Angie Simon, founder of Heavy Metal Summer Experience, was named the 2026 MEP Industry Advocacy Award recipient for her leadership in addressing the construction workforce shortage. Rather than talk about the problem, Simon built a solution. Heavy Metal Summer Experience brings high school students into hands-on summer camps where they weld, bend conduit, install piping, and experience real careers in the trades alongside industry mentors.

The plumbing service industry is evolving rapidly, with new technologies, best practices, and customer expectations shaping the way contractors do business. PCA—the Plumbing Contractors of America—is MCAA’s premier resource for plumbing contractors. The 6th annual PCA Plumbing Service Conference (May 4 – 6, 2026, in Indianapolis, IN) is a must-attend event for contractors looking to strengthen service operations, drive profitability, and embrace innovation.

The spring 2026 MSCA classes are on the calendar and open for registration. MSCA provides focused training programs for your operational personnel. This collection of programs, unlike any other, provide the continued training to set your employees apart in the HVACR industry.

While some injuries happen instantly from a single event, others develop slowly over time from ongoing exposure(s) to hazards. These long-term exposures can cause damage that equals or exceeds the impact of sudden events. Because exposures occur gradually, they are often not felt until its too late and serious harm has occurred. MCAA’s Health Hazards in Mechanical Construction Safety Training Video offers tips to protect workers from these hazards, which may affect hearing, breathing, or the ability to move. It’s just one of MCAA’s educational resources that are free to MCAA members as a benefit of membership.

The Manufacturer/Supplier Training area of MCAA’s website connects our contractor members with training opportunities available from the members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.

MCAA’s Field Leaders Conference is where field leaders realize their importance and value as professionals and members of the management team. When your field leaders join us in September, they will learn the skills they need to be business, and results, oriented managers focused on growing company profits and brand. Register them today!

MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show connects our contractor members with the members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.

If you want to fast-track your new and aspiring field leaders, MCAA has just the program! Once a week for 8 weeks, FFL students spend 90 minutes online with an experienced field leader, who will walk them through best practices and practical strategies of running work and running a crew. From Planning to Leadership, from Documentation to Safety: our instructors break down the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of things that every foreman must understand to be successful.

As part of its ongoing commitment to protecting your livelihood and setting the stage for a bright future, MCAA has secured the services of Longbow Public Policy Group to advise our MCAA Government Affairs Committee (GAC). GAC Chair, Jim Gaffney will be passing along information relative to our industry on a regular basis.

If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to register, here’s the good news: there’s still time to attend the 2026 MCAA Annual Convention—and every reason to do so.

Rob Cross of Baker Group was named MCAA’s 2026 Innovator of the Year for leading a companywide operational scale-up—expanding fabrication, automating production, strengthening logistics, and implementing formal quality controls—to meet growing project demand. His people-first approach empowered teams to drive innovation, improving throughput, coordination, and predictability across larger, more complex projects.

A nationwide winter storm swept across much of the country as this year’s MEP Innovation Conference began, disrupting flights and forcing last-minute travel changes. Even so, more than 600 contractors, technology leaders, and operations executives made it to Austin, Texas, filling ballrooms and breakout rooms with a clear purpose: figure out how to build smarter and faster in a market that isn’t slowing down.