Association News: FenBC to become Canadian Region of FGIA

The Fenestration Association of British Columbia (FenBC) will become a Canadian region of the Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance (FGIA), effective Sept. 1, 2022. The boards of both organizations approved the creation of FGIA's first Canadian region by integrating FenBC as the newly formed FGIA FenBC Region.

The Region will operate similarly to the pre-existing FGIA U.S. regions – FGIA Southeast Region and FGIA Western Region – and will focus on regulatory and government initiatives, product installation, commercial contractor interests and related needs within British Columbia (BC). In addition, a region-specific one-day in-person meeting and a one-day virtual event are targeted for inclusion each year.

"By expanding FGIA regional offerings to include FenBC, FGIA strengthens its Canadian presence with a strong and well-respected provincial organization. Members from both organizations will realize greater opportunities for networking and building business relationships," said Dan Parrish, chairman of the FGIA Board and engineering manager with Pella Corporation. "The joining of these two industry associations will expand our diversity of expertise, which will benefit the entire membership, and signals a greater international cooperation of members that will promote further unity of our industry standards."

"The combined organization will benefit from economies of scale, thus strengthening future viability, and will also strengthen our collective ability to influence Canadian code and regulatory decisions to affect positive outcomes for members and the industry," added Parrish.

In February 2021, the FGIA and FenBC signed an official agreement for collaboration with the intent of developing mutual synergies to allow both organizations to best support their respective members. The collaboration enhanced the reach and visibility of both organizations while ensuring efficiencies in monitoring, which will continue with the FGIA FenBC Region.

"Providing for continuity of FenBC's operations with a focus on both residential and commercial markets, members now have the backing of a large North American organization whose member base aligns well with our current membership, while expanding our network," said Dave Goldsmith, chairman of the FenBC Board and senior code and compliance engineer with Ply Gem Canada.

"FENBC members will have a voice in a leading North American industry alliance at a time of supply chain uncertainty and instability," added Goldsmith. "It will also allow for greater collaboration relative to events, education, advocacy and technical standards and will avoid the duplication of effort between separate industry associations, while maintaining a FenBC Board of Directors as an FGIA Region Board of Directors."

Zana Gordon, FenBC Executive Director, recently retired from the industry. "This transition will allow FenBC to substitute an even stronger administrative and technical team for a sole-person executive director position that would have been very difficult to fill and will allow FenBC's vision as an industry association to both survive and thrive far into the future," said Goldsmith.

Future FGIA FenBC Region Events
* FGIA FenBC Region In-person Technical Meeting: Nov. 16, 2022; Northview Golf and Country Club; Surrey, BC
* FGIA FenBC Region Virtual Industry Meeting: Spring 2023; more information will be available early next year

For more information about FGIA and its activities, visit FGIAonline.org.

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