Looking Back to Look Ahead

On June 23 I had the pleasure of sharing a conference room with a number of industry leaders for a WLRA Strategy Session, where participants shared ideas and opportunities on how to attract and retain talent to the Lumber and Building Materials Industry.

Through a moderator, participants actively engaged in a SWOT analysis of the industry and discussed challenges that need to be addressed. This sparked thoughtful conversation around diversity and inclusion, and participants openly shared stories of how each of their individual organizations currently attracts and retain employees, and discussed common hurdles we all face as an industry during the hiring process. Through this process, key areas were identified for the WRLA, as an association, to take an active role in exploring different avenues to help increase our industry’s visibility in the job hunt market. This topic has been discussed at numerous board meetings in the past, but until this strategy session, it was unclear to what extent or depth our members saw value in our association’s involvement. We look forward to launching phase one of our public awareness campaign in the coming weeks. Understanding that this campaign is intended to help the industry, your engagement will be critical to its success.

This time of year, member interaction typically occurs during our Golf Tournaments, and I am proud to say, last year’s proceeds funded a record number of Scholarships that were handed out to a record number of current industry employees for continuing education classes, to not only better themselves, but better our industry as a whole. That said, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the strategy session attendees for their participation in this initiative. Their employers and colleagues should be proud of these forward thinkers. On a personal note, it’s refreshing to be able to gather a group of individuals and have meaningful conversations around the sustainability of our industry, and not have focus deviate to personal agendas. So thank you to the following participants for your professionalism, input and dedication to our industry! • Peter Kozak with Metrie

• Mitch Wile with the Cedar Shop • Curt Butala with Mclean Lumber

• Crystal Workun with Johns Manville • Heather Cooper with Johns Manville • Michelle Thompson with Pinkwood • Vicky Cato with Pinkwood • Eddie Choe with Trimlite

• Mike Delaney with Kenroc I look forward to connecting with you all over the coming months, have a great summer!

Joel Seibert

CHAIR, WRLA