Content about chair

The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) has released its national legislative and regulatory policy agenda for 2013, which will serve as a guideline for meetings with members of Congress and key administration officials on March 18 to 20.

BISSELL PowerFresh Steam Mop

Savannah, Ga. -- At a gathering of 200 pro dealers and suppliers here, the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) board of directors introduced a new leadership team headed by Chuck Bankston, president of Bankston Lumber in Barnesville, Ga. The Oct. 24 installation was held during the ProDealer Industry Summit, a three-day event jointly sponsored by the NLBMDA and Home Channel News.

During the 2012 ProDealer Industry Summit in Savannah, Ga., Oct. 24 to 26, Chuck Bankston of Bankston Lumber will be inaugurated as National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) chairman during the annual Officers Installation Dinner.

Here are some of the fourth-generation pro dealer’s thoughts on the importance of the national group:

On the priorities of the NLBMDA:

San Antonio — The layoffs, bankruptcies, pay cuts and long hours that have cast a pall over the industry for the last several years were pushed aside for three days last month as LBM executives gathered here to greet old friends, catch up on gossip, and maybe learn a thing or two about how to run a better business. The 2011 ProDealer Industry Summit, co-sponsored by the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) and Home Channel News, hosted 100-plus pro dealers and LBM distributors from more than 65 companies Oct. 26 to 28.

President, CEO and founding chair of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Rick Fedrizzi has been elected chair of the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC). The WorldGBC is a coalition of green building councils from 89 countries.

The California State Water Resources Control Board is proposing new regulations on stormwater runoff and containment that the Lumber Association of California & Nevada (LACN) has called "controversial, costly and unfair."

According to Ken Dunham, LACN executive director, the regulations affect lumberyards and any business with a physical outside yard. LACN Government Affairs Chair and LACN Second VP Augie Venezia presented his views and those of the LACN at an Aug. 17 workshop organized by the Water Resources Control Board.

Annette Verschuren, the former president of Home Depot Canada, will chair the 2012 Governor General's Canadian Leadership Conference, according to an article in the Montreal Gazette. She will be the first woman ever to lead the symposium.

Canadian distributor and retailer RONA introduced an alkaline-battery charger that works for regular disposable batteries. This new product, available under the RONA ECO brand, has been analyzed by the International Chair in Life Cycle Assessment at École Polytechnique de Montréal.

The device can recharge four AA or AAA batteries at a time. The recharge time only takes 90 minutes, and the charger can recharge the same battery up to 200 times, raising the average life expectancy of a battery from eight hours to 1,600 hours, according to RONA. 

Doron Broadfoot, president of The Rent-It Store in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, took over as chair for the board of trustees of the American Rental Association Foundation.

The Moline, Ill.-based ARA Foundation also named a new vice chair. Catherine DeBusk, VP of Party People Rentals in Phoenix will fill that post. Two new trustees joined the Foundation board: Andy Cooke, VP Cooke Rentals in North Carolina, and Dave Garton, sales and marketing manager for John Deere, Moline, Ill.