ate partners, the NTCA is grateful for the support. The new millennium It began a decade before, although in many ways the inten- sity of the dynamic was missed, but when the hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the Shanksville field on September 11, 2001, there was no denying that a new order had emerged. It was a war against our way of life, a war of terrorism, and our response would dominate the decade and years come. In addition to the real threat of terrorism at home, our environ- ment was impacted by business and nature, golf and the Olympics were ruled by icons, and real change took place on the political scene. The NTCA entered the 2000s with an eye on expanding its out- reach, adding staff in education and training, as well as associa- tion management. Justin Woelfel, Jr. became the first full time trainer, Bart Bettiga was named executive director in 2002, and Jim Olson joined as assistant director in 2008. Association volunteer lead- ers helped to lead NTCA from 400 members in 2002 to the threshold of 1,000 by the end of the decade. Credentialing and certification became a driving force at the end of this decade, kicking off with the Certified Tile Installer program at Coverings 2008 that combines a written test and hands-on testing to verify a tile contractor’s basic skills. In the next decade, NTCA was instrumental in developing the Advanced Certifications for Tile Installers (ACT) that certifies a con- tractor’s installation skills in mud beds, large-format tiles, thin por- celain tile, membranes, grouts and In the 1990s, Paul Dinkel invented Wonderboard, the first cement backer board. In 1996, the name of the Tile and Stone Exposition was officially changed to Coverings, at the show held that year in Miami. One of the highlights of the Coverings show in the ‘90s was the National Tile Setting Contest, supported by industry manu- facturers and sup- pliers. Celebrating 70 years TileLetter | September 2017 85