b'FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GRAEME AITKENA toattitudeorabusiness,inaexperienced a commensurate increase of work.Id like to take this opportunity to thank Mark Approaching the achievement of goals and the performance of the day-to-day tasks requiredThus, it is important that we as a communityLloyd for his wise counsel, his dedication to torunanassociation,movefromcooperationtocollaboration.ECAO and his invaluable assistance to me in cooperative or consultative fashion is, withoutFurthermore,thereiscompellingevidencemy role as your Executive Director. And while a doubt, a positive undertaking. However, Ifrom our NECA and IBEW partners southofferingmythankstoMark,Iamexcited believe thataccomplish truly great thingsoftheborderthatsuchcollaborationleadsabout working with our next president, Brad a collaborativeis far more effectivedirectly to accomplishing this goal. Walker, Executive and Board, to continue the and serves to change the culture of any entity orgroupinanextremelypositivemanner.progress we made under the guidance of the Thus, as we continue to build our industry\'sI believe that toprevious group.community it is essential, in my view, that2019 was an exciting and eventful year for we fully embrace a culture of collaborationaccomplish truly greatnumerous reasons. One I wish to touch on at ECAO. things a collaborativeis the expansion of our education programs By the time you read this issue of The Ontarioforourmembers.Thisexpansionhas ElectricalContractor,theECAOAnnualattitude is far moreincludedasignificantincreaseinwebinars, ConferenceinNashvilleandourAnnuala greater number of educational articles via GeneralMeetinginNiagaraFallswillbeeffective and servesnumerousmeansofcommunications,and over,butnodoubtmanymemoriesfrommore in-house seminars. I hope you will also theseeventswillremain.Thethemeforto change the culturehave noticed a shift toward non-technical or our Conference was From Cooperation to Collaborationandoneglaringexampleofof any entity or groupsoft-skills subject matters. In consulting with the reality of this theme was the outstandingyou we have heard that succession planning, participationandsupportfrombothourin an extremelycommunicationsskills,customerrelations, OntarioandInternationalLabourPartnersmarketing, managing workplaces, and other with the IBEW. This was an opportunity forpositive manner. similar topics lack the attention required to us to share our common goals and to exchangehelpimproveyourbusinesses.Inaddition, success stories to which our Ontario memberswe have benefited from our Affiliate Partners\' would benefit. WhenIacceptedthechallengesthatcamewillingnesstointroduceourmembersto Ifeelstronglythatinordertorealizeourwith this role, a persuasive factor in assumingfurther subjects of interest.shared goals and vision for more IBEW hoursthepositionwastheopportunitytowork withouroutstandingExecutiveCommitteeAs this is our final issue of the The Ontario worked and greater market share for ECAOElectrical Contractor this year; thank you for contractors, it is incumbent on all of us inand Board of Directors. In particular I was this community to take the next step in ourlooking forward to working with our outgoingall of your aid to ECAO and our community; relationshipsandcollaborate.CooperationPresident,MarkLloyd.Havinghadthethere is no doubt that we are on the rise. I has,theevidencesuggests,assistedusinchance to serve on the Board with Mark, Ihave every confidence that our trajectory will maintaining a level of work and global numberfound his approach to matters a unique blendcontinueinanupwarddirection. Thisisa ofman-hourscompleted.However,astheof theoretical and practical, combined with hisresult of the entirety of our community, and electrical market has grown, it does not appear"industry-first"methodofassessingmattersas a collaborative community our potential is that ECAO contractors, nor IBEW members,before us.limitless. Have a terrific Holiday Season!www.ecao.org6'