Thank You to all who attended the March Meeting at Cosentino. It was amazing to see over 40 people gathered in person again, it has been far too long!

I do want to apologize for all the technical issues that occurred, though overall it still seemed to be a very successful meeting.

Thanks again to Cosentino, as always they were an amazing host. For those who missed the meeting Suzie Williford, NKBA Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, joined us to briefly to discuss the NKBA move from New Jersey to Bethlehem PA, this summer. We have been invited to attend the Grand Opening of the new facility.

Beko, Sherwin Williams, The Living In Place Institute, Cosentino, Drains Unlimited, and Revel Woods, joined us to speak about the new and exciting things presented at KBIS and the trends and products taking the industry to the next level.

Looking forward the CNY NKBA has some big plans for 2022. There will be a drawing for one lucky member to earn a free NKBA Specialty Badge. The drawing will be held at our last meeting of the year. Each meeting attended in-person this year earns 2 entries, and each virtual attendance earns 1 entry.

The 2022 Student Design Competition is in the final planning stages, with Vendor Sponsors beginning to sign up. This event will be open to Architect and Interior Design Students from any school in the Southern Tier, Central and Western NY. Students may choose to compete in the Kitchen, Bath, or both rooms, with $1,000 for first place, $500 for second, and $250 for third place.

More announcements will be made throughout the year, but now is the time we express our need for your help to make this a successful year.

Volunteer Committee Opportunities:

The council also voted to approve inviting one lucky committee member to join us at KBIS 2023 in Las Vegas! Your airfare will be provided by the Central NY NKBA.

NKBA National Visit Coordinator.

Duties would entail receiving emails from members who would like to attend, and assisting in planning carpools amongst our members to the NKBA National Grand Opening in Bethlehem PA. (Grand Opening Date still TBD)

Student Design Competition

School Outreach – Several Volunteers Needed

Duties would consist of reaching out to the schools to inform them of the Student Design Competition and collecting the contact information for staff and faculty that we can forward the information to. We will need to rely on the faculty to inform the students and pass on the registration details as the event gets closer.

Design Judges

Duties would be evaluating and scoring the submitted designs to ensure they meet the criteria specified and utilizing the NKBA guidelines. Determining the final overall placing of entries based on overall scores and the beauty of the design. (NKBA Certified or a minimum of 15 years design experience preferred to be on judges panel)

Student Mentors

We would like to connect each student who enters with a member who is willing to be a mentor for the students as they finish their education and begin their careers.

Counsel Assistants

Meeting Coordinator – Assist Program Chair with planning details of upcoming meetings, ideally one from the Southern Tier, one from Central NY, one from the Rochester area, and another from the Buffalo region.

Are you a Millennial or Gen X who would like to prove you are more in the times with technology?

Social Media Coordinator – Handle the postings to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Technology Coordinator – Assisting with virtual broadcasts from the live meeting.