Andrea L. Beaudin
It’s hard to believe that this letter marks the halfway point of my presidency. In many ways, it feels as if the time has flown, but as an association, we’ve accomplished so much.
If I were to name a goal for my tenure as president, it would be, “Seize the Opportunity.” Our history as an association and our strength as an industry has always relied upon honestly appraising situations, nurturing our strengths, recognizing that which we have the power to change, and evaluating those changes we ourselves may need to make.
In the past year, we as an association have fostered and nurtured our strengths. We celebrated a wonderfully successful 60th Original Connecticut Home Show, we helped to educate and strengthen our relationship with consumers with our weekly radio show, House Calls, we’ve reinforced our commitment to community with our Biennial Auction which raised $25,000 for our endowment to the UConn Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and under the auspices of the association, individual members have been part of the Habitat for Humanity Builder’s Blitz and Homes for Our Troops. As a group, we’ve drawn upon our power to institute change through our member turnout in such events as Builders Day at the Capitol and made our voices heard at several industry-based legislative initiatives at the local, state, and national levels. We’ve also recognized when change was beneficial. Though the housing market has been strong for some time, we have experienced and will again experience periodic slowdowns. It is during such times that we should seize the opportunity to evaluate our practices and reflect upon ways to strengthen our products, our businesses, and our association. As an association, we recently formed an historic alliance with OSHA. Individual members have taken advantage of such educational programs as Green Building and earning the Certified Aging in Place Specialist (CAPS) designation in order to become better aware of industry trends and considerations. Thanks to an astounding membership drive, one-hundred and eighteen firms are just starting to seize the opportunities that membership provides.This is a time to think, to learn, and to act. Today is your opportunity. Seize it.
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