Author: GAWDA MEDIA

By Tom Badstubner, Michael Dodd, Rick Schwietzer, and Steve Guglielmo GAWDA’s consultants will be available during the 2025 GAWDA Annual Convention in Tampa. In this roundtable, consultants educate members on all of the end-of-the-year documentation and compliance measures that must be taken before the calendar flips to 2026, as well as legislation and trends that have emerged since the Q3 Issue of Welding & Gases Today. The GAWDA Consultant Program is a GAWDA member benefit that is included as part of your member dues to the association. It is consistently rated as one of the most valuable member benefits that…

The purpose of Ask Your Board is to ask common business questions that all GAWDA members might be dealing with and to see how GAWDA’s Board of Directors are dealing with these issues within their own companies. To submit a question for GAWDA’s Board Members to consider, please email [email protected]

Jim Kissler, NWSA President 2002-2003 Norco As I look back on my entire life, I realize I am among the fortunate ones who regret nothing. Especially being the President of GAWDA, as well as the IWDC. Not because I did anything spectacular for either the National Trade Association or the National Buying Co-op, but because of my service to the industry and the people I met, many of whom we have maintained as lifetime friends. Good heavens, on my recent 70th birthday distributors and vendors from Indianapolis, Cleveland, and San Diego showed up, all the way out to Boise. “People…

By Tom Badstubner, Marilyn Dempsey, Michael Dodd, Rick Schweitzer and Steve Guglielmo GAWDA consultants have been busy since the Second Quarter Issue of Welding & Gases Today. They held a multiple day safety and compliance webinar at Chart Industries, a panel discussion during the GAWDA SMC in Dallas, and have continued to host their monthly Safety Manager Safety Meeting calls. The GAWDA Consultant Program is a GAWDA member benefit that is included as part of your member dues to the association. It is consistently rated as one of the most valuable member benefits that GAWDA provides. Thank you to Tom…

GAWDA Master Business Academy The GAWDA Master Business Academy (aka GAWDA MBA) is a 16-week fully digital program for both current and aspiring leaders in our industry. Focused on the essentials of people management and business finance, it empowers managers at every stage of their careers to reskill and upskill effectively. GAWDA MBA is based on a streamlined MBA curriculum, with relevant and actionable knowledge every leader in our industry needs. In just 16 weeks you will learn how to build organizational alignment, empower your team to serve your customers better, and the financial fundamentals to building a more profitable community. GAWDA MBA 2024 Graduates NAME…

GAWDA Continues to Raise the Bar with the 2025 SMC More than 750 GAWDA members converged in the Lone Star State for the 2025 GAWDA Spring Management Conference. With a theme of “Sustaining a Resilient Culture,” this year’s SMC was a perfect way to celebrate GAWDA’s 80th Anniversary in 2025. The show had something for everyone, as attendees had the opportunity to hear from four different and distinct Main Stage Presenters, who discussed topics that ran the gamut from the political landscape, to pursuing your crazy ideas, to the inspiring, and all culminating with a discussion with our Industry Keynote,…

By Steve Guglielmo and Hector Villarreal GAWDA’s Technology Committee was announced just over a year ago, and the new committee has hit the ground running, tackling important topics like cybersecurity, e-commerce, and, of course, the incredibly hot-button topic of AI. During this year’s Educational Sessions at the Spring Management Conference in Dallas, the Technology Committee will host two sessions: “Cybersecurity: Experiences and Lessons Learned” and “E-Commerce: Lighting the Way to B2B E-Commerce Success.” We had the opportunity to speak with Technology Committee co-chair Hector Villarreal about the upcoming SMC and everything that the new committee has achieved during its first…