Press Releases
ABYC, NMMA, & Professional BoatBuilder Magazine to Produce The First Marine Industry Professional Development Summit
May 12, 2004, Edgewater, MD; Chicago, IL; and Brooklin, ME: The American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC), the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), and Professional BoatBuilder Magazine (PBB) will co-sponsor the first annual Marine Industry Professional Development Summit to be held, February 3 and 4, 2005, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The initial summit will serve as a catalyst and forum for addressing workforce education, training and professional development issues and will begin to explore ways to develop, deliver, support and manage current and future programs and initiatives. ABYC, NMMA and PBB will coordinate and co-sponsor this event on an annual basis, the outcomes of which are expected to have a profound and positive influence on how the marine industry approaches education, training, and professional development well into the 21st century.
The summit's co-sponsors will gather representatives from North American boatbuilders, marine manufacturers, suppliers, surveyors, marine underwriters, repair facilities and dealers, as well as educators, occupational training experts and other recreational industry training experts representing the RV, skiing and camping industries. All attendees will participate in general sessions to explore effective professional development and continuing education approaches and will be introduced to, discuss and debate a centrally administered and managed continuing education credit concept for the marine industry to be presented by ABYC, as well as other educational and training initiatives from other parties.
Breakout sessions and panel discussions will address the specific workforce education and professional development needs for an array of industry segments, such as boatbuilders, repair facilities and marinas, manufacturers, surveyors and dealers.
The long-recognized need for such an industry summit garnered interest and momentum from ideas generated and discussed during the IBEX 2003 special seminar, Education and Training in the Marine Industry. Additional interest and focus was raised as a result of a number of feature articles, which have appeared in both Soundings Trade Only and Boating Industry.
"The founders have been working for more than a year to bring this Summit to fruition," said Skip Burdon, ABYC's President. "By forming alliances with, and seeking support from, marine trades associations, commercial entities, marine trade schools, community colleges and secondary schools, I am confident that the right mix of people and organizations will participate to ensure real progress is made in addressing this important issue," Burdon concluded.
Thom Dammrich, President of NMMA said, "We can all agree on one universal issue - that there exists a critical and fundamental need for a flexible, yet robust industry professional development program." "One that acknowledges and gives credit to those in the workforce who strive to improve their professional competencies and skill sets, and one which ensures continuous improvement in quality for the boating public," Dammrich concluded.
Carl Cramer, publisher of Professional BoatBuilder magazine, co-Director of the IBEX 2003 stated, "We want to provide the marine industry with essential education, technologies and information." "Such a collaborative effort will give our industry the necessary tools and resources required to address the issue," Cramer added. "We have always supported ABYC's efforts to strengthen workforce training within the industry and we feel this summit is a key step in moving from the dialog stage, first initiated at IBEX, to the action stage in developing creative approaches to education and training issues," Cramer concluded.
This cooperative education and training initiative has garnered additional conceptual support from additional industry leaders — from marine trade and professional associations, marine manufacturers, marine repair commercial entities and government agencies to leading providers of occupational competency assessments and services and educational accreditation authorities. Mark Amaral, Managing Director for the American Boat Builders and Repairers Association (ABBRA), says, "ABBRA's goal is to provide the widest range of quality training to its members." "Any initiative to improve the quality and quantity of training within the industry is important, and therefore, we will have an active presence at the summit," stated Amaral.
Joe DeMarco, Executive Director of the Association of Marine Technicians (AMTECH) is also very excited about and committed to representing his membership at the summit. "This is a truly unique opportunity for industry leaders to acknowledge and demonstrate the value they hold in developing and sustaining a well educated and trained workforce," said DeMarco. He concluded by saying, "Just such a gathering of industry is long overdue — I look forward to it and will represent the interests of marine technicians to the best of my ability."
The three primary organizers of the February 2005 summit welcome additional sponsors, endorsements, and support from all sectors of the industry. "This is truly an opportunity for us to collectively join forces to address and define solutions to a major challenge facing our industry today — tomorrow is too late," stated Jim Ellis,
ABYC Board Chair and President of BoatUS.
About ABYC
ABYC has been developing, writing and updating the safety standards for boat building and repair in the United States for 50 years and is actively involved with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as well as certification programs for marine technicians. These standards are available on CD-ROM and in printed form. Membership and general information can be requested by calling (410) 956-1050 or by visiting the ABYC Web Site at www.abycinc.org.
About NMMA
NMMA is a non-profit association with more than 1,400 companies that produce every conceivable product used by recreational boaters. NMMA is dedicated to creating, promoting and protecting an environment where members can achieve financial success through excellence in manufacturing, in selling, and in servicing their customers. NMMA today provides a wide variety of programs and services tailored to member needs including technical expertise, standards monitoring, government relations, industry statistics, as well as boat shows. For more information on NMMA please visit www.nmma.org.
About Professional BoatBuilder Magazine
Professional BoatBuilder magazine was founded in 1989 and reaches 27,500 marine professionals around the world. IBEX was founded by Professional BoatBuilder in 1992, and continues without comparison as the leading tradeshow for boatbuilders, designers, repairers, surveyors, boatyard/marina operators, and suppliers. PBB also launched the first successful and continuous online distance learning curriculum for marine trade professionals, EmarineTraining.com. For more information about IBEX please visit www.ibexshow.com. If you would like information about Professional BoatBuilder magazine you may visit www.proboat.com. Information regarding EmarineTraining.com is available at that URL.
Contact Information for Attendees: ABYC Education Department, (410) 956-1050
Bonnie Barsa, Education Director
bbarsa@abycinc.org
Cris Gardner, Assistant Education Director
cgardner@abycinc.org
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