NRLA installs new chair

The Northeastern Retail Lumber Association installed Dana Schnipper as its new chair of the board of directors during its annual meeting in West Harrison, N.Y., on Oct. 21. Schnipper is president of JC Ryan EBCO/H&G, LLC, a door and hardware distributor based in Farmingdale, N.Y.

Addressing the meeting of more than 100 NRLA members, Schnipper promised to focus on branding the NRLA as a powerful advocate for the LBM industry.

“Each of us has our own reasons to be involved,” Schnipper said. “Mine has been the belief that the NRLA has been and will continue to be the best advocate for my business no matter what the issue is.”

Schnipper has been an advocate for the LBM industry through his work with the NRLA and his state and local associations. The 2011 Long Island Lumber Association Lumber Person of the Year, Schnipper has served as chair for the New York legislative committee since 2006, and his roots go back to the groundbreaking Paid-When-Paid legislative subcommittee in 1997.  He has spearheaded the NRLA’s legislative initiative to exempt material suppliers from retention in New York State, according to the NRLA.

Also at the Annual Meeting, new members of the NRLA’s board of directors were introduced for the 2017-18 term. Along with Schnipper, the NRLA’s Executive Committee includes chair-elect Rod Wiles, Hammond Lumber; vice chair Loraine Miner, Miner’s, Inc.; immediate past chair Robert Bicknell, Bicknell Building Supply; secretary-treasurer Genn Hagan, GNH Lumber, Inc.; and NRLA president Rita Ferris.

Members at large include Joe Cecarelli, Oxford Building Materials; Doug Ford, Curtis Lumber Company; Nick Kuiken, Kuiken Brothers Co., Inc.; Burnie Nugent, Warren Trask Company, Inc.; Paul Tarca, Concord Lumber Corporation; and John Voter, Benson Lumber & Hardware, Inc.

Additional directors include Joe Begnoche, ProBuild; Chris Costello, Timberline Enterprises, Inc.; Mark DeWitt, Baker-Miller Lumber, Inc.; Ed Godek, III, Rex Lumber Co.; Dan Martin, Reeb Millwork Corp.; and Bob Shaw, Huttig Building Products.

Based in Rensselaer, N.Y., the NRLA is a 1,100-member association representing independent lumber and building material suppliers and associated businesses in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, D.C.