Plumbing Manufacturers International (PMI) members elected Chip Way as president of the 2024 PMI Board of Directors during PMI's 69th Annual Meeting of the Membership yesterday. The director of OEM sales at Lavelle Industries, Way succeeds Sal Gattone, leader of research and development projects, fixtures, at LIXIL. Gattone will remain on the board as immediate past president. The meeting was held during the PMI23 Manufacturing Success Conference in Seattle.

In addition to Way and Gattone, the other members of the 2024 board will be board vice president Belinda Wise, Kerox, Ltd., board secretary/treasurer Daniel Gleiberman, Sloan; and at-large directors Kevin Campbell, Moen; Lowell Lampen, Kohler Co., Bob Neff, Delta Faucet Co.; and Paige Riddle, Viega.

"As your president, I will be mindful of the need to keep moving," Way stated. "That in a nutshell is my charge for 2024. To keep PMI moving forward to deliver added resources and ideas to you. To bring attention to the critical issues impacting our companies and industry and to deliver the meaningful consensus-based solutions that are the root strength of PMI."

Way recognized Gattone for his contributions as the 2023 PMI board president. He also announced that the 70th Annual Meeting of the Membership will be held as part of the PMI24 Manufacturing Success Conference from Oct. 21-24, 2024, at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead.

In remarks summing up 2023, Gattone recognized new PMI manufacturing member BLANCO America, as well as Hansgrohe reaching the 25-year milestone as a PMI member. He presented the PMI President's Award to Ralph Suppa, president of the Canadian Institute of Plumbing and Heating, and also recognized frequent guest speaker Gary Stanley's 40 years of service to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

During his state of the association report, PMI CEO/Executive Director Kerry Stackpole recognized the contributions of the PMI board, committee leaders, staff, and business support team. He named Chris McDonald, principal reliability and compliance engineer, Moen, as the recipient of the PMI Ambassador Award, given each year to an employee of a PMI member company.

The Oct. 23-26 PMI23 meeting earlier featured the inaugural PMI Women's Breakfast, a celebration of the contributions of women to the plumbing manufacturing industry, and the presentation of the Paul Patton PMI23 Manufacturing Success Award to Denise Dougherty, global regulatory manager, Sloan.