RCI’s Advocacy Committee Call To Action

By Tom Gernetzke

The mission of the Advocacy Committee is to advance the profession of building envelope (roofing, waterproofing, and exterior wall) consultants. With that in mind, the committee held an all-day planning session in May 2016. As a result of that meeting, the committee developed goals and strategies to further the mission. Below is the plan that was prepared at the planning session.

BRAND RECOGNITION

GOAL: Enhance value of RCI for members and nonmembers.

STRATEGIES:

• Provide presentations to outside organizations.
  o Speakers’ bureau, etc.
• Place RCI-created articles (including white papers and position papers) throughout the industry.
• Promote RCI in social media.
• Use search engine marketing to draw attention to RCI.
• Develop comprehensive RCI marketing goals.
• (RCI name change considered and tabled.)

INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP

GOAL: Promote holistic, responsible practices that benefit clients.

STRATEGIES:

• Increase RCI visibility and credit through research findings.
• Build coalitions with other peer organizations.
• Develop mentoring programs.
• Support development of emerging professionals.
• Support chapters in providing industry leadership.

EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES

GOAL: Improve opportunities for workforce development and public awareness through enhanced educational outreach

STRATEGIES:

• Provide partnership opportunities for students into the industry.
  o Student chapter development
  o Student paper/presentation at convention
• Develop career paths for those new to industry (mentoring).
• Develop and present college classes.
• Encourage the RCI Foundations to fund research with defined objectives.

PUBLIC POLICY

GOAL: Influence the development and reform of laws, regulations, and standards.

STRATEGIES:

• Form coalitions to influence and enforce:
  o Procurement issues
  o Building codes
• Convince the code industry that RCI can provide real value.
• Develop a course to educate building officials as related to building envelope issue compliance.
  o Tax codes
  o Business regulations
  o Tort reform
• Develop local grassroots mobilization around issues impacting members.
• Develop lobbying efforts.

MEMBER SERVICES/BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

GOAL: Support RCI consultant members in their business practices.

STRATEGIES:

• Develop comprehensive member marketing goals.
• Support chapter development in areas of interested practicing consultants.
• Promote accreditation of registrations (RRC’s, etc.).
• Reach out to building officials, facility managers, and procurement specialists to promote consultant member business development.
• Market to major industry associations.
• Support selection of consultants through qualification-based criteria.
• Provide links to standard form contracts and exclusions (AIA/CCDC/EJCDC).

The committee has prepared budget estimates for each goal and presented the plan and the budget requests to the Board of Directors at its September 2016 meeting. Subsequent to the Board’s approval, each goal was assigned to one or more committee members. The committee has developed a detailed list of tasks to complete each strategy, and now begins the work of preparing project requests for presentation to the Board of Directors. The project request will include the purpose of the project, a description of the work, deliverables, description of how the deliverables will be used, and budget estimates.

Currently, the committee has a member from each region and is as follows: Chair Tom Gernetzke, Jon Cannon, Derek Cundiff, Doug Fishburn, Edis Oliver, Ed Sapigao, John Shepherd, Burt Carver, and Sid Hankins.

Mike Clark serves as a liaison to the committee from the Board of Directors, and Brian Gardiner is a consultant to the committee. There is much work to be done, and the committee is anxious to move forward. The goals are lofty for the small group of volunteers who presently serve. We need your help. If you are interested in serving, please contact me at tom@buildingenvelopeconsult.com.