5/4/2022 -

Annual Meeting in Dallas to offer a return to sorely missed live gathering

On-line meetings were certainly better than no event, but it is safe say that the WAI welcomes the return to a live format for the annual meeting on Wednesday, June 8, which will honor the winners of three awards as well as present a timely keynote presentation.

The meeting element itself is brief as it is procedural, but the breakfast session will see the presentations of the Mordica Memorial Award to Anand Bhagwat, manager, quality and technology at Minova USA; the Donnellan Memorial Award to Richard Wagner, the senior vice president and COO of Insteel Industries; and the President’s Award to Joe Downes, a long-time Leggett & Platt executive who retired as senior v.p. in 2015.

The gathering will also include comments from Keynote speaker Ty Garrison, senior vice president of operations, Commercial Metals Co., whose theme feels very appropriate: “Leadership in a Volatile World.” He will discuss how the last few years have strained businesses across the globe as Covid forced companies to deal with events like virtual work, burn out, unprecedented supply chain disruptions and volatile markets. Such challenges test the leadership at every level of an organization, and are essential to master for companies to thrive.

The annual meeting will, as ever, serve as a good place for WAI members to gather.