blood drives, holiday food drives, and Walk for Autism. At our traditional July cook-out and game day we reached new levels of fun as we teamed up with our co-workers to crown one team winner for the year. This spread to our annual Chili Cook-Off, which now attracts 30-40 entries. Our team-build- ing event winners are recognized with trophies, plaques, and gift cards. We have offered Financial Peace University to the team and their families twice at no cost to them and have seen amazing results of personal debt reduction and wealth building. With our centennial celebration a couple of years away and our desire to build a strong, stable, and enduring company for our team, we became an employee-owned company three years ago. Today the employees are the largest stockholders and we’re enjoying a high level of engagement to maximize the steps taken to improve our company. Throughout this process, the underlying theme has been to think about build- ing others up and treating people like we want to be treated. The people that make up our team are – without doubt – our most important and valuable asset. We still have much to accomplish, but the goal is closer than before and we are working toward hitting the mark. This journey has been enlightening, challenging and very rewarding. Ways of thinking about each other and work have changed and opened positive new channels of collaboration. I hope you are encouraged to think about your company and how you can make a positive difference for the future. –––– Martin Howard, president NTCA Committee member, ANSI A108 mhoward@davidallen.com PRESIDENT'S LETTER ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– High Quality Metal Trims and Pre-Molded Expansion Joints for all of Your Flooring Needs Call or click today! 800.236.5230 www.ceramictool.com Carpet/Vinyl Trim Reducers Reverse Trim Ceramic Tool MADE IN USA 20 TileLetter | December 2017