High Turnout at 2022 Annual Meeting Signals Strength of Industrial Valve Industry

VMA News

Networking during awards dinner

The 2022 VMA/VRC Annual Meeting welcomed VMA and VRC members for three days of networking and programming that tackled today’s issues and offered opportunities designed to create meaningful partnerships. The event in Santa Barbara boasted the highest number of paid attendees in seven years, with close to 150 participants overall and more than 20 new attendees.

TACKLING TODAY’S ISSUES

Attendees took part in education sessions and discussions that focused on a variety of topics that are on the forefront of the collective industry’s minds now, including workforce development, the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, and China’s influence and impact on the U.S., Canadian and global economies. While the industry continues to have a strong backlog of orders, there are plenty of concerns from global issues, inflation, to labor shortages — and more — that temper the optimism. As always, the networking at the event was enjoyed by all.

U.S., Canadian and Global Political and Economic Outlook

Christina Bellantoni, a leading political editor, and award-winning journalist discussed the media’s role in reporting on the 2022 midterm elections and how it could do better when it comes to reporting the facts.

Scott McKnight, PhD, an expert on China, provided a deep dive into all things China, discussing areas such as Taiwan, its support of Russia, how the Chinese economy has been impacted by COVID shutdowns, and how the country is adopting an innovation strategy specific to sustainable energy.

Return speaker Michael Halloran of Baird sharing his outlook for the process controls market.

Turning to economics, attendees were presented with two slightly different perspectives on the U.S. economy and where it’s headed in 2023 during a lively Q&A with two leading experts–an industry stock analyst, Michael Halloran, who’s also a managing director with Robert W. Baird and Company, and a macroeconomist, Ken Matheny, PhD, executive director, and senior economist with S&P. This led to great interaction between the speakers and the audience as they debated whether a recession was likely, and the impact of an improving inflationary environment. Despite the economic headwinds, some potential breakaway industries that could do well next year are automotive, commercial construction, energy and utilities.

There was also a deeper dive into specialized markets including oil and gas, and water/wastewater, and more attendee discussion and sharing of ideas on returning to work and employee engagement.

Employee Management

Attracting and retaining talent continues to be a challenge across the entire manufacturing segment, and our industry is not immune.

Lisa Ryan of Grategy

Speaker Lisa Ryan is the president and founder of Grategy, a consultancy that focuses on employee retention and engagement. Ryan gave ideas that C-suite and leadership executives could implement into their organizations as the shift to a post-pandemic workplace and workforce continues. This included best practices for connecting with remote employees, attracting and retaining the industry's best people, and ideas to help capture and transfer knowledge between employees while building engagement across multigenerational teams. Ryan provided seven specific tactics that leaders could start to implement now to help with retention. These included ways in which leaders could connect with employees, as well as the importance of instilling pride in the products produced by showcasing how they are used and for what purpose.

Stuart Ducoffe, a seasoned employment and labor lawyer, founder of e2r, and partner and co-founder of Woolgar, VanWiechen, Cosgriffe, & Ducoffe LLP, touched on recommended approaches to attracting and retaining talent in the manufacturing sector including areas in production, administration, sales and marketing. He also provided several examples of legal cases and potential concerns for companies to consider when drafting new telework or remote policies.

VMA RECOGNIZES MEMBERS WITH AWARDS

During the annual meeting, the Valve Manufacturers honored two of its members who have consistently gone above and above with the 2022 Person of the Year Award and the VMA 2022 Service Award. VMA is honored and proud to recognize the two individuals below for their support of VMA and their leadership in the industry. We are grateful to have them as leaders in our organization! For a listing of past award winners, visit www.vma.org/awards.

VMA Person of the Year

The Person of the Year Award is VMA’s highest honor and given to one individual each year. The winner truly possesses passion for the industry and sharing their knowledge with others to help advance VMA and the industry at large.

Bryan Burns, President/CEO at DeZURIK, Inc., was named the 2022 Person of the Year. Mr. Burns has been influential in many aspects of the association over the past few years. His peers recognized him for his leadership, volunteering and stepping up when asked, as well as supporting others at DeZurik to be involved with VMA. He also served as VMA Board Chairman in 2019-2020, playing a key role in developing the five-year association strategy.

VMA Service Award

The Service Award recognizes individuals who have provided outstanding service, expertise and guidance while participating on a committee.

Kyndle McMurray, marketing manager, Richards Industrials, received a VMA Service Award for having gone above and beyond in supporting VMA, contributing to committee efforts and working with committees and staff to deliver value. Specifically, this past year she stepped in to fill the VMA Marketing & Communications Committee chair role quickly and took charge of the Committee's role at the Valve Forum this past April. She also served on the Strategic Planning Committee.

NEW LEADERS FOR VMA

Outgoing chair Ron Warren passes the gavel to new chair Matt Thiel

As part of the Annual Meeting, Ron Warren, president of Bray International and VMA Chairman of the Board announced the 2022/23 slate of nominees for the VMA Board of Directors. This includes the following:

Board chair: Matt Thiel, president, AUMA Actuators Incorporated
Vice chair/treasurer: Andy Duffy, vice president of sales, Emerson/ASCO
Nathan Brunell, product line general manager, Baker Hughes
Kirk Wilson, president, flow control division, Flowserve
Immediate past chair: Ron Warren, president/COO of Bray International Inc.

RETURNING AS BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEMBERS

Alejandro (Alex) Alcala, senior vice-president, Crane Co.
Mark Claffey, president, Trillium Valves USA
Danilo Garcia, president, RF Valves, Inc.
Seth Guterman, CEO, American Valve
David Loula, director, global products and markets, ITT Engineered Valves
Andrew Masullo, senior gneral manager, Valves Division, Curtiss Wright (new board member for a three-year term)
Kevin McKown, general manager, Curtiss-Wright Nuclear
Kevin J. Tinsley, SVP Global Operations, Neles
Rob Velan, executive vice-president, MRO & Aftermarket and Vice-Chairman of the Board, Velan Valve Corporation
Brian Wright, president/CEO, A-T Controls

VMA Awards William “Bill” Sandler Scholarship to Four Students

Now entering its fourth year, the VMA William “Bill” Sandler Scholarship Program was established to provide educational opportunities to the children of VMA and VRC member company employees. Sandler was with the VMA for 42 years, the longest-serving employee in VMA history. He rose to become VMA’s president, leading and guiding the association through the ever-changing industry. Sandler’s unwavering commitment to his family, fellow employees and all association members was unparalleled. VMA endows scholarships in Sandler’s name for college and trade school students in the fields of Engineering and Manufacturing.

VMA awarded the 2022 William Sandler Scholarship award to four outstanding recipients: Stephen Bayreuther, Brooklyn Dixon, Colleen Foster and Jacob Mizer.

The program provides financial assistance to help offset the rising cost of post-secondary education — both in technical schools and four-year universities and colleges — and promotes career pursuit in areas of importance for the valve manufacturing industry.

Stephen Bayreuther is attending West Virginia University. His father, David Bayreuther, works at Valmet.

Brooklyn Dixon is attending Texas A&M. Her father, Jimmy Dixon, works at Emerson Automation.

Colleen Foster is attending the University of Texas. Her father, Roy Foster, works at Oklahoma Custom Coating.

Jacob Mizer is attending Ohio University. His father, Craig Mizer, works at AUMA Actuators.

The 2023 William Sandler Scholarship program is now accepting applications for the 2023-2024 school year. For more information on the program and to apply for the 2023 scholarship, visit www.vma.org/sandlerscholar. The deadline to apply is June 30, 2023.

VMA WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS

Valve Accessories and Controls

Valve Accessories and Controls (VAC) markets quality valve positioner products for modulating control valves in various flow control markets. The simple, but rugged products incorporate many years of direct industry experience, coupled with a genuine interest in customer feedback and satisfaction. Their simple straightforward approach to their product carries over to how they deal with customers and their employees. Quality matters … service matters … a positive attitude matters … character matters. Learn more about VAC at vacaccessories.com.

AWC, Inc.

AWC, Inc. is an authorized, local sales, support and service partner to many of the world’s most trusted Automation and Control Systems brands. The company provides technology insights and expertise to troubleshoot problems, specify products, engineer systems and manage projects. They also test ideas and validate technologies, and work on systems integrations. Learn more about AWC at awc-inc.com.

VALVE BASICS SEMINAR AND PETTING ZOO – Registration Open

Nov. 9-11, 2022

Houston Area Safety Council

Pasadena, Texas

The Valve Basics program is hitting the road later this fall, and it’s the perfect opportunity to gain hands-on education of the fundamentals of valves and actuators, as well as increase your knowledge on the standards, trends, best practices, applications and troubleshooting techniques with new or maintenance operations.

The Valve Basics Seminar and Petting Zoo is coming to the Houston Area Safety Council in Pasadena, Texas. The event provides three days of in-person learning and training, perfect for those who are new to using, installing, maintaining or specifying valves, or those who are new to the industry or want to expand their knowledge on different types of valves and actuators.

The highlight of the event is the Petting Zoo. The Petting Zoo provides a hands-on opportunity to touch and operate valves and actuators, and their parts and components. This part of the event provides a real-world learning experience that complements the classroom setting.

Attendees will also hear non-proprietary lessons on various types of linear, check, air valves, quarter-turn and solenoid valves, and electric actuators. Selecting the right valve for the application, standards, start-up/shut-down operations and implications of industry trends such as IIOT are also reviewed.

With non-proprietary content taught by a variety of experts in their field, this is the most unique education and training event in the industrial valve industry. Registration is now open for the in-person Valve Basics Seminar and Petting Zoo. Learn more and join us at www.vma.org/valvebasics