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P U B L I S H E D B Y T H E N A T I O N A L W O O D E N P A L L E T & C O N T A I N E R A S S O C I A T I O N NWPCA STAFF President/CEO Brent J. McClendon, CAE, brent@palletcentral.com @NWPCA Vice President, Advocacy and External Affairs Patrick S. Atagi, patagi@palletcentral.com @NWPCA_Policy PDS and Membership Services Manager Susan Cheney, scheney@palletcentral.com Communication and Education Director Annette Ferri, aferri@palletcentral.com @PalletCentral Director of Science and Technology Integration Brad Gething, PhD, bgething@palletcentral.com @NWPCATech Director of The Pallet Design System™ John A. McLeod III, jmcleod@palletcentral.com Vice President of Operations and Events Isabel ("Mimi") Sullivan, msullivan@palletcentral.com PDS Software Engineer Curtis Wilkes, cwilkes@palletcentral.com Advertising: To advertise in PalletCentral, contact Annette Ferri at 703-519-6104 or aferri@palletcentral.com Address changes and subscriptions: To update your mailing address or to subscribe to PalletCentral, call 703-519-6104 or email info@palletcentral.com. Reprints and back issues: To order article reprints or request reprint permission, please e-mail info@palletcentral.com. Order back issues by calling 703-519-6104. PALLETCENTRAL, Volume 16, Number 1. © Copyright 2016 by NWPCA. All rights reserved. The views expressed in all articles, editorials and advertisements appearing in PalletCentral are solely those of the author and advertiser, respectively, and do not necessarily represent the views of NWPCA. NWPCA palletcentral.com PalletCentral • January-February 2016 9 of industry leaders to start the year reconnecting and setting goals for the industry's year ahead. Atagi sits on the UnitedFresh Supply Chain Logistics Committee and participates in the Food Safety & Technology Council. Immediately following the UnitedFresh meeting, NWPCA attended and gave a presentation "Working Together Works" at the Western Pallet Association (WPA) "ENGAGE!" 2016 annual meeting in Rancho Mirage, California from January 15-19, 2016. The Nature's Packaging marketing committee also met in conjunction with the WPA meeting to discuss strategy and web content for Nature's Packaging website. Stay tuned for more details on the launch of Nature's Packaging website. Finally, as a member of the National Association (NAM) of Manufacturers Council of Manufacturing Associations (CMA), NWPCA President and CEO, Brent McClendon, represented NWPCA at the NAM-CMA 2016 Winter Leadership Conference in Middleburg, Virginia. The CMA is comprised of nearly 260 manufacturing trade associations that work on behalf of manufacturing in the United States to broaden the reach and impact of industry advocacy efforts. NWPCA Advocacy Round-up The U.S. House of Representatives re-convened on January 5, 2016 and the U.S. Senate on January 11. Hopefully Congress will be as productive in 2016 as they were in 2015 with the completion of major agenda items such as long-term highway funding legislation and a final rule mandating use of electronic logs. The expansive fiscal 2016 funding bill, that avoided a shutdown of the federal government, offered a victory with the suspension of the hours-of-service restart rule, but unfortunately did not include language to allow 33-foot trailers nationwide. John-Michael Donahue from the Coalition of Efficient and Responsible Trucking (CERT), noted that progress was made on the 33' trailer language that has not been attained before with passage in the House and Senate Transportation Appropriations Bills, but not enough to have it incorporated in the overall omnibus appropriations bill that was passed in December. Donahue said the coalition will regroup this month to look at next steps to getting this language passed. Finally, Pat Thomas, 71st Chairman of the American Trucking Association (ATA) and Senior Vice President, State Government Affairs for UPS will join us to speak on Friday, March 4, during the NWPCA Annual Leadership Conference. Thomas leads the ATA, the largest national trade association for the trucking industry and the voice for 50 affiliated state trucking associations and councils. NWPCA Staff Promotion We are pleased to announce the promotion of Dr. Brad Gething to Director of Science and Technology Integration. The promotion reflects Dr. Gething's expanded responsibilities within the organization and commitment to science and technology, including The Pallet Design System™. Brad has a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Bucknell University, Master of Science in Materials Engineering and Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Engineering from Penn State University. We congratulate Dr. Gething on his promotion and appreciate the work he does for the wooden pallet and container industry. PC