Well, it’s official now. No one stepped up to take over the Presidency of the Northeast Region so, as stated in the By- Laws, the Vice-President assumes the Presidency. So, by default, I am your President for the next two Institute years. This was finalized at our August Board of Directors Conference Call.
For the many of you that I have not had the pleasure of meeting, I will take a moment to give you on a little back- ground about myself. I got into the construction industry by going to work for a distant cousin that was a large masonry contractor. I worked in the industry doing masonry, masonry restoration and waterproofing for 25 years. After inventing a product for the industry, I stated a company called EXO-TEC Manufacturing, Inc. to sell that product. I have since added two more products to the product line. While selling my prod- ucts, I met other manufacturers who asked me to sell there products also. I started another company to do this named EXO-TEC Solutions, Inc. When I left the masonry, masonry restoration and waterproofing contracting industry, I had cli- ents that offer to hire me to help them identify the source of problems with their buildings and come up with solutions. Thus, I started a third company named EXO-TEC Consult- ing, Inc. where I work for building owners, Architects, Engi- neers, building managers, contractors and even lawyers to resolve issues with buildings and their design.
I am a member of the Boston CSI Chapter and have been on their Board of Directors for years. I also chair the Chapters Region Conference Committee. I was a founding member of The Air Barrier Association of America, was President of that organization for eight years, served as a Director for 17 years, was named a Fellow of the organization. I also chair their Conference Commit- tee, chair their Ad-Hoc Committee on Technical Notes, have authored all of their technical notes to date ( just one left to write as of right now ), and am a member of their Technical, Research and Mar- keting Committees.
With all of this going on, I bet your are asking yourselves the same question I asked of myself when I was named the President of the Northeast Region. “How can I do an effective job as President?”. That is when I decided to give up sleep……………..just kidding. The other Executives and Board members of the Region pledged their support and assistance in making my term a success. This convinced me that I could assume the Presidency and fulfill its obligations.
As with any Presidency, I have always set at least one goal for the organization that I was presiding over. For this organization, the goal that I have chosen is increased membership. To achieve that goal, I will need the help of all of the members. One of the methods to achieve this goal that was singled out by the Board of Directors was to upgrade the quality of programming at the chapter and region level. The Board voted to approve $ 5,000.00 to assist chapters in upgrading their programming. If there is a presenter that a chapter would like to have, but there is a cost associated with that presenter, the Chapter can request the funding from the Region. The guidelines and forms to receive this funding will be finalized at the Board of Directors meeting at the end of this month. We will forward this information to all of the Chapters once it is approved.
In order to share ideas on programming at each of the chapters, I asked for a report from each chapter on their programming for the upcoming year. Also, there is an Upcoming Events page on the Region website. https://nercsi.com/events/. I would like to see all chapters posting their calendar of events on this page so that the chapters can share their presentations and ideas for presentations. Please send your calendar of events or links to your calendar pages to Mike Helly for inclusion in the website. His e-mail address is: mikehelly.design@gmail.com.
The next Board meeting will be held at The Century House 977 New Loudon Road Latham, NY. Our Conference Committee Chair, Martin Helly, has negotiated a hotel room rate for the attendees for this meeting. The meeting is scheduled in conjunction with the Eastern New York Chapter’s planning meet- ing on September 27th.
Our feature event of the Region year will be our Northeast Region Conference. It will be held in Plymouth, MA on May 27th through 28th at the 1620 Hotel. It is the 400th anniversary of the founding of Plymouth and the town has planned many events to celebrate the anniversary. The Mayflower is in the process of being renovated and will return to its dock in Plymouth Harbor the week before our conference. There are many other interesting things to do and places to visit in Plymouth. The Conference Committee will provide attendees with guides and discounts on these activities. The theme for the conference is Resiliency, Longevity and Durability. This theme was chosen to coincide with the 400th Anniversary of Plymouth. In keeping with our goal of better programming, our keynote speaker will be Joe Listburek Ph.D., P.Eng., ASHRAE Fellow of Building Science Corporation. Joe is one of the most well known and respected authority on building science and performance. We will also be having presen- tations from companies such as Gale Associates, Inc., RDH Building Science, Inc. Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Symmes Maini & McKee and Wiss Janney & Elstner. For entertainment at the banquet on Friday night, we have hired comedian Bobby Collins to entertain us at our banquet on Friday night. Bobby is known as “ The comedian’s comedian “. I have been a fan of his for years and go to see him whenever he comes to New England. Have a look at his website for clips of some of his routines. https://bobbycollins.com. Please inform your membership about the conference at each of your meetings. The programming for the conference will be complete and posted on the conference section of the Region website in October.
I am looking forward to serving you over the next two years and helping the organization achieve its goals. Please feel free to contact me to offer and advice or commentary that will help this organization.
Best regards,
Len Anastasi, CSI, CDT, FABAA
President, Northeast Region CSI