At the 2008 ISSFA Day at the EXPO, Todd Werstler talked about the power of “We” as ISSFA. In his article in the premier issue of this magazine he wrote about a town hall meeting he attended in Boston late in 2007. “After a lively discussion, WE hammered out some outstanding program ideas that are coming to life in 2008. WE, the ISSFA AWI Document Committee, are going to develop a detailed solid surface fabrication and use guideline section for use in the AWI manual.”

ISSFA is pleased to announce that Zary South has been selected to become the Manager of Membership and Member Service. “Zary is a welcome and exciting addition to Team ISSFA,” says Robert Oxley, ISSFA Executive Director. “He ‘gets it’ when it comes to the fact that we exist to serve the members and mission of ISSFA. Plus, he has a unique background in electronics, technology, business ownership and serving customers.

Colonial Saw brings you the latest development from the Swiss engineers at STRIEBIG.  An automatic travel version of our extremely popular STRIEBIG Compact and Compact Plus vertical panel saws.

Get ready for the industry event of the year! The Regional Meeting this year in Devens, MA, just outside Boston, is currently in the planning stages and is quickly shaping into the “can’t miss event” of 2008!

For some time now we at ISSFA have felt the increasing need to expand upon the Business Journal and publish a full-fledged magazine more applicable and useful to our solid surface and quartz fabricator member base. The desire for a publication that would more directly meet their needs was communicated to us... and we listened!

In the true spirit of giving back to the industry, ISSFA Member Kerry Keyes of Wooden-It-Be-Nice in 29 Palms, California, has announced the establishment of an annual scholarship. Kerry came up with the idea of a scholarship while attending ISSFA training last November.

The association has just received notification from LG Solid Source – the North American sales and marketing arm for LG Surfaces – that Gregory Vas Nunes has been selected as President by the LGSS board of directors.

ISSFA is most pleased to announce that Emergency Material Services is now offering their exclusive Advantage Program for all ISSFA Members. As of January 1, 2008, ISSFA members can now receive a Free Membership to Emergency Material Services exclusive network! That’s a savings of $29.95 per month!

Planit Solutions and ETemplate Systems today announce a seamless integration between their respective products. This integration allows users of both systems to perform detailed as-built jobsite measurements using ETemplate Photo, and bring this data directly into Cabnetware and Cabinet Vision as an accurate layout for the design process.

We are pleased to announce that Diamond Surfaces is being featured on 
a national television program called Great Taste.  This is only the first of many airings to come.