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nuca CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE
NUCA Provides Value in 2011
In a follow up from my last Chairman’s Message, I am happy to
report that the 3 percent withholding tax has been fully repealed
by Congress and signed into law by the President. This important
achievement ranks high among the successes NUCA has to its credit
in recent years. While NUCA works diligently to support legislation
that affects the utility and excavation industry, a final unilateral
victory in the lobbying game is pretty rare. I am very proud of
NUCA’s staff and all of the NUCA members that have worked so hard
to make this legislative effort a success.
Now is no time to rest on our laurels, however. Before the President’s
ink had a chance to dry, NUCA’s lobbying staff was giving exciting updates about the
progress we are making on elimination of the current cap on private activity bonds that
could be used to fund water and wastewater projects. We anticipate positive momentum
that could make 2012 an exciting year for this legislation (HR 1802/B 939).
As 2011 comes to a close, it is encouraging to know that NUCA has provided such
quantifiable value to its members. We can be proud of our accomplishments to date, and at
the same time be excited for the things to come. Another area where NUCA has demonstrated
improved value for its members is the new “National Partners” (NP) program.
As a part of NUCA’s strategic plan, the NP program was unveiled to provide better value
for our associate members who want to engage with our membership beyond membership
alone. After substantial due diligence, we realized that many of our valued associate
members were becoming disenchanted with the conventional trade show format, yet still
wanted to engage with contractors and other NUCA members.
We also realized that associate members were spending a lot of money with unrelated
third party vendors (hotels, trade show suppliers, freight, etc.) that provided no value to
NUCA. It was clear that NUCA provided a lot of advertising and networking value that
would suit the different levels of the NP program. We unveiled the program in 2011 and
have received very positive feedback and participation. This program has participation
levels that can accommodate any budget, but more importantly, provides different
opportunities for value that associate members seek. Parts of the program resemble
previous sponsorship opportunities such as convention sponsorship, but there are many
new “value drivers” in the various packages. NUCA also offers a new range of website
advertising starting in 2012. With just a few months of soliciting participants under our
belt, we believe we have discovered the future of associate member sponsorship and we
haven’t looked back since.
NUCA is proud to have provided its membership with some larger, more visible
accomplishments, but I would also like to recognize NUCA staff and leadership for the
day-to-day small accomplishments that are the backbone of quality representation our
members receive as part of NUCA. NUCA is committed to bringing the same high level of
value demonstrated in 2011 into all its activities in 2012.
6 Utility Contractor | December 2011
Happy Holidays,
Ryan Schmitt
NUCA Chairman of the Board
NUCA | www.nuca.com
Officers
Chairman of the Board
Ryan Schmitt — Petticoat-Schmitt Civil Contractors, FL
Chairman-Elect of the Board
James Barron — Ronkin Construction Inc., MD
Vice Chairman of the Board
Florentino Gregorio — Anchor Construction Corp., D.C
Treasurer
Ronald T. Nunes — R.T. Nunes & Sons Inc., R.I.
Secretary
Bruce Wendorf — Forsberg Construction Inc., FL
Immediate Past Chairman of the Board
Dan East — Reynolds Southwest Inc. N.M.
Asst. Secretary
Bill Hillman — bhillman@nuca.com
NUCA
Board of Directors
CONTRACTOR
DIRECTORS
Lane Berg, FL
Kari Biernacki, N.M.
Mike Donatelli, R.I.
Glenn Ely, PA
Mark Fuglevand, WA
Kara Habrock, NE
Richard R. Harp, GA
Bill Martinak, OR
Chad Reed, DE
Jeff Rumer, CO
Mark Scoccolo, WA
Keith Steen, GA
Andy Wolf, IA
NON-CONTRACTOR
DIRECTORS
Albert Heckmann, OH
Lewis Long, NC
Roger B. Mohr, IL
DIRECTORS-AT-LARGE
Kevin Cripps, NC
Thomas O’Rourke, NV
NUCA
Staff
Chief Executive Officer
Bill Hillman — bhillman@nuca.com
Vice President of Marketing
and Communications
Bonnie J. Williams — bonnie@nuca.com
Benjamin Media
www.benjaminmedia.com
Publishing Team
Publisher
Robert D. Krzys — robk@benjaminmedia.com
Direct: (330) 315-2061
Managing Editor
Keith Gribbins — kgribbins@benjaminmedia.com
Direct: (330) 315-2197
Associate Editor
Pam Kleineke — pkleineke@benjaminmedia.com
Direct: (330) 315-2198
Graphic Designer
Elizabeth C. Stull — estull@benjaminmedia.com
Marketing Director
Kelly Dadich — kdadich@benjaminmedia.com
Direct: (330) 315-2056
Regional Sales Manager
Ryan Sneltzer — rsneltzer@benjaminmedia.com
Direct: (330) 315-2114
Regional Sales Representative
Tim Richards — trichards@benjaminmedia.com
Direct: (330) 315-2129
Audience Development Manager
Alexis R. White — awhite@benjaminmedia.com
November 2011 Volume 35, Number 11, Utility
Contractor (ISSN 1098-0342) is published monthly
for the National Utility Contractors Association by
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190, Peninsula, OH 44264. Periodicals postage paid
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