COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association (SMACNA) elected four members to its Board of Directors at their annual business meeting on Sept. 28 at SMACNA’s 68th Annual Convention. The directors will serve four-year terms beginning on Sept. 28th at the close of the convention.
The newly elected directors are:
James Cesak- Tal-Mar Custom Metal Fabricators, Crestwood, Ill.
Nathan Dills- ACP Sheet Metal Co. Inc., Oklahoma City, Okla.
Kathleen Kerber- Kerber Sheet Metal Works Inc., Troy, Ohio
Albert LaBella- Blue Diamond Sheet Metal Inc., Medford, N.Y.
James A. Cesak
“I believe in the concept of contractors joining together, sharing their time, resources and ideas to improve an industry that I am passionate about,” Cesak said. “I believe it is extremely important to give something back to an industry that has given me so much, and in working to make things better for those who will follow behind me.”
Cesak currently serves as a chapter councilor for SMACNA Chicago on SMACNA’s Council of Chapter Representatives. He has served on SMACNA’s Industrial Contractors Council Steering Committee for seven years and been a member of the International Training Institute’s Industrial Task Force.
Cesak sits on the Board of Directors of SMACNA Chicago and has served as the chapter’s president, vice president and secretary-treasurer. He currently is on the chapter’s Trade Show Committee, the Local 73 Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee and is a Local 73 Annuity Fund Trustee. He has been on the Finance Committee and served as an Industry Fund Trustee.
A graduate of Washburne Trade School in Chicago, he entered the sheet metal industry as an apprentice in 1978. At Tal-Mar Custom Metal he has served as vice president of operations and became president of the company in 2005.
Nathan Dills
“My mother’s father was a union sheet metal worker and introduced my father into the industry,” Dills said. “I want to help SMACNA and the industry move forward from the hard times currently facing this and other industries. What better way to do that than to get involved in the leadership of this organization?”
Dills currently serves as co-chair of the SMACNA/SMWIA Best Practices Market Expansion Task Force and is a member of the Business and Financial Management Committee. Additional involvement in SMACNA National includes membership on the Director Nominating Committee and the Webinar Task Force, plus a moderator and speaker at the Labor/Management Partners in Progress Conference in 2008 and 2010.
A member of the Sheet Metal Contractors Association of Oklahoma, Dills is a member of the Joint Apprentice Training Committee (JATC), the Education Committee, Grievance Committee, Program Committee and Negotiations Committee. He has served in all the Chapter officer chairs, becoming president in 2007-2008.
He is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, having received his law degree from Oklahoma City University School of Law in 1995. He graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1992 with a B.A. in political science. Other activities include: a volunteer for UR Special Ministries, a member of the New Hope Church, Youth Baseball Coach and a High School Mock Trial Coach.
Kathleen Kerber
“Our industry is changing around us and it is exciting to keep moving to the next level,” Kerber said. “SMACNA is doing that and I want to be a part of it. I also want to carry on what my father has taught me-he was on the Board of Directors of SMACNA and he passed on to me the importance of being involved for as long as I can remember.”
Kerber is currently serving her second term as a member of SMACNA’s Architectural Sheet Metal Council Steering Committee. Long active on the local level with the Sheet Metal and Roofing Contractors Association of the Miami Valley (Ohio), she currently serves as a Director and as a chapter councilor on SMACNA’s Council of Chapter Representatives and is a Trustee on the chapter’s Joint Apprenticeship Committee. She has served as a chapter officer and president and on the chapter’s Board of Directors. As chapter president, she guided the association through challenging economic times, reached out to industry affiliate organizations to build business relationships between members, increased the chapter’s involvement in state politics and encouraged its involvement at the national level.
With a business management degree from the University of Cincinnati, she joined the sheet metal industry in 1997 as a management trainee. A leader in local industry and community organizations, she has served on committees for the Troy Area Chamber of Commerce, on the Upper Valley Joint Vocation School Advisory Committee, on the Board of the Subcontractors Association of Western Ohio, as president of the Kyle Elementary School PTO and on the boards of several philanthropic organizations.
Al LaBella
“I truly believe that SMACNA has been the driving force in my evolution to becoming a successful contractor,” LaBella said. “As a younger executive/business owner, I am concerned about the industry’s future. With my involvement in assisting and developing SMACNA’s young executives program, it has given me unique insights into the needs and concerns of the next generation of our leaders. My membership on the Board will bring new perspectives into our deliberations and planning.”
Currently LaBella serves on the SMACNA/SMWIA Best Practices Market Expansion Task Force and participated in the Contractor of the Future Focus Group. He attended SMACNA’s Business Management University (BMU), Financial Boot Camp, the Contractor Case Study Program, as well as the Business Negotiations Academy.
Locally, LaBella serves on the SMACNA of Long Island Chapter Board of Directors, as well as the Negotiating Committee. In addition, he is the chair of the Residential/Light Commercial Committee and the SMACNA-Long Island Seminar Committee. His industry involvement also includes JATC trustee, Joint Adjustment Board panelist and New York State SMACNA Events chair.
LaBella entered the sheet metal industry in 2001 after leaving the education field. As an employee of Blue Diamond Sheet Metal, he worked under his father-in-law. Robert Lawless, the founder of the company. He served as a purchasing agent, estimator and project manager. In addition LaBella was instrumental in developing and growing Blue Diamond’s Light Commercial division. In 2010 LaBella became a certified OSHA Instructor. He is also a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers.
For more information, visitwww.smacna.org.
