Editorial

Last month's WDA — The RV Aftermarket Association – Executive Conference in Chandler, Arizona, set a high water mark for viability in the association's recent history. Eight years ago, WDA was nearly bankrupt and on the verge of disappearing from the RV industry scene. In our opinion, the recently concluded event was akin to the association's Confirmation or Bar Mitzvah - - that traditional religious ritual where a child becomes an adult. We saw a maturing association present a well-organized event that served it's members proudly and effectively. And while the current leadership, including WDA president, Jay Hesse (Automatic Equipment Mfg. Co.), the board of directors as well as committees that worked hard to organize the successful event, deserve a lot of credit, it would be unfair not to give credit also to the past two WDA administrations lead by John Roba (John Roba & Associates) and Darryl Searer (MHS Supply, Inc.). Without their caring leadership and heroic efforts the association might not be here today.

WDA's troubled past saw the association transform itself from a warehouse distributors association serving the RV and manufactured housing industries to an association totally focused on the RV aftermarket. In addition, the association embraced its supplier-manufacturers and manufacturers agents members giving them equal membership benefits and privileges — including the right to be elected president of the association. Hesse, a supplier-manufacturer member, is the first supplier to ever lead the association. And if the Executive Conference can be called the pinnacle of Hesse's first year of a two-year administration, it would appear that the decision to let a supplier head the association was indeed a fortuitous move. Hesse should take great pride in what the association accomplished during the past year. Membership levels are at an all-time high; the summer educational conference at Dethmers Mfg. Co. in Iowa, was a very successful event; attendance at the executive conference broke all previous records; and for the first time in several years, the association bank account has some reserves. And a lot of credit for that goes to Bill Horton, CEO and president, RV Wholesale, Inc. Horton organized a successful auction and fund-raising golf event that netted the association more than $15,000.

However, as with any dramatic change there are always those who resist and long for the old days and for the association to be the way it was. In our opinion, those views are out of step with reality and are divisive and destructive. An association, like a business, must be dynamic and evolving to meet the challenges of a changing marketplace. We believe that WDA is doing that and the results are evident with the renewed interest in the association and how the association is meeting member needs.

And that opinion is affirmed by the members themselves who were asked to rate the recent meeting in Arizona. The overwhelming majority of members who attended the meeting rated the event "good" to "excellent."

The are a lot of unsung heroes who are responsible for this success and especially the spectacular Executive Conference. If we were giving bouquets, obviously, the largest would go to Hesse for his personal commitment, not only of his time away from his business and family, but for the investment of his staff's time, money and energy. Lee Adelman, (Reese Products), board member and conference committee chairperson, would be in line for a large bouquet, as well. He and his committee helped orchestrate the programs that were a major part of the overall event. We mentioned Bill Horton earlier. He too made a huge investment of time, money and staff time to organize the fund raising activities. Shirley Prest (Prest-O-Fit) gets roses in her bouquet. She organized the most successful Spouse's program in recent memory. And then there's Jim Stanley, executive director, who executed the leadership's plans to make the event come off with few glitches.

Hesse and the leadership of WDA now have a major challenge ahead of them. They have set the standard so high at this year's event that it may be hard to for them to come up with a program for next year's meeting in Nashville that can top the one just completed — a good problem to have, we believe.

As we suggested earlier, we believe that WDA has matured and has come of age. In the past WDA has been an association left in the wings more often than not when accomplishments of industry associations are paraded on stage. If the gauge of an association's success is how important it is to its members, we believe WDA has earned the right to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the other major industry associations such as RVIA, RVDA and ARVC. And we congratulate the RV Aftermarket Association for this accomplishment.