SWUGN Spotlight – North Alabama SolidWorks User Group

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One of the most active SolidWorks User Groups in the world resides in Huntsville, Alabama – The North Alabama SolidWorks User Group.  Resurrected nearly three years ago by Ricky Jordan, NASWUG has steadily increased membership, added more meetings, and has been able to attract top-level SolidWorks talent to this hotbed of technology (aerospace, defense, manufacturing).  Case in point – visits by former SolidWorks CEO John McEleney, Greg Jankowski, and more recently, Marlon Banta.  It sure doesn’t hurt that Ricky is one of the most respected SolidWorks users in the known universe.

Many of you will be familiar with NASWUG members through blogs, forums, and events like SolidWorks World and SWUGN Technical Summits.  Brian McElyea is the CadFanatic, Richard Hall is a long time SolidWorks user and first-class presenter, and Gary Hall (no relation) may be the nicest and most helpful person I ever met.  The last NASWUG meeting I attended brought SolidWorks users out in droves, and I was quite impressed by their knowledge, and by their desire for even more knowledge.

Among the many reasons to praise the leaders and members of NASWUG is the overwhelming support of the SWUGN Summit series of events.  In 2007 and 2008, the Nashville event drew record numbers of attendees, and 30% of those came in from Huntsville – a 105 mile drive!!

Ricky is always looking for ways to increase benefits to his user group members, and I know we can look forward to new ideas, even higher attendance, and a user group that will always be at the top of the SWUGN class.  Great job NASWUG!

Richard Doyle

Richard Doyle

My official title is Senior User Advocacy & SolidWorks User Groups - but most people just call me "The User Group Guy". I've been a SolidWorks user since 1997, and was one of the founding members of the SWUGN Committee. Since starting the Central Texas SolidWorks User Group in 1999, my career path has led me to DS SolidWorks and a dream job supporting the SolidWorks User Group Network worldwide.
Richard Doyle

@https://twitter.com/swugn

Richard Doyle