“Any new beginning is forged from the shards of the past, not from the abandonment of the past.” – Craig D. Lounsbrough
2025 ushers in many changes to NTCA, to TileLetter and to our country.
For starters, check out the NTCA Recap and Forecast in our Business section by NTCA Executive Director Bart Bettiga, along with new leadership authors Elena Grant, Assistant Executive Director of Marketing, Communications and TileLetter Publisher, and Jeremy Sax, NTCA Deputy Director. This article will catch you up on what NTCA has been up to and what it is envisioning for this year.
New NTCA President Rod Owen penned his introductory letter in the December issue, but launches into 2025 with a message of preparedness and strategies to be successful.
NTCA Member Jacob Wiseman starts the year wielding an unlimited builders license that he procured in November. This license aligns him with Alabama law and expands his scope of business from tile contracting to being a GC. See what he plans for the future in our Members story.
In our One-to-One feature, Bart Bettiga sits down with Ray Mancini, Jr., CEO of UCX, which unifies The Belknap White Group, JJ Haines &Company and Swiff-Train Company under one brand. Bettiga and Mancini discuss the formation of this mega-distributor and its plans moving forward.
There are a few changes to TileLetter itself – the magazine I’ve edited for 19 years now! Our Technical section will feature an array of articles from month to month, bolstering technical content. These will include our popular Ask the Experts feature and our Technical story by either CTEF’s Scott Carothers or a team from the NTCA Technical Committee, which aims to illustrate the importance of the Committee, how it has shaped standards over the years, and how it gives contractors a voice in that process today. This section may also contain other special features like an NTCA Webinar summary and comments from the field about the value gained from the menu of NTCA Workshops and Regional Training events in our Training Takeaway story. Be sure to flip to our Training section each month to ramp up your knowledge!
Speaking of flipping, our digital TileLetter issue will change to a flipbook starting this month, bringing you the TileLetter format you enjoy in print, but easily accessible on your phone or other device. Other new features include an Artisan story in every issue (plus a dedicated TileLetter ARTISAN issue in August and a print issue bursting with case studies in December). Our Product Focus section will harmonize new products around a theme: this month, this section highlights products that will be launched or shown at TISE. And our News section will be streamlined as a News Ticker – quick headlines that clue you in to full stories you can find at TileLetter.com.
One more special feature in this issue is the Industry Calendar that gives you an overview of important conventions, conferences, trade shows and events that will take place in 2025.
On the national stage, this month brings a changing of the guard in Washington, D.C., and a raft of new policies that promise prosperity and a focus on American manufacturing and dominance. One of the policies that has been announced at this writing in early December is the levying of a range of tariffs on all imported products. Whether this is a negotiating tool or a hard-and-fast policy remains to be seen. In an industry where over 70% of tile consumption is imported, I can’t help wondering how our industry will be impacted. Time will tell, and when speculations become definitives, TileLetter platforms will bring useful information to you about how the industry is responding.
As we move into the new year, I invite you to visit the NTCA Interactive Training Map at NTCATraining.com to learn more about the Regional Training Events and NTCA Workshops coming near you. Plan to attend one in 2025 and supercharge your skills!
God bless,
Lesley
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Lesley Goddin has been writing and journaling since her first diary at age 11. Her journey has taken her through a career in publishing and publicity, landing her the editor position of TileLetter and its special publications in 2006. Her goal is to educate, inspire, recognize and encourage those in the tile industry -- especially the tile and stone contractor.
