I am recently returned from attending PHCC’s CONNECT 2026, the National Association’s annual conference and trade show. This year it was held in beautiful Milwaukee, WI, and the city welcomed attendees with open arms. I don’t think there is now a plumbing contractor in the country (outside of Florida) who is not pulling for the Brewers in the World Series.  

Unfortunately, the show happened too late in the month for me to include full coverage in this issue—that is going to have to wait until December. However, we do have an industry event we are highlighting in November, the American Society of Plumbing Engineers Convention & Expo—you can read all about it in our Feature on pg. 18.

Also, we aren’t short on stories from the PHCC. On pg. 6 we have news about PHCC Academy’s Rising Leaders program that addresses some of the skills that a technical education can miss, such as financial literacy, time management, and business development.

And for this month’s Forum on pg. 16 we have our Q&A with exiting CEO of the PHCC - National Association, Cindy Sheridan, where we talk about her time leading the Association and what she hopes her legacy might be.

One of the things she mentions as part of that legacy is succession planning, which only makes sense. It doesn’t matter what you may have achieved in a role if everything falls to pieces the minute you step away.

As we reported back in our July issue, Dan Quinonez will be moving from the PHCC’s Educational Foundation to take on the CEO role that Sheridan is exiting. I had a chance to talk to Dan at CONNECT when he stopped by the CONTRACTOR booth, and succession planning is one of his top concerns as well.

The “graying” of the industry isn’t news to anyone at this point (the average age of a master plumber in the US is now 58, after all) and there are other members of the PHCC leadership team looking to ride off into the sunset. Luckily, the Association has been working to get younger people into the leadership pipeline and ensure they have the training and experience needed to serve the members. Case in point, Tyler Arndt, who was just named PHCC Vice President at 32.  

Maybe it’s the “Silver Tsunami” as the Baby Boomers hit their retirement years, but retirement and succession were a big part of the news coming out of CONNECT. Bradford White Water Heaters, a long-time sponsor of the event, was telegraphing some important leadership changes it would be implementing in 2027.

And even we are not immune to succession challenges here in the trade press. Only a few hours ago I had a virtual meeting to say goodbye to our Senior Manager, Business Development for the Southern Region, Randy Jeter, who has been selling advertising since 1986.

Randy is a shrewd, insightful man with a fantastic dry sense of humor, and he did amazing work for CONTRACTOR and our sister publication Contracting Business over the years. He will be greatly missed.

I’d like our readers and advertisers (past and future) to welcome Patrick Keefe, who will be taking over Randy’s territory. I’m only just beginning to get to know Patrick, but he seems like a great choice for the job.

So the moral of this editorial is: it’s never too soon to start thinking about succession. If you’re the founder of your business, it might be one of the last decisions you’ll make as an owner—but it will always rank as one of the most important.