Just as our outgoing ASA president Katie Poehling-Seymour has a lineage in leadership within the organization, I am fortunate to have the same story. I shared a story about my first ASA experience at NETWORK2023 in Orlando, Florida back in November.

In 2001, my dad, Don Maloney, was ASA president. NETWORK was in Las Vegas that year and we were VERY glad to go to Vegas for moral support. Plus, I had never been to Las Vegas, so this was a perfect opportunity to experience the city.

The convention was at the old Las Vegas Hilton, and he had a great suite on the top floor overlooking the strip — the Elvis Presley Suite. On the last night, my older brother, Michael, and I made a night of it…and got back to the room to watch the sunrise. We had the bright idea to order most of the breakfast menu, and while waiting for our bounty to arrive…we “fell asleep.”

We woke up to a very disappointed father wondering when his sons were going to grow up.

That was 23 years ago, and a lot has happened in that timeframe. At NETWORK2023, I was introduced as the next ASA president, and I have to say I am very honored and excited.

The challenges the industry faced in 2001 when Don was ASA president included trying to figure out the economy after 9/11. The dot-com bubble had burst, and the bottom wouldn’t be found for another year. Osama Bin Laden was on everyone’s mind, and it would be 10 years before we would find him.

Fast forward to today. The industry has experienced unprecedented growth over the past three years. We navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic and proved that our industry is VITAL to the infrastructure and health of the nation.

But 2023 provided us plenty of challenges as well. We saw the economy slow again. Interest rates remain high and home building is slowing down. 2024 is an election year, and there is tremendous unrest overseas and at our own borders.

As leaders, we need to be focusing on our businesses and how to run them better. We need to ask: What do we need to do to continue to make our companies successful for the next generation of leaders of the PHCP-PVF industry?

And this is where ASA comes in to play. We all can let ASA be as big or as little part of our businesses as we want them to. We all need to recognize that our only national trade association has the tools available to help us understand our markets.

The annual ASA Operating Performance Report is great because businesses get to see what the industry is doing and check how they are doing against the industry. Another is the monthly ASA Commodities Report, written by ASA Industrial Piping Division members, which helps us evaluate the question, do we buy material or wait for the price to go down? These are just two of the many business intelligence reports and surveys ASA has to offer membership.

Our ASA Political Action Committee continues to be our voice in Washington advocating for our industry.

Networking events such as Women in Industry, Emerging Leaders and the annual NETWORK convention are places we can talk to like-minded companies and share ideas on how we deal with challenges and issues in the industry.

ASA University is a world-class repository for distributors, manufacturers and reps alike to send employees to the website and have them learn about the products and opportunities our great industry provides.

I first engaged with ASA as part our Emerging Leaders division back in 2005. Over the years, I became deeper involved in our association’s strategic planning, and I’ve witnessed hundreds of our members mapping out our long-range mission.

This association is truly driven by the membership.

The challenges that we face are still growing and that will probably always be the case. But ASA will be focused on that future, working to ensure that we have a partner for our future success as business owners. Later this month at our LEAD2024 strategic retreat, we will be looking five years into the future to see what’s next. What competitors will be next up to disrupt us? And then we will get to work to ensure that ASA can provide services to us that ensure our futures are successful and profitable. Here's to a successful 2024 and beyond.