ACCA 2012 - Joe Nichter's Outgoing Remarks

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Joe Nichter. Thank you, I didn't know I was going to have to follow the Rat Pack, so bear with me here. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve as your chairman for the past year. It's been an honor and a tremendous learning experience. Before I move on, I'd like to take time to thank my wife Pam and my family for their support they have given me during this very busy, fast-paced year. And in addition, I could have never been able to devote the time and energy without the support from the leadership of Comfort Systems USA Southwest. So my sincere thanks goes to the entire team. Since we met in San Antonio, I've had the privilege of traveling more than 40,000 miles on your behalf, from huge meetings like the HR Expo in Chicago to small meetings like the Joint Futures Committee sponsored by ACCA, AHRI, and Hardy. I've learned that ACCA is held in the highest esteem by everyone in all sectors of the industry. I've responded to over 700 association-related emails, spoken weekly with our COO and CEO, engaged in regular conversations with my senior vice chair and other volunteer leaders, and taken calls from members all over the country. It's been a busy year, but I couldn't be more proud of what we've accomplished together. The new vision and mission crafted by your board, which I touched on at the opening session, is an important milestone for our industry. It's the first time we've had a clear, sharp focus on what ACCA must do and who we must serve. For any organization to become great, it must know who it is and who it wants to be. ACCA cannot survive, let alone achieve greatness, if it tries to be all things to all people. By focusing on our areas of greatest opportunity as identified in our vision statement, we can lead our members to business success. One of the many accomplishments I am most proud of this year is the establishment of ACCA's new subsidiary, IE3 Media. In just a few short months, IE3 launched a print magazine that's already the best designed, easiest to read in the industry, and is completely integrated with the web and mobile devices. IE3 launched a new social network that will play a big role in our future communications and is getting ready to launch a series of mobile applications that will make life easier for contractors and technicians. It's exciting stuff, and it's here because for the first time in our history, there are four generations employed in the workplace: the Traditionalists, the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y, the Millennials. For ACCA to move its agenda forward, we need to recognize the gap between these generations, understand it, and bridge it. How many Baby Boomers do we have in the audience tonight, born between 1946 and 1964? Show of hands. We grew up thinking that working a 50 or 60-hour work week was normal. Well, that's becoming history. Younger people want balance in their lives and they don't want to live to work. Remember how we used to write notes in cursive? Today it's a foreign language; they don't even teach it anymore. Have you ever been in a room with two young people who are texting each other rather than talking? It makes me scratch my head and wonder why, but it's completely natural to them. They'd rather order a pizza with an iPhone app than use that same iPhone to call for delivery. The way we communicate is changing and there is nothing more fundamental to driving an agenda than communicating. IE3 opens up new avenues for communication because it is not a magazine publisher or a website. It's a provider of real-world intelligence and knowledge solutions for the indoor environment industry. It will not be bound to one kind of media and it has no allegiance to tradition. Its only goal is to provide contractors with the tools and the knowledge they need to succeed. ACCA is able to make creative leaps like this faster than any other organization because we are fortunate to be led by a board made up solely of contractors, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and dreamers. They are used to getting things done and this year is no exception. The board is continually focusing on long and short-term goals through our strategic plan. This last year was no exception. We have come up with several new objectives that we have to prioritize. A few of these are business modeling for productive, efficient organizations, rethinking our membership model and enhancing the membership experience, contractor accreditation programs, mentoring, how we handle the paradigm shift from working in the business to on the business, new service opportunities for commercial contractors, new applications for mobile devices, and workforce development for the entire industry. Working through over 20 committees, subcommittees, and task forces, our board crafts the big picture strategic plan and hires the professional staff to make things happen. Everyone who volunteers their time to ACCA, whether it be on a task force, local chapter committee, or the board itself, plays a vital role in shaping this organization and our industry. I wish I had the time to name them all. If you haven't already, be sure to check out the Hall of Fame on the Expo floor for the names of those who have served ACCA National this year. Hopefully you'll see your own name, and if not, we hope to see it there next year. I know I leave this association in good hands. Laura DeFilippo, our incoming chairman, has served on the board for over a decade and been one of the hardest working, most talented leaders. From her service chairing our Professional Development Committee, where she expanded business training and introduced our four-year apprenticeship series, to her service as chair of the Chapter Relations Committee, where she has played a key role in strengthening the relationship with our chapter leaders. While our two companies could hardly be any more different, Laura and I are always on the same page. It's been a pleasure working with her and I'm looking forward to an exciting year for ACCA. I leave the membership with a challenge. Today we need to attract the best of the best in our association, and all of us need to meet and exceed the ACCA code of ethics. We need to raise the bar for our competition to meet by complying with all laws and regulations, maintaining an understanding of proper system design, and ensuring that quality, honesty, integrity, and good faith are hallmarks of our businesses and our association. If companies cannot or will not meet these goals, then we should be clear they are not welcome in ACCA. Finally, I would just like to extend my personal thanks to each member of the board and the ACCA staff, all the members, and all our corporate partners for your overwhelming support this year. It has been a pleasure to serve you, an experience I will never forget. Thank you very much.