Stephen Capone

Dear Members,

With 2014 drawing to a close in the next few days, I am sure we can all agree that it has been quite an eventful year. 

When we started 2014 we decided that SFNE programs and events should provide members with educational information that can help their business develop, networking forums to foster business relationships and opportunities to have new experiences.

 SFNE events ranging from our Spring Meeting at Gillette Stadium, the Annual Steel Design Conference at WPI, the annual Golf Classic at Red Tail, the regional Steel Day events, and the Fall Dinner meeting at Northeastern University's STReSS Lab have proven successful with generating tremendous support and participation.

Our Board of Directors now meet monthly by way of video conference meetings, discussing current topics and trends in our industry while our committees remain hard at work providing our membership with the programs they desire to continue the interest and success of our organization.

I would like to thank each and every one of our Board and Committee members for donating their time in making our meetings and events successful.

Construction wise; During the past year we've seen steady growth in construction and I hope that you all had plenty of work and can carry significant backlogs over to 2015.

Hopefully prices will follow suit and rise to reasonable levels as demands outweigh capacity to supply.

It has been an honor and privilege to serve as your president this year and l look forward to serving you again for 2015.

Wishing you and yours a Holiday Season filled with Joy and Peace.

Best Wishes for a Healthy, Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Regards,

Capone Iron Corporation

SFNE President

From left to right, Pedro Sifre, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Inc.; John Tracy, McNamara/Salvia, Inc.; Eric Hines, LeMessurier Consultants, Inc.; Peter Cheever, LeMessurier Consultants, Inc.; Jerry Hajjar, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering Northeastern;  Shawn Leary, Weidlinger Associates, Inc.; Rens Hayes, Rens Welding & Fabricating; Daniel Kasica, United Steel; David Orlando, Berlin Steel; and  Dino Cauteruccio, Capone Iron.

On October 28th SFNE conducted a Panel Discussion between Engineers and Fabricators. The goal was to discuss ways to streamline the communication process and improve efficiencies in the construction process. 

The dinner was held at the The STReSS Lab housed within Northeastern's George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security in Burlington, MA. The dinner meeting also included a tour of The STReSS Lab. The panel included: 

Moderators: 

Jerry Hajjar| Chair | Dept. of Civil|Environmental Engineering Northeastern 

Eric Hines | Principal | LeMessurier Consultants, Inc. 

Engineers: 

Peter Cheever, P.E | Associate | LeMessurier Consultants, Inc. 

Shawn Leary, P.E. | Senior Associate | Weidlinger Associates, Inc. 

John Tracy, P.E. | Associate | McNamara/Salvia, Inc.

Pedro Sifre, P.E. | Principal | Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Inc. 

Fabricators: 

Dino Cauteruccio | Production Manager | Capone Iron 

Rens Hayes | President | Rens Welding & Fabricating 

Daniel Kasica | Director Of Construction | United Steel 

David Orlando | Project Manager | Berlin Steel 

Click here to view more photos.

Special Thanks to the Dinner Meetings Sponsors 

Bill Pascoli  AISC

My goals as AISC's New England Regional Engineer are to make structural steel the material of choice for buildings and bridges throughout the region and to act as a liaison between the SFNE and the vast resources that AISC possesses both globally and locally.  I have been a part of your organization since 2005 and have watched it make great strides to become relevant again in New England.  At the pleasure of the SFNE BOD I serve as an advisor to the board and also to the education and steel promotion committees. 

At the board meeting in December, 2013 there were two action items approved to make structural steel in general and the SFNE in particular more visible in New England.  One is to develop better communications with local structural engineers in order to help improve the quality of their structural drawings and construction documents.  The other is to promote structural steel to the design and construction community in New England. 

During 2014 a course of action was defined to address both of these initiatives that culminated in the October 28, 2014 Engineer/Fabricator Panel Discussion held at Northeastern University's George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security.  Whether you were there or not you should be proud of everything that took place including the tour of the STReSS Lab, the networking and the panel discussion.  I won't even begin to describe the exchange of information between the SFNE member fabricators and the SEAMass structural engineers because it covered so much ground.  The next challenge for SFNE is to continue the discussion and determine the next step in the process.  Hopefully this was only the beginning of a new relationship between the fabricated structural steel community and the building design and construction community in New England.   

The SFNE Board of Directors recently elected its 2015 officers and appointed and welcomed David Orlando as a new board member from Berlin Steel Construction Co.  We would like to take this time to introduce you to your 

SFNE Board of Directors and Management Team.  Happy Holidays.

Stephen Capone SFNE President Capone Iron Corporation	Rens Hayes SFNE Vice President Rens Welding & Fabricating	Tim Gendron SFNE Treasurer Tim's Fabricators	John Roy SFNE Secretary  Connecticut Galvanizing
James McBrady SFNE Immediate Past President James A. McBrady	Stephen Chasse S.L. Chasse Steel	Mike Feder Infra-Metals Corporation	Darin Gillies Reliance Steel, Inc.
Brett Miller Building Envelope Systems	David Orlando Berlin Steel Construction Co.	Joshua Rosenthal Novel Iron Works	Mark Torriani Santini Bros. Iron Works, Inc.
Bill Pascoli Board Advisor AISC	Cathy Flaherty SFNE Executive Director	Victoria Ranko SFNE Project Coordinator