> CERA Hosts its 21st Annual Distributor/Rep Bowling Tournament

May 24, 2017 – Source: ERA

The Carolinas chapter of the Electronics Representatives Association (CERA) held its 21st Annual Distributor/Rep Bowling Tournament in Raleigh, N.C., on May 3, 2017.

Each year, CERA awards three $1,000 scholarships to college bound dependents of CERA member reps and distributor partners. All proceeds from the bowling tournament go to the CERA Scholarship Fund.

This year, the event exceeded its $1,000 goal thanks to strong participation and generous donations from Brad Starr of Performance Tech, James Brantley of Carlton-Bates, Mike Harris of JM Harris Sales, Annette Paden of South Atlantic Component Sales, Inc., Ken Jacobson of Aurora, Bob Kirkland of Aurora, and Penny Hoglund of the AEM Group.

The tournament’s “2017 Distributor Bowling Champs” title was awarded to Arrow Electronics. Arrow put together a strong A team including Greg Erlemann, Brian McGregor, Sharon Croteau and Jeff Croteau who secured the title with a total score of 1,831.

Brian Teen of Tech Marketing was the recipient of the “Rep Bowler of the Year” award, and the winners of CERA’s two $50 cash prizes were Annette McGregor of Arrow and Cari Gullion of TTI.

Annette Paden, who organized the tournament, expressed her gratitude to all event participants, “Thanks to all of you for helping make this event so much fun. It’s not so much about who wins, but about the spirit of friendly good fellowship that’s so evident if you stop and look around. This includes all reps, distributors, suppliers and guests.”

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.

About CERA
The Carolinas Chapter of the Electronics Representatives Association is dedicated to promoting the representative concept within the Carolinas electronics marketplace. The Chapter hopes to be a resource for its members in establishing and maintaining their respective rep businesses through continuing education, training and interface with government agencies. The government interface in important in order to influence legislation in favor of the representative concept and defeat legislation detrimental to the rep business. For more information, visit www.carolinasera.com.

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> Northern California ERA Draws a Large Crowd at Professional Sales Person Program

April 14, 2017 – Source: ERA

Northern California ERA attracted 65 attendees at the Feb. 15 panel discussion with Walter Tobin, ERA CEO, as a one of the guest speakers.

The program was titled Engineers & Supply Chain … Preferences and Perceptions of Sales Professionals. The panel consisted of two engineers, a commodity manager, a small business owner and an executive from a major company in Silicon Valley. Tobin was a speaker along with Paul Edwards, Wayne Morris, Steve Oster and Sharon Woo.

The program received positive feedback. President of the Northern California chapter, Dave Gastel, said, “Wow, what an interesting platform for learning about our profession.”

Tobin added “It was a delight to be on this panel discussion with so many local industry leaders. Northern California ERA leads the way in hosting educational and networking programs that are best in class.”

The chapter continues to plan networking programs. Visit ncalera.org for upcoming events.

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> ERA Elects New Officers for 2017-19 Term

April 20, 2017 – Source: ERA

The Electronic Representatives Association (ERA) has announced that its board of directors elected new national officers for the 2017-19 term during its March 2017 meeting. They are: chairman of the board – Dan Parks, CPMR, of West Electronic Solutions; president – David Norris of Norris and Associates; senior vice president / fiscal and legal – Chuck Tanzola, CPMR, of the Fusion Sourcing Group; senior vice president / education – John O’Brien, CPMR, of Coakley, Boyd and Abbett; senior vice president / membership – Kathie Cahill, CPMR, of Net Sales Company; and senior vice president / industry – Bob Evans, CPMR, of EK Micro.

Evans is a new member of the association’s executive committee. Parks succeeds the outgoing chairman, Paul Nielsen, CPMR, of Brainard-Nielsen Marketing, who concluded 12 years as a national officer. The continuing executive committee members are: Ken Bellero, president of Schaffner EMC Inc., the manufacturer delegate; Chris Beeson, executive vice president of sales and supplier management for Digi-Key Electronics, the distributor delegate; and ERA CEO Walter Tobin, who serves as an ex officio member.

The ERA Board honored Nielsen for his service with the Key Award at the association’s 2017 Conference, held in Austin, Texas, in late February. ERA CEO Walter Tobin commented on Nielsen’s invaluable contribution to the association, “We are deeply grateful to Paul for his 12 years of volunteer service as a national officer and many additional years as a Chicagoland-Wisconsin ERA chapter leader.”

Nielsen is only the 36th recipient of the Key Award in ERA’s 82-year history. He told the conference attendees, “ My time working with ERA is probably the smartest thing I’ve done professionally. I’ve learned a lot and met some great people whom I will count as friends long after my career is over.”

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> EDS All-Industry Breakfast Program to Feature Guest Speaker Dennis Zogbi

April 22, 2017 – Source: ERA

The Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) and the Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA), the co-sponsors of EDS, have announced that they will again co-host their annual free breakfast program at EDS on Thursday, May 18, 2017. The event’s guest speaker, Paumanok CEO and Founder Dennis Zogbi, will share his insight on lead times; the direction of passive technology and an outlook for the future.

Zogbi is the author of more than 260 market research reports on the worldwide electronic components industry and has extensive industry knowledge and experience.

“Dennis has a pulse on passive components, raw materials, applications, markets, and advanced technology like no one else,” said John Denslinger, ECIA president and CEO.“ In a world dotted by specialists and dominated by volume manufacturers, Dennis is the industry’s resident expert on sourcing, production and use of passive technology.”

ERA CEO Walter Tobin added, “Dennis is a widely published and trusted resource in our industry. We are thrilled to have him as the keynote speaker a tour EDS all-industry breakfast program.”

The event is free to EDS attendees and starts at 6:45 a.m. in the Mirage Hotel’s Events Center. Attendees can register for the program at era.org.

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> Southern California ERA Hosts Its First Tabletop Show Featuring Educational Workshop

May 1, 2017 – Source: ERA

Southern California ERA held its first educational workshop during the chapter’s tabletop show event, held on April 12, 2017. The workshop featured a “ Digital Swap Shop” program presented by Bryan Shirley, CPMR, who offered insight on the best digital technologies used in the industry.

The workshop content was inspired by the 2017 ERA National Conference Breakout Seminar,“ Technology Swap Shop Update 2017: Who’s Using What and How?,” presented by John Hutson, CPMR, of MacInnis Group and Holly Myers, CPMR, of Wallace Electronic Sales.

The event attracted more than 150 registrants and featured 26 tabletop displays. In addition to the workshop program, attendees enjoyed a complimentary lunch, courtesy of Tommy’s Hamburgers.

Southern California ERA expects to replicate this format for future tabletop shows, three to four more times in 2017.

“We had excellent audience participation at the workshop. I know all of us came away with another nugget of wisdom,” said David Berryman, president of Southern California ERA. “ Attendees stated that the show was well worth their time.”

For more information on upcoming Southern California ERA networking events, visit www.erascal.org.

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> ERA Donations Assist Nearly 150 At-Risk Children

May 5, 2017 – Source: ERA

The Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) has announced that two recent donations to the Miracles and Magic Foundation will help support theme park or other special event venue visits by nearly 150 children who are fighting life threatening illnesses. The children’s activities are being provided by A Kid Again, an organization that helps restore some degree of normalcy to the lives of seriously ill children and their families.

The donations were made by the 20+ individual volunteer committee members of the association’s 2017 Management and Marketing Conference in gratitude to the ERA staff and byERA itself as a gift of appreciation to all the conference speakers. The new tradition of making contributions to a charity— replacing the usual presentation of thank you gifts to conference speakers and staff members — began in 2016.

The choice of the recipient of this year’s donations was spurred by a touching story told by conference keynote speaker Jon Petz, who founded the Miracles and Magic Foundation in2002. The foundation generates its income by producing and staging Las Vegas-style shows featuring comedy, magic and illusion, all performed by entertainers who provide their services at no charge. Since 2002, the foundation has raised and dispersed more than $1.5 million to recipients that include, in addition to A Kid Again, the Make A Wish Foundation, the Children’s Miracle Network and many others.

For further details about the Miracles and Magic Foundation, goto miraclesandmagic.com. Information about A Kid Again is available at akidagain.org.

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