> Introducing: The Online ERA Career Center Hub
ERA is excited to announce the launch of the brand-new online Career Center Hub!
This hub will be an ever-evolving resource for companies, early-career professionals and students exploring the world of manufacturers’ reps and the electronics components sales industry.
At the Career Center Hub, you’ll find:
- Internship Info — Learn about ERA’s summer internship program for rep firms and view internship training guidelines
- Recruiting Tips: How and where to find new hires
- Understand the Landscape: For early-career folks and students, learn exactly what a manufacturers’ rep does and how it fits into the broader electronics components industry
- Job Board: A dedicated space to browse open positions within our network. (Members—please send us your open position postings!)
…and more! We’ll be updating and adding new content regularly.
Visit the Career Center Hub
Companies/rep firms: Please send open employment positions/postings to Karin Derkacz at kderkacz@era.org. You may post anonymously as well.
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> Congratulations to all the award winners from the 2026 ERA Conference!
> ERA is proud to announce the 2025 Cameron English Chapters of the Year award recipients! The awards were based on four categories: Education, Networking, Membership and Special Projects.
> The EDS Summit in Las Vegas is about 10 weeks away!
> We’ll see many of you in Austin in a few days for the 2026 ERA Conference!
> The 
> The next ERA LIVE will take place Tues., Jan. 13 at 4:00 pm ET, featuring Dennis Reed, senior analyst at Edgewater Research. Reed will give a recap of 2025 and present his outlook for 2026, based on electronics components market data and ERA member survey results from 2025. No registration required. See you there! 
> The deadline is January 31 to submit your applications for the 2026 
INDUSTRY SURVEY RESULTS
> ERA debuts its 2026 Media Kit, offering companies multiple digital and print advertising opportunities. Showcase your company’s message in front of 4,000+ industry professionals! Non-members are encouraged to advertise. ERA members receive advertising discounts! 
‘Tis the season for chapter events! Our active regional chapters around the U.S. host many wonderful networking/charity events over the holiday season. We encourage you to attend a local ERA chapter event soon! 
ERA Announces New CEO Edward Smith
> If you happened to miss ERA’s virtual sales training program – STEP 2025 – this past October, we have good news for you. All nine sessions, covering everything from Speaking with Authority to The AI Advantage, are now archived, bundle and available to be purchased. 
McCarthy will open the ERA Conference on Monday morning, Feb. 22, with her presentation, “When Innovation Speaks: The Power of Human Connection in a Digital World.”
> Scaling up at ERA
Ed Smith, CEO of ERA
I would like to thank you all in advance for attending the annual 2026 ERA Conference, and for Conference Chair Perry Thornton and Conference Vice Chair Julie Carr and all the committee members who have worked many hours to make this an industry-leading event.
We will have more than 650 attendees and a new home at the Hilton Austin in downtown Austin. This is a record crowd, and this shows that people find value in the three days in Austin. Our goal is to have speakers and breakout sessions that help and guide you in your day-today duties. I appreciate the support of all our sponsors which enables us to have a world-class event in a world-class venue. This was my first year putting this event together and I was impressed by the ERA staff of Kate, Karin, Clare, Ama, Natalie and Susan and the work they do to organize this great event.
The main stage will have fantastic speakers talking about reaching the unreachable and about human connection in a digital world. They will speak about the fast pace of a supply chain in the new world politics (just keeping up with the tariffs last year was dizzying). We will have someone speak about how to collaborate when we live in a world where AI is being used to a greater degree. I could not be more excited to see how the main stage inspires and motivates Conference attendees.
The breakout sessions will dig deeper into topics of importance to reps, manufacturers and distributors and will be geared towards tactical and practical actions and takeaways. AI will be featured in multiple sessions, which will highlight some available tools and how to use them in practical applications. We will have sessions on relationships and some deeper discussions on communication. We will have some conversations about CMMC and how to comply with the flow downs. We will have a market trend update that will feature new data on lead times and sales, and I will also give an ERA update.
There are many other things that ERA is working on that will be rolled out later this year. We are working to provide our members a new data resource that reports all parts shipped in Mexico, Canada and the U.S. sorted by HTS code. We are also working on some data about the value of rep firms with real-life examples and numbers to support our position.
We are busy at ERA, but never too busy to help support local chapter efforts and events. If you need our help, just reach out to me or one of the ERA staff. I have attended quite a few chapter events and have been impressed with the enthusiasm and work put into each of the events. Thank you and keep up the great work!
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