Texas Delivers

I say it all the time. Texas never disappoints. And that was surely true this past week at Glass TEXpo in San Antonio. The wonderful folks at the Texas Glass Association took care of me once again, and I am truly grateful. 

The show was busy, and for the most part, the vibe was positive. But there was that underlying tone of frustration with the market and the new reality of quotes and estimates. I think we’re in that same boat with the current landscape and the lack of visibility into the future, thanks to the always-changing and confusing mess of the tariffs. So, folks are adjusting, but it’s just another hurdle to deal with. Good thing we are resilient and the people I talked to at the show are not letting anything stop them, so that was nice to experience.

As I always do after an industry event, I like to mention some of the folks I ran into and things I noticed along the way, so here goes. First and foremost, when I mentioned the TGA above, the President this year is Brian Risinger of Country Glass. That dude is one of the classiest around and just a great person to lead the way there. Given his responsibilities at the show, it was awesome to get a few minutes with him. Wade Arnold of USBP/Quikserv held onto his title as one of the best presenters in our industry, with an excellent one about school security and glass and glazing. If you ever get a chance to see him present, run, don’t walk to that one. 

Seeing people I worked with in my past is always fun, but this time I ran into 2 people I had not seen probably in 15+ years. Carla Styles with YKK has been on fire since I met her long ago, doing great things in our space. She's crushed it over the years. Running into her was super cool! As was seeing Marlin Burns. He stopped me in my tracks, and it was incredible to catch up and hear his adventures since we worked together. He is living the life! I noted last week that I was excited to see David Shaw and that did not disappoint. He’s looking good and getting better daily! One of the best around.

I love the Champion Glass guys, David Luna, Ray Luna, and Davey Luna are tremendous, and getting a chance to break bread with them was an honor. Speaking of honors, getting a few minutes with Felix and Regina Munson of Anchor Ventana is massive.  I thoroughly enjoy catching up with them, and I appreciate their drive. Todd and Kim Joubert of Sage Architectural Products continue to own it out there, and while I think I only get to chat with them at this event, I always appreciate it.

Booth-wise, nothing compared at all to the stunner that Precision Glass put up. Big time props to Jackie Nguyen there, who carried it from start to finish. The huge IG with decorative showing the details of some of PGI’s capacity was a showstopper. Also, it was awesome to run into Charlotte Davis there, she recently joined PGI, and that was a great hire. Also catching much attention were the guys from Z Secure, who showed off their impressive technology, which I think has a place in our world. Kudos to Tim Miller and Robert McElroy on that. My pals from Bella Architectural also had an exhibit to remember as well. Anytime you give guys like Gregg Wakefield and Brian Mudd some space to show off, they deliver!

Quick catch ups with Kirk Johnson (Pulp), Kyle Lindersmith (Burkle), Lindsey and Dustin Price (Texas Glazing Solutions), Alex Buechel (Learn Glazing) Marcus Dreher (MP Drafting) and John Mattie (FHC), were fantastic moments for me. Plus, it's always fun to see Nicola Lattuada and Joe Gates as well. And of course, you can’t have “fun” without the Tristar folks being involved. Congrats to them on their significant anniversary there with so much more to come. Deshun Baker of RACO was a neat one to meet in person finally. Super sharp guy.

Last, it was nice to see Kevin Carrasco of Marsh McLennan especially since I missed his killer speech at the CGA. But last I saw him he was trying to rescue his bag that was being held hostage there. Hopefully he found it! So there ya go, I know I missed a ton to mention (sorry!) but I loved catching up with all!!

Elsewhere, just a couple because this has been a long one….

Upcoming webinar

Webinar- This week from the fine folks at NAGMA, a good one, 3D Laser Scanning: Digitizing the Glazing Industry. That’s on the 14th. Learn more here.

Mental Health Awareness Month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and here are a couple of links in case you missed them. Travis Nevins of IUPAT had a great piece in Glass Magazine about breaking the stigma out there. And the Rock Star Melanie Dettmer of the NGA with a moving and genuine post (common for Mel) on the month with some great words of encouragement.

Next week, new pod drop, also Barn-dos and Magic… and more!