC journeys.
“I hope that at the end of this event … you leave with passion and excitement,” said Hogan, who spoke next. “And I hope that a few of you follow in Chris’ and my footsteps, look at your region directors, and say, ‘I want do that next.’ All of you are potential future leaders of this organization.”
The Chapters’ Role in IIBEC’s Strategic Plan
Brian Pallasch, CAE, executive vice president and CEO of IIBEC, shared an updated presentation on IIBEC, built around the organization’s strategic plan, that he said chapter leaders would be able to use in the future. Because one of the plan’s four sections is “Advocacy,” Pallasch took the opportunity to introduce Irene Butler, IIBEC’s new director of advocacy and industry affairs, who encouraged attendees to visit the IIBEC “Advocacy” page, where they can alert IIBEC to any procurement challenges they’re encountering and also where they can highlight clients that have shown a preference for IIBEC credentials.
Those credentials are another focus of IIBEC’s strategic plan, and they are expected to represent one of the major advancements for the organization in the coming weeks, as Pallasch said IIBEC is in the “home stretch” of accreditation for its CBECxP program.
IIBEC Region IV Director Jon Cannon, RRC, RRO, REWO, CDT, then discussed the Outstanding Chapter Award Program and how to document and track the milestones that go into scoring those awards.
Following Cannon’s presentation, IIBEC Director of Chapter Relations and Website Content Tara Cottle walked through how chapter leaders can use IIBEC’s Chapter Resource Center. “It’s way to make you more effective, more efficient—a way to save you a little bit of time,” she said. Cottle reminded attendees that now is the time to start canvassing for new board members and assembling slates of those potential board members.
Drennan took the stage again to discuss chapter operations, specifically administration and meetings. He was followed by IIBEC Vice President of Membership and Credentials Alec Jeffries, who spoke about the growth in IIBEC membership and credentials and also presented strategies for chapter growth.
Panel: IIBEC Leadership Journeys
Following lunch, the workshop reconvened with a leadership panel, moderated by IIBEC First Vice President Jennifer Hogan, REWC, RRO, CRE, LEED AP, Certified Passive House Consultant. IIBEC Second Vice President Burt Carver, RRC, RRO; Secretary/Treasurer Julie Palmer; and Region V Director Julie McDonald served as panelists, discussing their different paths through IIBEC, from the chapter level to national leadership.
“I’m not an architect, I’m not a PE. I needed to have a marketing edge, and IIBEC has delivered that for me,” McDonald said, noting that past employers have encouraged her to pursue IIBEC credentials.
Hogan added that she’s been able to apply IIBEC board training to her company. “I think being confident enough to go after those [board] positions came through IIBEC,” she said. “I can take my IIBEC experiences back to my company.”
The panelists’ IIBEC journeys have also included challenges. Carver mentioned his IIBEC committee work and how it helped him to learn to accommodate other opinions and to manage frustrations that come with the challenges of volunteering with other contributors. Palmer recalled her involvement early with the IIBEC Delaware Valley Chapter, when chapter leaders weren’t doing all they could to develop and build the chapter. “As difficult as it can be, sometimes you have to find a way to spread your wings. Don’t maintain the status quo simply because that’s the easy way.”
Added McDonald of her rise through the chapter and national IIBEC ranks, “If there was a ladder, I would climb it,” explaining that she joined the Emerging Professionals Committee and the IIBEC Colorado Chapter before becoming Region V director.
Lest listeners felt intimidated by the responsibilities of leadership, Palmer encouraged them to take things gradually. “You don’t have to launch yourself into the vice presidency of your local chapter,” she said. “There are numerous opportunities at the local level.”
Hogan added that her personality type doesn’t always mesh with in-person meetings, but she said she always comes away from them glad she attended. “Sometimes coming to these events, by the end of it I’m like, ‘Whoa, I need a recharge,’” Hogan said. “Because I see the value in these events, I push myself, but it’s not something that comes naturally to me.”
Afternoon breakout sessions on membership growth and volunteer-leader accountability were followed by IIBEC trivia. The day concluded with a Town Hall featuring Dawkins, Hogan, and Pallasch fielding questions from workshop attendees.
Day Two
The second day kicked off with Kristen Kennedy, IIBEC’s director of education, and Arissa Cooper, IIBEC’s director marketing and sales, presenting “Best Practices for Delivering and Marketing IIBEC Education.” Kennedy engaged attendees by distinguishing between chapter-sponsored IIBEC Core Courses and chapter-sponsored non-IIBEC Core Courses, and she highlighted the benefits of hosting IIBEC education, cautioning that presentations shouldn’t be sales-oriented.
Cooper explained how chapters can market IIBEC courses using IIBEC resources. She presented marketing dos and don’ts using slides that presented one correctly marketed education course next to one that was incorrect, soliciting guesses from attendees as to which of the two side-by-side images showed the correctly marketed course.
Heidi Arsenault, IIBEC’s manager of credentials, then gave a brief update on IIBEC’s pursuit of ANAB accreditation of IIBEC’s CBECxP program—a process that started in November 2024 and, as of September 2025, has addressed all noncomformities, closing out the application process on IIBEC’s end. IIBEC is now awaiting a final accreditation decision from ANAB.
“Accreditation elevates the CBECxP program by enhancing credibility, ensuring quality, differentiating in the market, aligning with international standards, and securing long-term sustainability,” Arsenault said.
Two breakout sessions, “Best Practices for Chapter Education/Marketing” and “Engaging Students and Local Universities,” spurred new ideas to reach building enclosure learners that were shared during discussion times that followed each breakout.
Sponsors of the event were Situra, Georgia-Pacific, IB Roof Systems, USG, and Lightning Protection Institute.
