Every year the CDRA Executive Committee meets and plans one year out, three years out and ten years out. We call it the V/TO which stands for Vision/Traction Organizer. This is a long involved process that, like a rudder, works to steer us where we want to go. We call each of the goals “Rocks” as they stand as landmarks on our journey. At the beginning of 2025 the Rocks we were aiming for were:

1. Shift from a managed association to a self-managed association separating from Bostrom completely. Included in this was having three fulltime employees.
2. Have two fully functional websites. One for CDRA the other for Shingle Recycling. 
3. Transition to a Membership Management software and AMS.
4. Create and implement a committee operational plan.
5. Finalize alignment with third-party certification program.
6. Executive Committee and Board succession plan. 
7. Marketing plan built and functioning.

We are excited to report that, with the exception of the marketing plan fully functioning and retaining contractors instead of employees, we have achieved all of these. These comprised large investments of time and money to achieve and were bold objectives set out by the Executive Committee. To help readers better understand these achievements and the heavy lifting that occurred to make this happen, here is a glimpse behind the scene of some of the tasks that were required to get these to the finish line.

1. The transition from Bostrom required us to establish, migrate and absorb operationally: accounting, IT, insurance, phone, mailing address, registered agent, digital and physical storage, marketing, operations and member services. To cover operations and member services, two full-time contractors were hired and onboarded to work solely for the CDRA. This is in addition to the Executive Director position which has always been a full-time contractor. Note, that it was decided to defer transitioning contracted staff to employees until a later date which will be determined by the Board. 
2. The two websites, built from the ground up, came with all of the tasks involved in establishing new website content. However, ours went beyond the normal informational websites, they both include Find a Recycler functions which required the establishment and scrubbing of two independent databases which feeds these functions. We also incorporated our membership portal in our website so our membership could easily access their accounts. This integration required additional work to build and make function.
3. We transitioned our membership management software from MC Pro, to MC Trade. Even though these platforms come from the same developer, there were significant differences, primarily how member accounts are housed. The old system did it by individual, the new system by company. Changing this was a heavy lift, but significant for our growth. Member company employees change over time. The old system did not accommodate for this. In addition, all of our invoicing and member payment information was integrated with our new accounting system. Once up and running, we started the rollout to members, introducing them and onboarding them in the new system. 
4. Our committees are the knee deep, boots on the ground vehicle for education and implementing change in our industry. Because of their importance, the Executive Committee wanted to ensure that there was an established operational plan developed and implemented for all committees. This was done, including the creation of SharePoint sites for each of the committee leadership to house committee documents. 
5. The finalization of alignment with a third-party certification program was a huge lift, with four members of the Executive Committee volunteering a significant amount of personal time and energy to ensure this happened. Their work, in connection with the Recycling Certification Institute (RCI), will help facilitate the continued growth of the RCI program Nationally. This not only bolsters CDRA members who have already achieved certification, but also improves the integrity of our industry as a vehicle to validate the recovery numbers that are reported.  
6. As a member run association, the Executive Committee is paramount to our success. Because of this, it is critical that there is good succession planning. Ideally, EC members spend time as Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice President, prior to taking on the role of President in a multi year plan designed for paced development. As with life, not everything goes according to plan. Because of this, the EC worked to make adjustments as needed while ensuring the best long term decisions were made to ensure strong association leadership in years to come. 
7. Building out a marketing plan and implementing it was one of the last tasks that we tackled this year. Many components of the marketing plan were impacted by major projects such as the Bostrom transition, website and member portal so this Rock took longer to accomplish than we expected. The marketing plan itself has been developed and we look forward to implementing it in the coming year.  

The progress we made this year is instrumental in shoring up our foundation for continued growth. In addition to meeting our V/TO goals, in March we had our most successful annual conference to date in Dallas, TX and in October we had our first member-hosted mid-year meeting in Charlotte, NC compliments of Sennebogen. To top it off, everything we did this year was within our approved budget. We have outstanding momentum going into 2026 and are excited to grow from here.