Dec. 19, 2017
Contact: Tess Hill – 630-327-6498 / thill@era.org

2017 JESS SPOONTS – ERA WHITE PIN SCHOLARSHIP AWARDED

The Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) White Pin Group has announced that John Hutson, CPMR of the Massachusetts-based MacInnis Group is the 2017 recipient of the Jess Spoonts – ERA White Pin Scholarship Award. Hutson will receive a $1,000 grant that can be used to fund his continuing education as a professional field sales representative. He was nominated for the honor by White Pin member Tobi Cornell, CPMR, of Kruvand Associates.

To qualify for this award, nominees: must be from an ERA member rep firm; must have been involved in ERA activities and leadership roles on the local and/or national levels for a minimum of two years; and must be willing to devote significant volunteer time to ERA in the foreseeable future.

“John Hutson is a passionate, creative volunteer who epitomizes the new generation of rep firm owners involved in ERA,” said Mark Motsinger, CPMR, of Wallace Electronic Sales, a past president of ERA and the coordinator of the White Pin Group. “His accomplishments include serving on the current and several past ERA Conference Committees, many leadership roles in his New England ERA Chapter, assisting with ERA’s participation in the Electronica trade shows in Munich and supporting the Women in Electronics event held earlier this year. He is the ultimate volunteer whom Jess Spoonts had in mind when this award was created.“

When notified of the award, Hutson commented: “I am privileged and honored to have been selected as this year’s Jess Spoonts Award recipient. Although I met Jess early in my career, it is unfortunate that I never really had the opportunity to get to know him. Nonetheless, his reputation as a man of integrity and a visionary was well known among his peers, and his volunteerism within our industry was extraordinary. My mentors, Norman and Ronald MacInnis, instilled in me the same sense of responsibility to give back to our industry in the ethical and profession manner that Jess exemplified. Receiving this award reminds me how important it is to continually strive to be like Jess, and I encourage everyone in our industry to do the same.”

Hutson will receive his award at the 2018 White Pin Group Reunion, to be held on Feb. 25 at the ERA Conference in Austin, Texas.

The ERA White Pin Group was formed in 1960 and is comprised of member reps who have held volunteer leadership positions at the national level of ERA for at least two years and have given extraordinary amounts of time and talent to ERA. The group established the Jess Spoonts – ERA White Pin Scholarship in 2006 to honor its long-time coordinator, the late E. Jess Spoonts of Dallas, Texas. Spoonts, a half-century veteran of the electronics industry, was a past president and chairman of ERA, a mentor to countless reps and other business associates, and one of only 23 members of the association’s Hall of Fame. He passed away in 2008.

This year’s judging panel for the award was comprised of these previous award recipients: Dave Dasson, CPMR, CSP, of Net Sales Company; Bob Evans, CPMR, of EK Micro; Richard A. Hobby, CPMR, of RAH Associates; Jeff Huntsinger of Huntsinger Associates, LLC; Holly Myers, CPMR, of Wallace Electronics Sales; Buzz Reynolds of Performance Technical Sales; Bruce Scoggin, CPMR, of Electro-Rep Associates; and Chuck Tanzola, CPMR, of the Fusion Sourcing Group.

About ERA
The 82-year-old Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) is the international trade organization for professional field sales companies in the global electronics industries, manufacturers who go to market through representative firms and global distributors. It is the mission of ERA to support the professional field sales function through programs and activities that educate, inform and advocate for manufacturers’ representatives, the principals they represent and the distributors who are reps’ partners in local territories. ERA member representative firms (often called “reps”) provide field sales services on an exclusive basis to manufacturers of related (but non-competing) products in a defined territory. For more information about ERA, visit era.org.