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Meet Laurie Weber — NARI KC’s New Executive Director

Meet Laurie Weber — NARI KC’s New Executive Director

The National Association of the Remodeling Industry – Kansas City (NARI KC) chapter is pleased to announce the appointment of Laurie Weber to the position of Executive Director.

Weber brings more than 20 years of experience with a unique background that encompasses franchisee, homeowners, and trade association management in automotive, aviation, construction, and insurance. Her expertise in the day-to-day management of associations, board and staff development, strategic planning, short- and long-term goal achievement, program assessment and development and integrating innovative strategies and ideas makes her the ideal candidate for this role.

“I am excited to have the opportunity to work side by side with Laurie. She is a perfect representation of the level of professionalism that our Association is dedicated to bring to the remodeling industry,” said Nick Shepard, CR, NARI Kansas City 2022 President. “Watching Laurie empower, educate, and inform our board over the last few months has instilled confidence that we have found the perfect person to build on the foundation of our Association, not only locally, but on a national level.”

Weber previously worked for FirstService Residential as the Director of Operations for their Kansas City branch. Prior to that, she served as the Executive Director for the Scaffold & Access Industry Association through a local association management company, which is where she worked most of her career.

Weber is a huge proponent of developing the trades work force and helped develop American National Standards Institute (ANSI) consensus standards and education programs. She was part of Federal OSHA construction roundtable team, that is a collaboration of many construction trade associations, that continues to develop best practices documents as a unified voice of the construction industry.

Her lean agile leadership practices and servant leadership style has created an environment of change at NARI KC. Immediately asking, what does the next ten years look like for the remodeling industry? Some of her many interests include good food, traveling, being a sports mom, making memories with people she loves and focusing on her well-being. She was born and raised in the Kansas City area.

 

See Laurie Weber’s feature in NARI Newswatch ➡️ HERE


Get to Know Laurie Weber – Q&A

Q: What makes NARI Kansas City special? 

A: To experience the passion the board has for this industry drives me to want to support making a difference. In the trade association world, passion for change is what will make us successful. I was raised in a blue-collar construction world and understand the challenges construction faces, especially in the consistently changing culture we live in. When you have a group of companies that want to impact that change, that’s powerful.

Q: What is your vision (big or small) as Executive Director of NARI Kansas City? 

A: This is a tough question for me. My job is to implement the vision of the board. We must start with aligning where we want to be in 10 years, which is the strategic planning process we have started. Because of my experience, I do know that to make an impact we must be consistent to align the support of our mission with the industry. So back to the question, my vision would be, “As the voice of remodeling industry,  we are raising the professional image by improving standards of practice and solving business challenges for the trade.”

Q: What do you like most about working at NARI Kansas City?

A: Right now, I’m juggling 30 balls at one time and on any day, at least half of those balls are dropped, and I’m ok with that. This journey has been an opportunity for me to build relationships and be an authentic leader. We are doing a lot of work and building structure that will set us up for the next phase of NARI Kansas City. Right now, building relationships and influencing the board to build relationships, is the most important piece for us and our future.

Q: Who would you want to be stranded with on a deserted island?

A: The people I love the most, which is a small but mighty group. No internet, no phone, no interruptions and solving survival problems through trust and unity. Having my 14-year-old son get a coconut out of a tree, that makes me laugh just thinking about it. 😊

Q: What is your favorite family vacation? 

A: I enjoy road trips. I am blessed to have had so many. I think the most surreal has been when I experience the magic of nature, like the mountains or one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Those road trips put life in perspective for me and reminded me, I’m not that important. In my opinion we all need to be reminded of that at times. I recall standing next to a mountain that was created 11 million years ago but, there it stood still amazing people. I’ve only experienced one of the seven natural wonders of the world, but I hope to one day experience, at least the Northern Lights.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do in your free time?

There are so many. I love time on the water, working in my yard, making memories, working out, helping others, getting to know people’s stories (you never know who you will meet), unplugging from the day-to-day business of life, anything that helps me find beauty in life.

Q: List two pet peeves. 

A: Using email as a main source of communicating. I try to use a rule if the email goes back and forth more than 3 times, pick up the phone.

Chronic negativity. There is science behind negativity and what it can do to one’s health. Everyone has a bad day or a bad week and what we do with that can change our energy and everyone’s around us.