Twenty-five years ago, NRCA celebrated its centennial convention; this year, the association marks yet another milestone: 125 years.
As I looked through some of NRCA's archival materials, I realized no one could have predicted many of the events of the past 25 years. To me, 1985, despite its challenges, was innocent and simple compared with the industry and world of 2012—the horrors of 9/11 and its aftermath notwithstanding.
There are the obvious technological advancements that have, for the most part, made business operations and communications easier, but these advances come with the price of decreasing privacy and increasing vulnerabilities to hackers and other electronic threats.
For the roofing industry in particular, there have been unprecedented changes during the past 25 years: solar roof systems, more efficient insulation and recyclable roofing materials, for example, emerged; widespread consolidation among manufacturers, distributors and contractors occurred; and building codes, government regulations and immigration policy affect the industry more than ever.
NRCA responded to these changes by opening its Washington, D.C., office in 1989 and creating The Roofing Industry Alliance for Progress in 1996, Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing in 2008 and Roof Integrated Solar Energy Inc.™ in 2010.
But I doubt anyone present at NRCA's centennial convention would have imagined 25 years later NRCA no longer would own the trade show portion of its convention, which it sold to Hanley Wood LLC, Dallas, in 2004. Yet that decision has been profoundly positive for NRCA as it readies itself and the industry to face the next 25 years.
No one can predict what life will be like when NRCA celebrates its 150th convention, but I am sure NRCA will be working, as it always has, toward improving all aspects of the roofing industry.
Ambika Puniani Bailey is editor of Professional Roofing and NRCA's senior director of communications.
