GAWDA Concludes 80th Anniversary Celebration With an Incredible Convention
2025 has been a milestone year for GAWDA, as we have spent the entire year commemorating our 80th Anniversary. That celebration culminated with the 2025 GAWDA Annual Convention in Tampa, Florida. More than 900 GAWDA members converged in the Sunshine State for four days of unparalleled networking, education, and camaraderie. This year’s theme was “Sustaining a Resilient Culture,” and GAWDA and its members were up to the task, as we continued to show what has made GAWDA great for eight decades. The show had something for everyone, from the inspirational, to the hard-hitting realities of geo-politics, to the triumphs and challenges facing our industry from three independent distributors living them every day, and finally some lighthearted fun from our keynote speaker Willie Robertson. And, of course, it wouldn’t be a GAWDA Convention without the best networking our industry can offer with the return of Networking 360 and the Contact Booth Program.
We also saw a changing of the guard, as outgoing President Eric Wood gave way to our new President, Allison Earlbeck. Congratulations on an amazing term as President, Woody. Allie, we can’t wait to work with you as we spend the year discussing “Human Advantage in the Digital Age.”
Thank you to everybody who made this Convention possible. We can’t wait to do it again in Boston next September.
GAWDA's Board and Volunteer Committees Meet Ahead of the AC
The GAWDA Executive Committee and Board of Directors arrived early for a full day of planning meetings ahead of the official start of this year’s Annual Convention. In our 80th Anniversary, the Board and EC are tasked with “Sustaining a Resilient Culture” that GAWDA has built over the past eight decades. The Board continues to work tirelessly on behalf of GAWDA members to continue to innovate and ensure that members are getting the most bang for their buck, while maintaining the things that make GAWDA unique in our industry. The Regional Meeting chairs also met with the Board to discuss the 2026 slate, including three meetings that will take place before SMC next year.
GAWDA’s Committees are made up of 100% volunteers who work in all different areas of the industry and on different aspects of GAWDA’s membership. On Wednesday, GAWDA’s Government Affairs, Safety, Industry Partnering, Insurance & Benefits, Member Services, Young Professionals, Women of Gases and Welding Committees, and Technology Committees all met to discuss their agenda and goals for the rest of this year and for 2026.
The WGW and YP Committees held their networking event on Friday, October 10 at the Florida Aquarium. See below for more details and images from that amazing event. Also returning this year, GAWDA offered members the opportunity to take free professional headshots from 9:00 – 12:00 p.m. near the Registration Desk. If you had your headshot taken during this time, you should have received an email containing your pictures already. If you did not receive, please contact us today and we will send you your headshots right away. Thank you so much for your participation and for being patient with this brand-new process.
View the Photo Galleries from the Annual Convention
