> Michael Budde Receives 5th Annual Tobin Bridge Award at 2024 ERA Conference
ERA PRESS RELEASE
March 1, 2024
Contact: Clare Kluck / Communications Director / ckluck@era.org
Michael Budde Receives 5th Annual Tobin Bridge Award at 2024 ERA Conference
Michael Budde Jr. accepts the Tobin Bridge Award on behalf of his father, Michael Budde Sr., at the 2024 ERA Conference.
The Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) announces that Michael Budde, CEO of Budde Marketing Systems, is the recipient of the fifth annual Tobin Bridge Award. The award was presented by ERA Chairman of the Board John O’Brien, CPMR, and ERA Board President Tom Griffin, CPMR, at the 2024 ERA Conference in Austin, Texas.
The Tobin Bridge Award is presented annually to an individual who reaches across to “bridge” the various constituent components of the electronics industry — reps, manufacturers and distributors — while advancing the rep function.
“It was an extreme honor to receive the Tobin Bridge Award at this year’s ERA Conference,” said Budde. “It’s the first ERA conference I’ve missed since I started Budde Marketing 28 years ago. COVID-19 kept me grounded but I was proud to have had my son, Mike, Jr. accept on my behalf. This award is named after a true giant in our industry and I’m humbled to have received it. I will see everyone next year!”
Previous Tobin Bridge award recipients are:
Michael Knight, Endries International Inc. (2023)
Ken Bellero, Schaffner EMC (2022)
Craig Sanderson, Sager Electronics (2021)
Walter Tobin, ERA (2020)
About ERA
The 89-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. For more information about ERA, visit era.org.
The Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) White Pin Group announces that Zach DeVillers, CPMR, CSP, of Brainard-Nielsen Marketing is the 2023 recipient of the Jess Spoonts ERA White Pin Scholarship Award. DeVillers will receive a $1,000 grant that can be used to fund continuing education as a professional manufacturers’ representative.
The Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) is pleased to announce that Bryan White, CPMR, president, Catalyst Unity Solutions, is the 17th recipient of the Ray Hall Spirit of ERA Award.
INDUSTRY TRENDS SURVEY
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> The buzz about the sold-out 
The 2024 EDS Leadership Summit , initially set for May 13-17 at the Mirage, Las Vegas, Nevada, is relocating to Resorts World Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. The event will now take place Tuesday, May 21 through Friday, May 24 – one week later than originally planned.
The Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) is pleased and honored to announce that Dick Neumann, former vice president at Grayhill, Inc., has been named the 2024 recipient of the ERA Lifetime Achievement Award.
> The Representor editorial staff is now accepting 
> With profound sadness, ERA must announce the passing of Chuck Tanzola, CPMR, ERA Board President, and vice president at Fusion Sourcing Group. Chuck served ERA and the industry faithfully and selflessly for many years. He served the past two terms as Chairman of the Board and Board President. ERA knew Chuck as a voice of calm and reason who governed ERA as a thoughtful, fair and sensitive leader. His presence will be greatly missed. 
> A peek back and a look ahead
EXECUTIVE COMMENTARY
Walter Tobin, ERA CEO
by Walter E. Tobin, ERA CEO
My remembrance of Chuck Tanzola is his leadership, friendship and passion to always do the right thing. I would be remiss in not mentioning him and letting you know how much I respected and admired him. He was a man of faith who is an example for all of us to follow. Rest in peace, Chuck. Please read John O’Brien’s article on page 14 for more thoughts on our late president.
Wow! So here we are: 2024 — whew! We got through 2023 relatively unscathed, with a few bruises along the way as a result of ERA helping its members deal with the industry’s toughest issues. Hand-to-hand combat, so to speak. ERA is always trying to help its members move ahead with confidence and unafraid of what lies ahead, to arm them with new tools and new ways of doing things. It is what we do, together!
A peek back
We left Austin in February 2023 after having our first-ever Conference sell-out! What a great testimony to the hard work of our 55 Conference committee volunteers who put on a great show. Our ERA national staff, led by Erin Collins, helped set the tone, “herd the cats,” and put the agenda together for both general sessions and our unique breakout session format. Of course, we thank you, our attendees and sponsors, who made it all possible.
ERA introduced its new ERA SearchLink. ai tool, which is a way for ERA members exclusively to use AI to help find new customers, new markets and new ways of selling. We have all heard a lot about AI during 2023—perhaps too much—but have come up with an amazing tool to empower our members to not just keep up but get ahead of their competition. To date, we have had over 100 ERA members subscribe to the ERA SearchLink.ai tool. Give it a look-see and prepare to be amazed!
ERA announced three ERA Mark Motsinger White Pin Internships! ERA and White Pin continue to assist our manufacturers’ rep members to find and hire summer interns that often lead to the intern joining the rep company upon graduation.
We also introduced the ERA Electronics Components Industry Trends Survey in partnership with Edgewater Research. This confidential survey allows ERA members to provide business conditions information in a secure and confidential manner that gets “marinated” into all of the participating companies and then summarized on our website. This information, a business barometer and market conditions bellwether, is another tool available only to ERA members.
We conducted our third annual ERA STEP training with our exclusive sponsor, the TTI Family of Specialists. We had almost 400 people attend this event, all conducted in a live, virtual format. The feedback on both the content and speaker quality was amazing. Look for announcements on 2024 STEP training scheduled for this fall.
A look ahead
As we look ahead, the global issues facing us can be both daunting and challenging. Wars in the Middle East and in Ukraine present all sorts of opportunities for pessimism and despair. However, ERA remains both optimistic and positive on the economic climate in 2024. When you look at the U.S. unemployment rate being at its lowest point in years, the U.S. dollar being strong and U.S. manufacturing being strong, this all leads us to be bullish on 2024. Is there a recession on the horizon? I am certainly not an economist and read the same tea leaves that you read, but my opinion is that we will NOT head into a recession in 2024. I hope I am right.
The Presidential election also looms—no matter what the result may be, elections always present an opportunity for change. But out of great change and chaos come great opportunity— let’s all keep our eye on the prize here: customer satisfaction.
ERA will co-host the EDS Summit in May and are hoping for another strong turnout. The theme this year is “Stronger Together” which sort of says it all. I hope to see you there! Your ERA membership includes great discounts to register and attend.
ERA will once again exhibit at electronica in November, a huge show and a tremendous opportunity for ERA members to solicit channel partners, reps and manufacturers in our global environment. Our “small but mighty” ERA booth is a beehive of activity, trust me! Come see and help ERA spread the word, and cultivate partnerships for 2024 and beyond.
What is my advice and hope for 2024? Pretty simple: work hard to attain and maintain the role of being a trusted source for your channel partners, manufacturer partners and rep partners, our “three legs of the stool.” All three legs need to be working hard to win the customer, versus just booking the order.
I know that booking orders is important, but who among us has not bowed to the pressure to book the order (perhaps when we may not have been 100 percent sure that we were going to be able to support it) and then have to give it back or fail to meet our promised delivery and pricing…resulting in losing the customer. We lose the customer’s trust, perhaps forever, all to book an order. Short-sighted, for sure.
If you always keep in mind winning and keeping the customer’s trust as your north star, you will end up winning your unfair share of orders. Make 2024 the year of the customer — let’s “energize our customers’ experience!” …I bet that would make a great ERA conference theme!