BEC Conference, Experts Discuss How Disruption can Become opportunity
The National Glass Association’s BEC Conference welcomed over 650 participants to Louisville, Kentucky, for premier programming focused on the challenges the industry is facing. Naming many of those headwinds, including increased performance requirements as well as supply chain issues and project delays, NGA President and CEO Lakisha A. Woods opened the conference by reassuring the audience that NGA was there to support them. “We exist to support the glass and glazing community, and that means providing you with the technical resources, training programs, advocacy efforts and industry connections you need not just to survive, but to thrive,” she said.
The first full day of education sessions made clear that the building industry is facing a succession crisis throughout the project delivery chain as seasoned professionals begin to retire and take their expertise with them. Industry leaders acknowledged the ongoing challenge, while also providing guidance on effective succession planning and greater collaboration across project partners.
BEC Conference continues through today, March 3. For live updates follow NGA on Instagram.
As retirements increase, recruiting and retaining employees requires new strategies
Speaking to job growth in 2025 and 2026, Sarah Martin, associate director of forecasting, Dodge Construction Network, said that about 2 million workers are leaving the workforce every year, and their roles are not being replaced. “Every year, we're losing people to retirement, and not really adding to that supply,” she explained as part of her presentation “Building through Uncertainty: 2026 Construction Outlook.”
Other speakers also grappled with this reality. Priscilla Koeckeritz, president and CEO, Brin Glass, began her presentation by asking company owners and CEOs in the audience to stand. She then asked those who would be retiring soon to sit, which amounted to about 30% of that original group. Finally, she asked those sitting whether or not they had a succession plan for their business; not everyone did.
Speaking to Brin Glass’s past difficulties in creating a succession plan, she asked “How do we prepare that next generation of leaders to take on these companies that we built?” Koeckeritz detailed how her tenure at Brin Glass, which started in 2019, had been complicated by CEO Doug Nelson’s passing, unexpected retirements, the pandemic, higher costs, and a new generation of workers.
During this time, Koeckeritz encountered some resistance from staff to changing the company’s operations and processes, and the unhelpful mindset that “If we could go back to doing it how we used to do it, everything would be fine.” Instead, she encouraged attendees to build on the company’s excellence while also embracing change. “You can build on your legacy, but you can’t do it the same way you’ve always done it,” she said. She encouraged company leaders to think differently about recruiting new members, and consider having a mix of employees from inside and outside the industry.
A panel discussion of next-generation leaders of family-owned companies, moderated by Ted Baumgardner, president, Guthrie AI Inc., also explored the critical and complex nature of succession planning. Baumgardner began the discussion by sharing that 60% of contracting companies do not have a succession plan.
Panelists encouraged attendees to start succession planning now, especially since it can be a long and complex process. Patrick Murphy, president, Texas Commercial Glass Concepts, shared that the process of transitioning business ownership will total 13 years for their company. Emily Yukish, president and CEO, Specified Systems Inc., who took over the reins of the company from her father, advised owners to start planning as soon as possible. “It’s not an easy or cheap process,” she said. Leadership at the company considered many different scenarios, and had to consult attorneys, financial planners and accountants to decide on their plan, Yukish added.
All panelists emphasized that having a succession plan helps create stability for a company. Yukish said that having her father still part of the company helped her get buy-in from employees during the transition. Baumgardner also said that having a transition plan in place at his company encouraged employees that there would be continuity, which could aid in retention.
Recruiting and retention was also at the center of the presentation “From Overlooked to Unstoppable,” which showcased the benefits of second-chance hiring. Presenter Joshua Johnson, founder of The Redemption Collective, began by sharing his own experience as a formerly-incarcerated individual who was given a chance at employment, in spite of the barriers that can exist for what he calls “justice-impacted individuals.”
Given that hiring continues to be difficult across the glass industry, he challenged the audience to consider hiring from this labor pool, instead of trying to recruit where they have always recruited. “Every year 600,000 individuals released from incarceration, and more than a quarter are currently unemployed,” he says.
Building partnerships to find new labor from this talent pool is key, he says, and advised glass industry owners and leaders to build strong partnerships with workforce development boards, local community groups and faith-based organizations in order to find justice-impacted individuals to join their workforce. “You don’t need to build a talent pipeline from scratch,” he said. After establishing partnerships, he also recommended that leaders invite members from those organizations to visit their facilities and get to know their business, so that they can better understand what kind of workforce is needed for glazing contractors.
Johnson shared that preconceptions about formerly incarcerated employees can negatively affect retention, especially if employees are not offered competitive wages and the opportunity to grow within the company. “People think of justice-impacted talent as only able to come in and build the widget, not run the line,” he said, a mindset that doesn’t appreciate their full potential.
Installing Committee Meets at BEC Conference
The National Glass Association Installing Committee met on March 2 at the BEC Conference. The meeting was led by NGA Installing Committee Chair Joey Aragon, Aragon Construction. Read the full recap.
Guest Architect speaker supports new project integration to foreground glazier expertise
Retirement and changes in workforce development are also affecting the architect community, said Timothy Hawk, FAIA, president, WSA Studio, in a conversation led by NGA’s Woods. In discussing the friction that can exist between design vision and the execution of glazing systems, he said the emerging generation of architects are not being taught the same technical knowledge as previous generations. In addition, architect bandwidth is being directed towards other aspects of building, which can result in a fundamental misunderstanding and misuse of glazing systems by the design community.
While the technical “know-how” of previous generations won’t be replaced with AI, he says, it can be replaced by industry partnerships, including those with the glass industry. “We [architects] know a lot, but we don’t know anything at the depth you do about these [glazing] systems,” he told the audience, arguing for much earlier collaboration with installers who can provide that technical guidance on glazing systems. “We need to move to a system that is more negotiated,” he said, recognizing that this is a longer-term goal.
Bright spots in code development, regulations and market outlook, amid uncertainty
Presenters also spoke to the state of the commercial market and regulatory landscape, emphasizing opportunities amid ongoing uncertainty.
“We’ve been living through constant shifts, and that’s not new,” said Dodge’s Sarah Martin. “But how quickly it’s moving is new.” Martin says that what is pushing market growth in 2026 has changed as GDP composition has rapidly shifted. Still, 2026 is likely to see tailwinds from AI growth, including semiconductors and data center investment, which she says will hopefully offset “the continued headwinds that we'll see from restrictive immigration policies and trade.”
While starts for health care and data center segments will see an increase next year, “we're certainly not forecasting amazing growth in construction in 2027,” Martin said, especially due to continued project delays.
The regulatory landscape also remains dynamic, according to Urmilla Sowell, vice president, advocacy and technical services, NGA and Tom Culp, owner, energy code contractor, Birch Point Consulting, NGA. Despite shifts in federal policies, A&D interest in material transparency and EPDs is still increasing, Sowell said. “We’re seeing more demand for it—some architects will not consider a bid if the EPD is not available.” Beyond meeting the requirements of a project, having material transparency information could also be an opportunity for companies, they say, pointing to the recently passed rebate program in New Mexico for purchasing low-carbon construction materials, including glass and aluminum.
Energy and green building codes will continue to affect the glass industry, Culp says, though there has been a significant divergence between national and local policy. While at the national level, there’s been small advancements in national model energy codes, the city and state level are seeing increased activity, he says. New energy codes are going into effect in states like California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota.
The National Glass Association would like to thank its media sponsor, Vitro Architectural Glass.