RetailNOW 2014: New Board Elected
The Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA) held elections at its membership meeting during RetailNOW on Monday. The association elected a new board of directors – but only after initial tallies resulted in two ties and run-off elections.
Four reseller seats were available on the board with six candidates vying for those seats: Hunter Allen, CEO of Cervion Systems, Miles Baldack, general manager of Pacific Computer Systems, Terry Black, president of LCSI, Inc., Chelsey Paulson, HR specialist with North Country Business Products, Chris Rumpf, CEO of Rumpf Computer Solutions, and Alejandro Swaby, president of Metrotouch Solutions.
Allen, Paulson, and Rumpf were elected to three of the seats with a run-off necessary to break a tie for the fourth between Swaby and Black. Swaby won the seat.
Twelve candidates ran for three open vendor seats on the board: Laura Coggins, sales executive with Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions; Michael Cote, president of Posera; Chris Duffy, senior sales director of Star Micronics America; Lisa Falzone, CEO/president of Revel Systems; Mark Fraker, VP of marketing for BlueStar; Bob Grabowski, vertical marketing manager, retail, at Honeywell; Henry Helgeson, CEO of Merchant Warehouse; Kevin Kogler, president and CEO of Microbiz; Chuck Prince, VP of channel sales for NCC; Peter Storer, director of global operations for Avero; Doug Wallace, VP of operations and client services, North America, for YESpay; and Chris Walsh, director of marketing for POWERVAR.
Fraker and Storer were elected, with a run-off between Duffy and Helgeson necessary to break a tie for the third seat –Duffy was elected.
The election results represent changes in the demographics of the board with three new board members representing the Millennial Generation and with more diversity. There is legacy as well, however, with the election of Paulson, the daughter of a past chairman of the board, Dean Crotty.
The 2014 Chairman Elect, Chairman, And Past Chairman
RSPA’s new chairman elect is Mike Seymour. He is the COO of Postec and joined the company in 1987 as its first service manager. He has since served as its director of professional services, sales manager, Atlanta branch operations manager, and CFO. He is a current RSPA board member and is also on the board of directors for the Georgia Restaurant Association’s Political Action Committee.
At Tuesday night’s RetailNOW Awards Cocktail Reception, 2013 Madam Chairman Lynn Skurla of Skurla’s POS Solutions will pass the gavel to 2014 Chairman Jim Roddy, president of Business Solutions magazine. Skurla will serve the next year as the past chairman.
RetailNOW 2014, hosted by the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA), was conducted Aug. 3-6 at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Orlando, FL. For more information on the event, go to www.BSMinfo.com/solution/InsideRSPA.