NBFAA rolls out NatCom

SILVER SPRING, Md. - At its spring conference at the end of March, the National Burglar & Fire Alarm Association is planning to begin a program designed to foster better communication between its state chapters and the nation-al organization. The program, called NatCom, has been designed to better streamline the work of the NBFAA’s national committees and improve information flow. David Mandel, NBFAA marketing and membership director, said the idea to streamline the national committees came after the NBFAA national board of directors, which consists of members from each of the 43 state chapters, grew to 60 members. “We’ve been fortunate enough to have strong leaders and effective leaders representing the chapters that I think (the board) has functioned very well,” said Mandel. “What we ended up with was a very large board of directors,” he continued. “It suffers from its size sometimes.” The approximately 14 national committees created by NatCom will focus on such areas as education, training and programming. The membership of each national committee will consist of the chairmen of the equivalent board on the state committee. Describing NatCom as a “linear” move, Mandel said the formation of the national committees will not require any adjustment to the NBFAA’s by-laws, and the role of the national board of directors will largely remain the same. With the formation of NatCom, the NBFAA hopes to involve a wider range of members in the committees. NBFAA Vice President Scot Colby said the association is looking for the “cream of the crop,” and having the most experienced people from the state committees serving on the national committees will strength-en the NBFAA. “You need people that are passionate on the subject matter to get people involved,” explained Mandel, echoing Colby’s sentiments. David Wilson, president of the Connecticut Burglar & Fire Alarm Association, who calls NatCom “a great starting point,” said he believes it makes sense to have the national committees and the state committees working under the same structure. “Certainly, as a volunteer president, you are looking for a resource to drive your state organization,” said Wilson. In addition to improving the information flow from the national to the state committees, Wilson said NatCom will have the added side benefit of bolstering the level of communication between the individual state chapters themselves. “To me that’s what it’s all about, (the) exchange of ideas in a structured manner,” Wilson said.