2021 RETA Breeze March-April

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Hello All, It’s hard to believe that we’ve already welcomed in the arrival of spring! The flowers and trees are blooming, and the weather has been exceptional here in Oregon. It’s been a trying year, but we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel and this experience has made us stronger and even more resilient as a society. Continue to be safe and to keep distancing yourselves in crowds while you get out and enjoy these beautiful spring days with your loved ones. “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” Anne Bradstreet I have been grounded at RETA HQ since March of 2020 and I am looking forward to greeting everyone in person at our Conference in Schaumburg, Illinois in November. This is a vendor’s choice heavy equipment show with a fantastic educational venue. I’m hopeful that the trajection we’re on allows us to stay the course so that we may all be together for a great RETA Family Reunion. We recently welcomed a new employee to the RETA family. Please help me in welcoming RETA’s newest employee Stephanie Date as the RETA Marketing & Events Manager. Stephanie has hit the

ground running and will be working diligently with the Conference committee to plan and prepare a Conference to remember. RETA’s new reviewed and revised Basic Electricity 1 & Basic Electricity 2 are almost finished with the hard work of the Education Committee. Our fifty-year-old Controls 1 is also almost completed. I would like to say thank you to all the Education committee members and our own Education Coordinator Vince Grindel for their hard work on the updates and rewrites of the RETA educational materials. Awesome job folks! RETA is just finishing up with the annual ANSI/ANAB audit where we once again had a productive and positive outcome. RETA’s success in moving our accreditation forward is thanks in large part to the hard work of the Certification Committee Chair Lee Pyle, Dr. Ron Rodgers the RETA Psychometrician, and the Certification Administrator Samantha Ibarra. They are a great team and I can’t thank them enough for what they do for the Association. All RETA’s committees are working to better RETA and move us forward through these trying times. I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Education Chair Dave Gulcynski, Certification Chair Lee Pyle, National Conference Chair Jim Kovarik, Membership Chair Mike Hawkins,

RETA Executive Director Jim Barron

Marketing Chair Dasha Whitmore, Publications Chair Matt Hayes and

Nominations (Awards) Chair Gene Dumas. If anyone would like to volunteer to be on a committee, please contact that committee chair or RETA HQ. Their contact information is on the RETA website. In closing, I would again like to say please be safe in your day-to-day journey and for those of us that ride bikes and motorcycles, please remember be cautious as we enjoy our rides. God bless each one of you.

Jim Barron RETA Executive Director

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