September 2016: President’s Message

Words: Dan Kamys

Jeff Buczkiewicz, President - jeffb@masoncontractors.org

Jeff BuczkiewiczDear Masonry Magazine reader, I wanted to take a brief moment to inform you about some upcoming changes for Masonry Magazine. Masonry Magazine has been owned by the Mason Contractors Association of America (MCAA) since its inception. For the last 15 years or so, MCAA has had a contract with Lionheart Publishing in Atlanta, Ga., to publish our magazine. We have appreciated the way Lionheart has managed and published our magazine over this period. Earlier this year, the MCAA board of directors decided to go a different direction with Masonry Magazine and voted unanimously to bring the magazine back in-house to the MCAA. As a result, effective with the January 2017 issue of Masonry, the magazine will be published out of Chicago under the direction of MCAA. Lionheart will continue to publish Masonry in the same professional manner they have done throughout our contracted period. The MCAA hired a new editor for Masonry Magazine, Dan Kamys, who will be helping us through the transition of the magazine to the MCAA office. He will take over editorial responsibilities as of the January 2017 issue. Until then, Lionheart will have Karen Hickey, the current editor, producing Masonry through the end of 2016. We are very excited about the transition, and the MCAA board feels this will give us an opportunity to increase the focus of Masonry on many pressing industry issues. We plan to continue to deliver expanded educational reading and build up the topical industry news and information our readers value. In addition, you will see some changes in 2017 as a reader. We plan to develop interactive articles which will tie back to the Masonry Magazine website. New regular features will also be added, and many new surprises will be coming as we progress throughout 2017. We look forward to serving you in this new capacity and thank you for being a loyal Masonry Magazine reader. Sincerely, Jeff Buczkiewicz President Mason Contractors Association of America
About: President's Message
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