PRESIDENTS MESSAGE

Greetings:

I hope your 2013 is off to a positive start! I would like to thank the association for the opportunity to serve as your president this year. I consider it an honor and privilege. This year will present opportunities and challenges for our association much like our labs. To list a few changes: State Sales and Use Tax Medical Excise Tax Continued Consolidation Digital Workflows Offshore and the continued implementation (cost impact) of the stages of the Affordable Healthcare Act that will certainly affect how we all do business. Improved communication is our goal and we will continue to work hard to be a resource for our members by sharing information as soon as we can. On another note I would like to share that we have been and will continue to work closely with the GDA to look for ways to benefit both of our memberships. We greatly appreciate the partnership we have with the GDA. We will meet again on March 1 to discuss potential legislation that focuses on patient’s safety and addresses offshoring dental products. We have to be proactive in our monitoring of legislation and provide feedback to our legislature and let them know we are an active participant in the business community.

For the reasons listed above I truly believe there has never been a better time to become a member or a more active GDLA member. To borrow a saying I heard last week from a friend and our new NADL President Henry Martin “You don’t know if you don’t go.” Put another way: “You won’t evolve if you’re not involved.” I cannot remember where I heard that one but it has always stuck with me. Either way I believe both are applicable to the GDLA. What do I mean? I believe the association can serve as a great resource to keep you informed and progressive in this ever-changing industry if you let it. We will continue to focus on providing speakers that are relevant informative and new but it is not just about the speaker’s content. Becoming more involved with the GDLA over the past few years has been priceless to me. We have invaluable resources in our membership alone. I cannot tell you how many times I have learned something (product or otherwise) I didn’t know during a coffee break or met somebody new that already had a solution to a challenge we were experiencing in our lab.

Last week the association met for our winter planning session and I am very thankful to have such a strong proactive group of board members. It was a very productive meeting and we remain committed to having a great year! I hope you will be part of it. As always please let us know if there is anything we can do for you. Thank you!

Sincerely

Zach Pittman