Thomas Skernivitz RSI Editor-in-Chief

First-year anniversaries are easy to remember on RSI Magazine, if only because there seems to be at least one every month. That's how consistently and substantially things have changed — for the better — in the last 16 months.

January, for instance, marked a year's worth of Last At-Batt responses. This is the light-hearted department on the last editorial page of the magazine every month. (If you're like me, and read magazines from back to front, it's the first page you see.) No one is ever going to win a Pulitzer for detailing the favorite musical artists of your favorite sales rep, but inevitably this is the page that fans of the magazine note first when they approach me.

January also signalled the 12th issue of RSI that features four distinct sections — roofing, metal roofing, siding, and insulation. Roofing, of course, is our bread and butter, significant enough, in fact, to merit completely separate coverage of metal-specific roofing. And while siding and insulation would seem like obvious topics for a magazine named R-S-I, that wasn't always the case. As one siding contractor creatively noted last year, "I always thought the 'S' in RSI was lower-case." He can't say that any more. Likewise, no trade magazine can say they cover the entire building envelope like RSI now does.

This month's issue is the 12th in which each of those four sections boasts a Q&A that involves select manufacturer "experts" from the roofing, siding, and insulation communities. This happens to be my favorite aspect of the magazine, if only because it's been the fastest avenue for an industry newbie such as myself to get to know as many people as possible. And, of course, if the lessons provided in each Q&A are half as valuable to our 24,000 readers as they are to me, we are successfully serving our purpose as an educational resource.

At the very least, manufacturers seem to enjoy the opportunity to speak directly to our readers while, thankfully, resisting self-promotion, the bane of construction trade magazines. Over 12 months and 43 topics, we have published 140 responses from 85 different companies. CertainTeed has offered its expertise nine times, while fellow powers Johns Manville, Owens Corning, and GAF-Elk have responded at least five times each. Meanwhile, smaller firms have relayed their proficiency equally well.

I would like to thank each of those 85 companies for taking the time to work with RSI and educate our readers. I couldn't ask for more (unless, of course, you count a quality headshot of each respondent). And special thanks goes out to RSI's Mike Russo, whose 27 years of roofing experience are quite evident in the pointed questions he throws at each of those companies.

Finally, while on the subject of first anniversaries, congratulations to RSI's graphic designer, Hilary Mohler. Her work over the last 12 months, including the cover of this issue and the March "ice cream sundae" cover, has been priceless.