President's Message
by Chris Prior
I like to start every Holiday letter by wishing everyone in the MHA, your family, friends and co-workers a very Merry Holiday Season, and wish for you a Happy, Safe and Profitable New Year.
I am humbled, proud and honored to be finishing up my term as President of this amazing organization. I have always tried do what's in the best interest of the MHA and its members, as my basis for decision making as President.
I have been blessed to work with a wonderful board of directors these past 2 years. I would especially like to thank our amazing Executive Director, Dick Smith for the insurmountable amount of work this man does tirelessly for the MHA. He definitely makes my job easier.
Since the last Annual Meeting, the board and the Committees have really been working very hard on various projects. This letter could easily become an article if I got into detail about all that has transpired this year. However, it is a letter, so I will just hit the highlights.
-Planning for the 2019 Annual Meeting at Wildacres has been underway since late last Spring, and really shaping up to be another fabulous event. The Education Committee is finishing up the details on an amazing slate of seminars and workshops. Please Register early.
-There have been a constant set of twists and turns for masonry heaters on the regulatory front this past year, and I have formed a new Government Affairs Committee to help us stay on top of it all.
-The Technical Committee has been busy on many fronts. Combined with the PR Committee, a group participated in emissions testing in Washington DC at the Mall in the Stove Design Challenge. This was an amazing amount of exposure for the MHA. Many thanks to Norbert and the crew of member volunteers.
-There is newly revamped Design Contest thanks to the PR Committee, and a program to have heaters built by our members professionally photographed so we will have high quality heater photos available for use in advertising and promotional projects.
- We have had a taskforce working on updating the Certified Heater Mason program. They have reworked the certification manual, the written test and the hands-on test. We are also updating the CEU process for maintaining ones certification. This will be introduced at the Annual Meeting in April.
-MHA will be represented at the HPBA show in Dallas this March by the president and executive director. MHA will also be resprented at the National Chimney Sweep Guild the week after our annual meeting.
I would like to close by saying again, how proud and honored I am to be associated with such a great organization, and such wonderful people in its membership. Thank you all for making it so, and on-behalf of the board of directors and myself, I'd once again would like to wish all of you a very
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
and hope to see you at our annual meeting.
Thank You,
Chris Prior
