1996 RV Industry
Executive of the Year

Hal Fowler, president and founder of DTI Appliance Parts, is the personification of the spirit and high standard which is the prerequisite of being named RV News' RV Industry Executive of the Year. He is entrepreneurial, successful, an innovator, a contributor to the overall value of the industry, and a good industry citizen -- and, in this case, a wholesale distributor. In the past seven years since we first started this tradition, RV dealers, manufacturers, and suppliers have all earned our Executive of the Year honor, but until now, no distributor has graced our January cover. But Fowler is not only a distributor; he's a specialist.

DTI was founded for the purpose of helping dealers to set up aftermarket stores and later to provide replacement parts to RV service shops and technicians across the country. He virtually re-invented the RV parts distribution business, and today his idea has spawned a legion of competitors. And while others might resent the intrusion, Fowler does not. He is as likely to be offering friendly advice or help to a competitor as he is assisting a service technician in some remote corner of the country find a replacement part for an obsolete and discontinued brand of refrigerator. But that's Hal Fowler. He gives and then gives some more. He never loses sight of what he considers his company's primary mission -- helping an RV owner with a problem get back on the road. And he sees his role as a full partner with suppliers, dealers and technicians in being the catalyst toward providing that part which is going to solve the consumer's problem.

Fowler's career in the industry spans over 30 years -- first as a successful New York RV dealer during the boom days of the 1960's, then as a struggling dealer during those grim years of the 1970's gasoline crisis; he's been a top salesman and national sales manager for a major distribution company and finally, he is the founder and owner of a very unique warehouse distribution business. Along the way, he has felt the joy of every industry success and suffered the pain of every crisis in between.

Today, Fowler talks more and more of enjoying the rewards of his success with his wife Sue who also played a significant part in founding and nurturing the business. Sue semi-retired several years ago, and Hal now looks forward to joining her. And toward that end he is grooming son Jess to take over the business. Jess is vice president and his wife, Missy, is general manger. They are assisted by a strong team at DTI, and for the first time since starting the business 15 years ago, Hal feels comfortable taking time away from the business. For two months last year Hal and Sue navigated their boat through the Great Lakes and the Hudson River, and when they returned, DTI had set an all-time sales record for a one-month period. That confirmed to Hal that his retirement is just around the corner.

And after more than 30 years in the industry, it's not surprising that the Fowlers are thinking about retirement. Hal started in 1965, as general manager for a Poughkeepsie, New York, marine and RV dealership.

"Sue and I had bought a little boat from a local dealer called Dry Harbor Marina. And that is what put me in the RV business. The owner came up to me one day and asked: how would you like to be general manager of this place? And I said: Yeah, right."

As it turned out, the offer was serious. Hal had been selling insurance. "I decided after I was in that about a year, that I absolutely hated it. You sit on somebody's deathbed waiting to sell them an annuity. I couldn't stand to do that."

So he left the insurance business and accepted the general manager offer. Besides, it was an offer he couldn't refuse. Fowler explained, "I was 25 and making $120 to $130 a week selling insurance; he offered me $400 a week, plus a 2% commission on everything sold -- and there were 20 employees there.

"I just loved it. I was selling boats and Starcraft and Skamper campers. And we just sold them like crazy.

"A fellow named George Fisher from the bank walked in one day and said: Son, I know the way you have worked and all the sales you're making, but you need to get out of here. We are going to close this place down. And I said: Fine, but I have no place to go."

About that time, Hal along with Ed, his father-in-law, flew to Minneapolis to buy Larsen boats. Fowler said, "We were out there for two days and ordered $200,000 worth of boats.

We sold those boats in two weeks. Then I took the banker's advice -- I got out of there."

Fowler liked that business and saw a need for building and supplying boat tops, so he started a boat canvas business, which is still operating today. He named the new company Duchess Tops, Inc., or DTI -- sound familiar?

Fowler continued, "It took me four weeks to build my first boat top. I didn't know anything about it. I bought a machine and started sewing; I wasted more darned material."

"Finally, the boat top business was really going along pretty good, and Sue and I were having a good time. You could buy canvas for $1.00 a yard, and sell for $7.00 a yard."

One day a Skamper rep named Al First stopped to visit with Fowler. He asked Fowler if he wanted to take on his line of campers.