Year: 2021

The 2021 Morris Gold Award was presented to Ella Sinkovits of Messer Canada, during the CGA Canada 2021 Annual Meeting Kick-off held virtually on Tuesday, September 14, 2021. The award was presented in recognition of Ella’s outstanding and long-term contribution to, and leadership on behalf of, the compressed gas industry and CGA Canada. Since 2012, Ella has been participating and actively contributing to many CGA Committees including the Canadian Cylinder Specifications Committee (Chair 2021-present; 2015-2017); the Cylinder Valve Committee; and the Cylinder Specifications Committee. She is currently a member of 18 work items and has led and been a key…

ITR Economics is excited to announce its new partnership with investment banking firm ButcherJoseph & Co. ButcherJoseph & Co. specializes in ESOPs, mergers and acquisitions, private capital sourcing, and valuation advisory services for middle-market companies. Their industry-recognized team of professionals has executed 200-plus transactions, exceeding $15 billion in total value. ButcherJoseph is headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., with a presence in Washington, D.C., and offices in Chicago; Charlotte, N.C.; Scottsdale, Ariz.; and Nashville, Tenn. This partnership will help ITR Economics expand into the M&A space, where we will provide valuable economic insights to those looking to acquire or sell a…

The Women of Gases and Welding (WGW), GAWDA’s newest committee, continues to promote our mission “to enhance the success of women in the gases and welding industry” as well as “foster a more diverse and inclusive environment for women” in our GAWDA membership.  Several WGW members will be in Colorado Springs participating in this year’s GAWDA Annual events. Look for our purple ribbon on our badge. We would love to talk with you. The Women of Gases and Welding would like to thank all those who have signed up for our upcoming GAWDA Annual WGW Lunch & Hiking Networking event!…

I’ve been in the welding and gas business for more than 50 years. I truly thought I had seen it all. But this past year and a half has truly been both the best of times and the worst of times in this industry. And, I promise, when I include the best of times in that sentence, I’m not going crazy! But before I get into how it has been the best of times, I think we can all agree that the past year and a half has been pretty bad. We all went through some tough times. But those…

My sales career has given me the opportunity to call on many successful people in different types of businesses and with varying levels of education. These associations have allowed me to learn about the ways individuals find achievement. While the variety of paths taken on the road to success is astonishing, they all share one direction — belief in oneself. To achieve success, you must not just conceive of a way forward, you must believe in it. Banish Negativity Napoleon Hill stated, “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Hill is an example of someone…

Sales Pipeline Forecasting Fact or Fiction? By Jay Spielvogel, Venator Sales Group, LLC “I believe I have a 50/50 shot of getting an order.” “They loved our pricing; I’d give this a 75% chance of closing at this point.” “My contact is reviewing our quote internally; I’d say we have a 90% chance of closing this one.” Sound familiar? How often do you hear these optimistic statements from your sales team, and then find yourself asking, “Whatever happened to all of the other deals that you forecasted at 90% chance of closure?” Only to hear the typical responses: “They are…

Rather than selling to another company, many members are selling to their employees Across all industries, companies are facing a generational shift that is impacting their entire organizations. As C-suite executives and owners reach retirement age, they are faced with a question of what to do with the business. At the Seven Springs Regional Meeting, Meritus Vice Chairman Rob D’Allesandro laid out what he describes as the five alternatives to selling the business outright, ranking them on a spectrum from staying independent to an outright sale. Those options included an Enhanced Supply Relationship, a Joint Venture with another Distributor, an…

Utilizing the Program & Leveraging its Resources On Thursday, July 15, GAWDA and the CGA hosted a live webinar entitled “The GAWDA/CGA Safety & Training Playbook.” The webinar discussed how GAWDA members can participate in the CGA subscription program and get the highest safety return on investment from their GAWDA membership. GAWDA members have free access to the full CGA library of technical publications and the online training modules, just by virtue of participating in the CGA Subscription Program. “We realized at the Spring Management Conference that we have huge untapped potential in rolling out the CGA/GAWDA alliance program throughout…

Most companies that have survived for more than 80 years look unrecognizable compared to their beginnings. Perhaps no company better represents that massive transformation than Mason City, Iowa’s Huber Supply Company. Huber Supply Company was formed in 1939, when Elmer Smith’s boat broke down on Lake Erie, stranding him in Port Clinton, Ohio. It was there that Smith met Nelson Schmidt, who worked for his father at a boat repair shop and was able to fix Elmer’s boat over the weekend. Elmer, who was working for Smith Equipment at the time, told Nelson to look him up if he was…