Advancing the use of metal in the Wild West

By Jenny Yu.  

In a time of increasingly complex federal and state regulations, MCA is preparing new resources and partnerships to strengthen the industry. 

During this episode of MetalCast™, Karen Edwards spoke with Jeff Henry, executive director of the Metal Construction Association (MCA), about MCA’s Winter Meeting and the initiatives the association is developing to support industry growth.  

One major focus is education for professionals entering the metal construction sector. “We're developing an education program for people that are new to the industry,” Jeff shared. “What are the basic things they need to understand — substrates that are used, when do you use what, the different roles that people play in the industry. It’s a soup-to-nuts approach, a metal 101 curriculum.” Segments of the program are expected to roll out in 2026. 

At the same time, MCA is looking to expand its market development activities. According to Jeff, the organization recently completed an agency review and is bringing on a marketing firm to expand their impact. “That’s our purpose: to advance the use of metal in the building envelope,” Jeff said. “We intend to grow and expand our impact and our educational efforts to our key constituents and stakeholders and those who make decisions about what products are used in their projects.” 

Furthermore, MCA is strengthening collaboration across the industry. They recently hosted an executive forum that brought together 10 trade associations to discuss common interests, goals and opportunities. “We have an opportunity to come together and have greater collaboration and impact as one entity rather than 10 individual programs,” Jeff stated. “We plan to hold that conference twice a year, and we’ve already identified a couple initiatives.” 

Among these initiatives is paying closer attention to government relations as regulatory activity increases and becomes more complex at the state level. “It's kind of the Wild West at the moment,” Jeff said. “It's important to be informed when there's new legislation or regulatory issues that are being proposed so that the experts can have a voice in that process and influence outcomes."

Read the first article in this series, Listen to the podcast or Watch the recording to learn more about MCA’s priorities and how the association plans to support the metal construction industry in 2026.