President’s Message: Our New Passport Registry is Live!

This is a very busy and exciting time of year! Schools are renewing their WCA EDUcation memberships at a fast rate. Added to this we are launching our new Passport Registry portal and navigating through the new process that will ultimately save a lot of user/teacher and administration time.

We also continue to advance WCA’s industry outreach program through the issuance of press releases – including one about the new Passport Registry — and deployment of the Pathways newsletter.

Bruce Spitz, member of the WCA Board of Directors, joined Scott Nelson in presenting a workshop, “Building & Executing an In-house Training Program for Your Workers,” at IWF 2026.

We experienced a very successful IWF 2026 presence, including at our workshop on developing an in-house training program, lively activity with attendees at our booth, and the successful Silent Auction organized by Expo Auctions and IWF. On all of these fronts, I want to thank IWF for all their continued support of our mission to develop and grow a skilled woodworking workforce!

With IWF in the rearview mirror, the WCA turns its attention to displaying our Skill Standards and Passport Credentialing System to educators attending the national ACTE CareerTech Vision 2026 Conference in New Orleans this December.

For our readers that might not be involved with using the new Passport Registry, I would like to share a brief description of why we decided to start over from the ground up to build a registry that would meet the needs of our schools and manufacturing members moving into the future.

The new streamlined registry will speed the process of recording hands-on evaluations and online testing results for our Educators. The awarding of Credentials will be automated and available for printing immediately upon completion of all requirements by the candidates and the evaluators. Administrators will have the ability to produce reports that will help us guide the direction of WCA in the future. I personally want the thank Greg Larson and his team of developers on a job well done!!

As always, we thank the continued support of our GOLD & SILVER Sponsors! These companies truly allow us to continue to develop our programs and accomplish our goal of building a trained workforce.

I hope you all have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sincerely,

Scott Nelson
President
Woodwork Career Alliance of North America
snelsonwca@gmail.com