Earlier this year, the American Wood Council (AWC) marked its 10th year as an independent trade association. Over this time, AWC has been guided by President & CEO Robert Glowinski, who is retiring at the end of the year. In mid-September, I had the privilege of taking the helm as AWC’s second-ever President & CEO.
Under Bob’s leadership, AWC has grown substantially. In 2010, AWC’s strong engineering and technical staff primarily worked on building codes and standards and technology transfer. Since then, AWC has built upon this robust technical foundation to meet growing industry needs by adding services such as regulatory and legislative advocacy, strategic communications, and educational outreach. Thanks to this broad array of skills, AWC was well positioned to not only secure important changes in the codes to allow for tall mass timber construction, but to then properly communicate it to a wider audience and support state and local jurisdictions that sought early adoption of these code changes.
The success in promoting the tall mass timber building movement is an important legacy of Bob’s tenure at AWC’s helm. He now retires having established a strong foundation to build from in addressing the next 10 years of opportunities and challenges facing the structural wood products industry. As I look ahead to chart the next 10 years, I am excited about the prospects for wood products and the role that AWC can play, along with its partner organizations, in driving further demand.
Having served most recently as President of the Composite Panel Association, which represents manufacturers of composite wood panels, including particleboard, medium density fiberboard, hardboard, and engineered wood siding and trim, I have come to believe with conviction that wood represents the most sustainable building material available today. In a carbon conscious world, building with wood can help move the construction sector from a carbon source to a carbon sink. Wood is totally renewable, responsibly (and often locally) sourced, and has a limited carbon production footprint. Wood products that go into homes and multi-story buildings sequester carbon for the life of the structure, and at end of life can be burned for energy production as waste. There is no other building material like it. Period.
Looking to the future, AWC’s challenge will be to not only maintain and extend the advances made in the codes and standards gained over the first 10 years, but to also ensure wood products is the building material of choice in the movement toward carbon-conscious and resilient construction. This means providing leadership in advocating for good legislative and regulatory policies at the federal, state, and local level that support wood use. It also means educating and communicating to key audiences these benefits, and to translate them into appropriate changes in green building standards and codes as appropriate. It will also mean coordinating closely with partner associations and other groups to achieve real results.
I believe in this industry and am passionate about what it represents, and I continue to be motivated to support its future success. The wood products sector is poised for growth, thanks to a robust housing market and opportunities made available by the tall mass timber building movement. Thanks to Bob’s leadership and efforts over the first 10 years, I am confident that AWC is well-positioned to play a leadership role in supporting future market opportunities for wood products based on their remarkable performance and sustainability profile.