It is exciting to see how new technologies are rapidly changing opportunities in the lighting industry. I am looking forward to attending Lightfair next month to see many of the new and advanced lighting technologies in the marketplace. With that, I encourage ALA manufacturers to enter their lighting products and controls into the ALA-sponsored Lighting for Tomorrow competition. You can find submission deadlines and entry details here.

With the first quarter of the year complete, ALA is receiving significant member support to help new programs launch and existing programs continue to be successful. 

ALA Education Foundation/Charitable Fund

We are proud to announce the first substantial contribution to the ALA Charitable Endowment fund by the Sayah family of Lights Fantastic Pro, Dallas, Texas. In addition to the large gift this year, the Sayah family has made a commitment to give continued, significant contributions over a ten-year period. ALA is establishing the Larry Sayah Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fund and will have an Innovation Panel session at the ALA 2015 Conference. More details to come on this later.

Lighting Magazine

We are excited about the release of the new Lighting magazine, a Better Homes and Gardens Publication. The new, larger size magazine will be well received by showrooms and consumers alike. I want to personally thank the more than 40 manufacturer members that support the magazine through advertising. Their support makes the magazine possible and gives the industry the only national lighting consumer magazine. Over 200,000 copies are available to showroom members to distribute to their customers and help drive lighting sales.

ALA Industry News Tracker

ALA has now launched the ALA Industry News Tracker. This brand new, free service will allow ALA members to keep up with member and industry news in one convenient place. Importantly, we have gained sponsor support from three top industry publications, enLIGHTenment, Home Accents Today and Residential Lighting magazines. The newsfeed will capture key industry news from our sponsors, along with stories generated by our manufacturer members and other publications across the web. Members can individually personalize their newsfeed to prioritize articles based on their member company interests. To view the newsfeed, click here.

Washington D.C. Mission

The ALA Washington D.C. Mission is scheduled for April 29-30, 2015. In addition to meeting with the ALA Legislative Champions on Capitol Hill, we will be meeting with representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Energy Star) and advocacy groups. Currently, we have 16 members and staff attending the fly-in.

ALA Membership Campaign

The ALA Membership Campaign will kick off April 20 and run through the middle of June. ALA has 30 campaign members involved in this effort, who have set a goal to recruit 80 new members into the organization. If you would like to help in this effort, please email Jacob Cambron, ALA director of membership, at [email protected].

I hope the start of this year is proving to be successful for you. If I can assist you in any way, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

Sincerely, 

Eric Jacobson, CAE

President & CEO

American Lighting Association