NGA and GANA: Creating the Unified Voice for the Glass and Glazing Industry

The National Glass Association (NGA), Vienna, VA, and the Glass Association of North America (GANA), Topeka, KS, announced unanimous board approval for the combination of the two associations during GlassBuild America’s Opening Session in Atlanta last month.

Members of both associations had the opportunity to ask questions about what their new, combined association would look like. Doug Schilling, Schilling Graphics and GANA’s Volunteer President and Nicole Harris, NGA Staff President & CEO also addressed the members during GANA’s Fall Conference held in conjunction with GlassBuild, sharing these details:

The combination will result in one, unified voice to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of:

• Advocacy
• Technical resources
• Industry standards
• Data gathering
• Education and training
• Industry events
• Information sharing across our industry

The new Board of Directors of the combined Associations will consist of 13 voting Board members:

• 3 glazing contractors
• 3 full-service glass companies
• 2 WDDA dealers
• 2 glass fabricators
• 1 primary glass manufacturer (company changes yearly or biennially at board direction)
• 2 glass industry suppliers
• NGA President/CEO as a non-voting ex officio member

Effective on the Closing Date of the Combination, two voting positions of the initial combined Board of Directors will be filled by the current GANA President (currently, Doug Schilling) and current GANA Immediate Past President (currently, Stanley Yee) by special designation in a resolution of the NGA Board, for multi-year terms on the Board.

The combination will positively impact Association activities, including reducing meeting and operational redundancies, and trimming time and expense for our members and volunteers so they can better focus on their companies’ growth and objectives, and the long-term health and welfare of the glass and glazing industry.

A new Joint Implementation Task Force consisting of three members each from NGA and GANA will create a roadmap for the integration, picking up where the original Joint Task Force—which created the new organization’s governance structure—left off. An announcement of the six representatives of this body will be made soon.

Long-time member of both NGA and GANA, Rod Van Buskirk, President, Bacon & Van Buskirk, Champaign, IL expressed the views of many saying, “Congratulations to the GANA and NGA Boards for making the decision to unify our industry's two great associations. This move fulfills the hope of Roy Van Buskirk, a past President of GANA and a past Chairman of NGA, and many other long-time members of both GANA and NGA. Unifying our two great associations should help our industry speak with one voice and offer cost-effectiveness and greater service for our members and for the entire industry.”

Please click here for previous releases covering news of the combination.