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02/01/2005
Chairman’s Message
NATE will celebrate its tenth anniversary next month. We started with humble beginnings in March 1995. I remember the time well. I hope you will indulge me
if I share with you how NATE started.
It was the mid 1990’s, cellular was booming and towers were going up everywhere. The FCC was talking about how they should distribute new spectrum for a yet to be developed technology known as Personal Communications Services (PCS). The tower industry was just about to enter its hay-day.
On the flip side, the tower industry was working in the same fashion as it had for the previous 50 years; tree-trimmer belts, free-climbing, friction winches, riding men on cat-heads, etc. Furthermore, no one was talking with each other. Tower companies were fiercely independent and lacking professionalism and unified direction.
Thanks to the vision of one of NATE’s forefathers, Bill Carlson of Tower Systems, Inc., things were about to change. Bill decided it was time the industry came together to address common concerns and prepare for the 21st century. He called a few friends, including me, made arrangements for a meeting room in Dallas, Texas, notified tower companies around the country and set a meeting date.
At that first meeting, I remember there being about 45 companies represented. It was apparent very early in the open-forum discussions that everyone in attendance was ready to start an association. Various names were proposed and we settled on the National Association of Tower Erectors
(NATE). A board of directors was proposed and elected and a chairman, vice-chairman and secretary/treasurer named.
Interestingly, dues were also set at that first meeting. We broke the procession into four groups based on number of employees per company. Each group discussed what they thought fair annual dues should be and they brought those recommendations back to the entire body. If you are a voting member of NATE, the dues you pay today are the exact same amounts set by the members in that initial meeting ten years ago!
We discussed our mission and established a mission statement. Bylaws were proposed, amended and voted upon. An administrator was selected and hired and the next meeting was set for the summer of that same year. The annual meeting was determined to be in February of each year because that is the time of year most agreed would be the easiest to set aside our company work and dedicate some time to our association.
That was ten years ago. Much has taken place since that original meeting. We are bigger, stronger, more recognized and a more powerful force. We have advocates in Washington and have the ear of legislators and regulators at the federal and state level. Our industry has made major strides toward worker safety and our customers have begun to look at us as professionals as opposed to a bunch of wild-eyed cowboys. And it could not have happened without the support of each of you. I, for one, am grateful for each of you and your support of NATE over the past ten years.
If you weren’t at that original meeting, you now know how NATE started. I’m looking forward to the next ten years together. We’ll see you all later this month at NATE 2005. Until then, work hard and be safe!
Craig Snyder serves as Chairman of NATE and is the President and Founder of Sioux Falls Tower & Communications of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
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