Meet the Press

By Tara Taffera

The door and window press that is. By now you all know me as the publisher of DWM magazine, as I started the magazine here in 2000. I am so happy to introduce some new—and kind of new—faces to the DWMteam.

Drew Vass is the publication’s new editor, and I have worked with Drew since 2006 when he worked on our staff and served as editor of some of our sister publications, including Shelter, which has since merged into DWM magazine. When he left our parent company, Key Media & Research (KMR), to pursue a freelance business, we never lost touch and he continued to write excellent articles for our publications.

I will never forget emailing him one day about eight years ago about an assignment after we hadn’t spoken for a bit. He called it “eerie” that I had emailed him at the very point at which he was sitting on his living room floor, literally surrounded by windows. He had just landed a contract with Consumers Digest magazine serving as the magazine’s home improvement editor. This included working on the magazine’s semi-annual door and window buying guides.

So you see Drew knows the business. I knew he was the perfect person for the job and was thrilled he decided to come back to the DWM family—this time as the editor of DWM.

He stepped right in without missing a beat, and headed to the GlassBuild show after only a week on the job.

In addition to being a great writer Drew has that innate sense, the one where he can decipher the important stories to tell, the markets to serve, and much more. So while I am thrilled to have him on board it is you the reader who will truly benefit.

Our newbie is Katie Brown who is serving as the newsletter editor for DWM and writing for many of KMR’s publications. While Drew and I are the veterans, Katie brings a unique energy and perspective to her role and we are thrilled to have her as well.

I’ll tell you a secret: When you are hired at DWM you pretty much jump right in. Katie started working on the newsletter on day one, and has tackled important issues such as Energy Star and Canadian trade issues after only a few weeks on the job.

All three of us are here covering this industry with the goal of helping all of you in your businesses. So if you have an idea to share, please let us know. You can reach us here: Katie: kbrown@glass.com; Drew: dvass@glass.com and myself at ttaffera@glass.com. We all look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at a future event.

To view the laid-in version of this article in our digital edition, CLICK HERE.