Page 24 - CMA PROfiles Winter 2018

20
Anniversar 20 YEARS 20 YEARS 20TH ANNIVERSARY CMA HISTORY LESSON
GOING
GOING
th
STRONG
Anniversar
STRONG
Celebrating
Celebrating
1998 2018
1998 2018
CMA history lesson:

A snowy day outside Chicago

IDEA TO REALITY
That snowy day meeting of the original
To help kick off our 20th Anniversary celebration, we board members on January 9, 1998
asked William Sampson, one of the founders of the CMA, was the official beginning of what is

to share his memories of how the organization came now the CMA.
to be. Enjoy! Mike Langenderfer came in from Ohio;

Jim McDermott from New York; Bob
Buckley from Tennessee; Keith Hill from
This January marks the 20 anniversary Then, a few years later, one of my com- North Carolina, and I flew in from Con-
th
of the official birth of the Cabinet Makers petitors, CabinetMaker magazine, started necticut. Tom Austin from Texas joined
Association, but the organization’s roots to get the ball rolling on the idea of an us by telephone. Langenderfer became
date back even farther than that snowy association. Bruce Plantz, editor of Cabi- the CMA’s first president; McDermott,
January day just outside Chicago. netMaker, suggested the association idea the first vice-president; Buckley, inaugural
in both FDM and CabinetMaker. He also treasurer, and Hill, inaugural secretary.
The tale involves a handful of cabinet posted about it in an online forum and Austin became our first board member
shop owners who had never met before got nearly 100 responses, mostly from at large, and I became the association’s
and a couple of magazine editors who smaller shops. first executive director. CabinetMaker
started out as competitors and quickly magazine was named as the management
became colleagues. At the same time, their management was company for the group.
negotiating to buy my magazine, and
IN THE BEGINNING Bruce invited me to Des Plaines, Illinois, In our two days together, we worked
I originally floated the idea of an to conclude our magazine negotiations out the basics of incorporation, bylaws,
association for small shop professional and help spearhead the launch of the dues and all the trappings that go with a
woodworkers in 1995 in the first issue of association we had both talked about. national association. None of us had any
WoodshopBusiness magazine. I had pre- During our meeting in Des Plaines, we real previous experience with this kind
viously worked as editor of Fine Wood- determined that I would take over as of thing, but we were all enthusiastic
working magazine, and I had launched editor of CabinetMaker (incorporating and hopeful.
this new publication after meeting lots my WoodshopBusiness readership) and
of spectacular woodworkers who were also take the lead in trying to get the new McDermott said at the time he hoped the
struggling because they had no formal cabinet shop association off the ground. association would improve the profes-
business training. But I confess I was sionalism of small shop cabinetmakers.
too busy trying to grow my magazine Bruce invited five shop owners to join us,
to put any serious effort into the and I joined four of them at a face-to-face “There are guys who are not real busi-
association idea. meeting in Chicago. nessmen who compete and take jobs

22 PROFILES WINTER 2018