American Window Alliance Hosted by Mathews Brothers in Belfast, Maine

For immediate release: 7/31/07

All nine American Window Alliance (AWA) companies sent a total of 40 representatives to Belfast, Maine as guests of Mathews Brothers a member AWA company. The meeting was sponsored by Deceuninck North America, a vinyl lineal supplier located in Monroe, OH.

Mathews Brothers was chosen as the meeting site because of their 150+ years of successful wood and vinyl window manufacturing history and expertise. The facility has recently been updated and expanded and the AWA members were given access to all levels of the company.

Mathews Brothers owner, Scott Hawthorne and Vice President of Sales and Marketing Steve Hart both led a plant tour in Belfast for all of the AWA members on July 26, 2007. AWA members were greeted by Mathews Brothers employees throughout the tour who were most enthusiastic to show off their company’s manufacturing abilities and their contagious enthusiasm. Each employee shared their window making expertise and their team building focus throughout the plant tour. Their collective pride in their products and company was most evident.

“I saw a lot of smiling faces and engaged Mathews Brothers team members throughout the tour. In some facilities I have toured, the tour guides do all of the talking but on this tour the employees were the tour guides,” stated Mark Adams, Executive Director of the American Window Alliance.

“Through Scott Hawthorne’s leadership and a new on-going training program with nationally respected business coach, Rick Grandinetti this company has a competitive advantage due to positive attitudes and visionary leadership. There is a strong sense of teamwork at Mathews Brothers!” Adams went on to observe.

The AWA members were also given a presentation by Mark Parrish, President of Deceuninck North America which is a company that extrudes exclusive vinyl lineals for the AWA team of vinyl window fabricators. Parrish and his DNA associates Jon Hauberg, Eric Kent, Phil Lester and Darwin Brown presented new vinyl window products and future service strategies for the AWA team of vinyl window fabricators.

The next day all AWA owners also were treated to a Rick Grandinetti presentation sponsored by Deceuninck North America and Mathews Brothers at the Samoset Resort in Rockland, ME. Mr. Grandinetti focused on serving both the internal customers and the external customers. He stressed that great service revolves around being positive and motivated for your fellow employees and your customers.

Grandinetti, from Cary, North Carolina stressed that, “A company can only be successful if it delights one internal customer and one external customer at a time.”

He encouraged all AWA leaders to, “serve other people”, as their path to collective success.

The meeting culminated with the election of new AWA officers for 2008 as follows:

Art Strauss, President (Midway Windows and Doors, Inc., Chicago, IL) Jim Draper, Vice President (Pro Window and Door, Little Rock, AR) Paul Huston, Secretary (Alliance Vinyl Windows of LA, Slidell, LA) Scott Hawthorne, Treasurer (Mathews Brothers, Belfast, ME) Gus Stergis, Chairman (Stergis Aluminum Products, Walpole, MA)

It was also announced that next year’s annual AWA Summer Meeting will be held in Louisiana. This meeting will give the AWA members the opportunity to celebrate the successful comeback story of Alliance Vinyl Windows of Louisiana located in Slidell, La.

Paul Huston, owner of AVW of LA will serve as host in June 2008 and the AWA members will get to see first hand how Huston and AVW of LA survived Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and now are back in business and attacking the coastal region vinyl window markets.

American Window Alliance Members: Mathews Brothers, Belfast, ME Stergis Aluminum Products, Walpole, MA Syron Industries, Syracuse, NY Alliance Vinyl Windows of NJ, Mt. Ephraim, NJ Yale Industries, Inc., Dayton, OH Midway Windows and Doors, Inc., Chicago, IL BMD Window Company, N. Kansas City, MO Pro Window and Door, Little Rock, AR Alliance Vinyl Windows of LA, Slidell, LA