To keep Hurricane Protection a vital industry communication and educational tool, we are pleased to announce we have formed an Editorial Advisory Board, whose task it will be to critique and help guide us. We’ve solicited members from a wide range of industry channels in order to fully cover all aspects of hurricane protection and mitigation.

We are proud to introduce our advisory board: Joe Belcher, JDB Code Services; Bob Boyer, Palm Beach County Building Official and president of the Building Officials Association of Florida (BOAF); Gary McMahon, Lifestyle Shutters; Loren Sloane, Atrium Companies; Frank Storms, Metal Tech Inc.; and Bill York, WHYork Consulting. We are very happy to have them onboard. That they have volunteered for this position shows their commitment to this industry.

Earlier this year, at the 6th annual World of Hurricane Protection Trade Show & Conference, our board met for its first session. After reviewing several recent past issues of the magazine, the board had many good things to say about our coverage and offered promising directions to us.

For example, it was pointed out that although the industry has its genesis in Florida, it has expanded way beyond the state’s boundaries. Building code issues now affect many other states, so a series of articles was proposed on state code evolutions and approved products in these other areas.

Likewise, a series was suggested looking at insurance issues (a driving force in hurricane protection) including what discounts are available to homeowners and what insurers are telling property owners about what they need to be protected.

Industry data and research always are in need and several ideas were discussed for gathering information and making it available in the pages of the magazine and on our Web site.

So you can see we have our work cut out for us and have important industry projects lined up for future issues. Storm protection and mitigation are especially hot topics right now at the beginning of the 2008 hurricane season, but for us at the magazine and all those who work at it year round it’s a commitment to a safer future.

Kerri Caldwell and Howard Shingle