It has been hard to watch the news of hurricane Harvey pounding Houston, Southeast Texas and parts of Louisiana. We have reached out to CSIA members and friends in the region. Fortunately, the direct impact of the storm was minimal for those we reached. Many of us have colleagues, relatives and friends who were not so fortunate. Our heart goes out to those hit the hardest. The CSIA Partner Committee’s in-person meeting had been scheduled to take place September 6-7 in Houston. We held a virtual meeting instead.
While Houston has not fully recovered from Harvey yet, another set of storms, including Irma, have developed. Irma has wrought devastation across the Caribbean and parts of the Gulf and Atlantic coasts along its path. We wish the best for those now impacted by this destruction, as well.
CSIA plans to participate in the 2017 Rockwell Automation Fair, taking place in Houston, November 15-16. We will have our usual booth on the expo floor, and will leverage our time in Houston with a Fall in-person board meeting and other activities. We are hopeful that Houston will still be able to host the event, and we continue to monitor the recovery efforts there.
Watching Harvey brought back memories from hurricanes Katrina (2005), Sandy (2012) and countless other storms and catastrophic events in recent history. These should also serve as a call to action for all of us to revisit our company and personal disaster survival and recovery plans.
I would like to conclude on a very different note. For many of us with younger children or grandchildren, the start of the school year reminds us that the summer (for those in the Northern Hemisphere) is over and that we are about to start a very busy period of trade shows, meetings, travel, deadlines, etc. I hope that you were able to get some rest over the summer months and are now ready to make the most of what remains of 2017. Finish strong!
#RockwellAutomationFair