Wrapping Up 2024 and Looking Ahead to a Bright 2025
Message from EFC President and CEO Carol McGlogan
With 2024 coming to a close, we are taking a moment to reflect on the achievements and challenges of the past year.
Navigating the dynamic and evolving landscape of our industry, we are proud of the incredible progress our organization has shown over the past year with invaluable contributions from our members. Despite recent economic challenges, our collective strength and involvement in the electrification and automation of everything has positioned us for success.
Through our ongoing efforts in government advocacy, talent attraction, and enhanced business forecasting and statistics services, EFC is consistently delivering value to our members. This has led to increased member engagement across all our networks and culminated in record-breaking attendance at our annual conference in Banff.
Whether it’s at the EFC conference or during any of the 48 events EFC hosts nationally, members have a variety of opportunities to strengthen industry relationships and participate in industry development initiatives. Our annual conference returns to Ontario for the first time in over 20 years and we are excited to celebrate our 30th anniversary as Canada’s voice in the Electrical industry.
Building on our successful talent attraction campaign in 2023, which reached half of Canada’s young professionals aged 21 to 34, we launched phase 2 in August 2024 for another 3-month run. This new campaign connected interested candidates to our Talent Nest job board and allowed them to explore member websites. Talent remains a top concern for our industry and EFC will continue to explore ways to promote careers focused in the electrical and automation fields for the coming year.
Business intelligence is a collective industry effort that is highly valued by members, which is why EFC continues to invest in this area. The Pathfinder report is included in EFC membership dues. The pulse polls offer members a quick and instant view of market conditions and supply chain issues. We continue to expand the number of product categories receiving customized market forecasts. We were also pleased to launch the first CEMRA compensation study in 2024 providing reps with the ability to analyze the competitiveness of their compensation packages.
EFC has engaged in several federal and provincial consultations on the clean energy transition. Following our second annual Ottawa day, EFC was invited to co-lead the Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure to Grid working group and was invited as a witness to view the study on Canada’s Electricity Grid and Network in the house of commons. Helping to drive key messages provincially, Ontario Day was held in late November; plans are underway for Ottawa Day 2025 and we’re looking at launching Quebec Days in the spring of 2025. As a result of these continued efforts, EFC is being recognized as the technology experts and supply chain partners to facilitate Canada’s energy transition.
Our success is evidenced by the engaged community of our members, and we are very thankful for every member contribution. Looking ahead to 2025, we see a world of opportunity. Emerging technologies, shifting markets, and evolving customer expectations present new challenges—but also the chance to grow stronger together. Our focus will remain on fostering innovation, providing resources to empower your success, and amplifying your voice within the industry.
Thank you for your partnership, resilience, and trust this year. As we step into 2025, let’s continue to build on this strong foundation to achieve even greater success. Together, we’ll light the way to a brighter, more innovative future for our industry.
Wishing you a safe, joyful holiday season and a prosperous New Year!