Sometimes, an event comes along that’s so big it sucks up all the oxygen in the room. Or, if you’re putting together a magazine, almost all the pages an editor has to work with.

This month that event is IAPMO’s Annual Education and Business Conference, held this September 13-17. While the conference is always a big deal and worth reporting on, this year it also served as the association’s 100-year anniversary celebration. And, just to close the circle, it was held in Los Angeles, CA, where IAPMO had its start back in 1926.

For full coverage of the conference you can read our Feature, where we not only report on the latest awards and appointments, but also delve into the history of the organization, and talk a bit about the urgent need the booming city of LA had in 1926 for plumbing codes and plumbing inspectors to enforce them. 

I was honored to be a guest at the conference and for the chance it gave me to meet and talk with association members. That included members of IAPMO’s leadership team and CEO Dave Viola. You can read my interview with him in this month’s Forum. 

While features and interviews are all well and good, this is still a news magazine. Luckily, IAPMO was also making news this month. Early in September, IAPMO signed two memorandums of understanding during the 14th World Plumbing Conference, expanding its collaboration with the (UK-based) Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) and the American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE). 

And let’s not forget that IAPMO (despite being so many other things) is at its heart a code development body, and this month’s issue includes John Mesenbrink’s Plumbing Codes Update. In the course of his research John reached out to Chuck White of the PHCC, to Matt Sigler at ICC, and (naturally) to Hugo Aguilar of IAPMO.

I titled my interview with Dave Viola, “The Secret to Our Success,” and Dave had a lot to say on why IAPMO has thrived over the century to become such an important player in the plumbing industry. I have a private theory of my own (that tracks closely with all Dave had to say): it has taken the code development process and used it as a model for how to run an organization.

The process relies on volunteers; diverse stakeholders who are willing to donate their time and energy for the sake of the greater good, and to give back to and help improve a profession they find rewarding and valuable.

The process is an open one. Anyone can submit a formal change request and have it debated. During the public comment phase, anyone can challenge, support, or suggest modifications to the technical committee’s initial decisions. It is the value of the ideas, not their point of origin that is the deciding factor.

The process works by consensus, with changes requiring a 2/3rds majority to pass. And building that consensus necessarily requires communication, collaboration, and compromise.

And the process values expertise, with the Standards Council reviewing the entire consensus trail and addressing any outstanding appeals before issuing an update.

It is a rational, transparent process that appeals to the best in people and gets the best out of them, and I find it mirrored to a remarkable degree in IAPMO’s governance. All of us here at CONTRACTOR congratulate the membership on their first 100 years, and wish them even greater success in the century to come.