Paul Fridrich, right, hands the gavel to incoming IRgA president Tony Militano.
Leadership of the IRgA slightly shuffled during the IRgA Board of Directors meeting Friday, September 17 in Chicago. The new leaders are taking over just as the organization prepares a new strategy for the future.
Militano at Top, Williamson Joins Board
Tony Militano, owner of Carbon Copy Digital in Calgary, Alberta, formally became president at the meeting. (Read more about Militano by clicking here.) Paul Fridrich moved into the position of immediate past president, and Kim Long moved off the board.
Elmer Rhodes, owner of CrossRhodes Reprographics in St. Louis, advanced into the president-elect position. That position is also the organization’s treasurer. Rhodes will become president at next fall’s meeting.
In addition, Michael Shaw, president of Central Blue Print on Long Island, joined the board as a director. And Steve Andrikut, North American sales director for Image Access LP, replaced Tim Horn, vice president of sales for KIP, who transitioned off the board.
All of the above moves were expected. An additional change came about due to the resignation of Clint Murchison, who had served on the board for one year. Murchison has been replaced by Joe Williamson, founding partner of Franklin Imaging in Columbus, Ohio.
Williamson has owned Franklin Imaging since 1998. He recently served as chairman of the board of ReproMAX, and he worked for that organization from 2003 to 2008. His career began at AM International in 1971, and he later spent 24 years as vice president of AA Blueprint in Akron, Ohio.
Strategy Discussed: Project Reinvent
Friday’s board meeting was preceded by a strategy session led by consultant Mark Thorsby of Smith-Bucklin, the firm that previously managed IRgA. The results of this session will be put into a strategy plan that will be shared with membership once it is ready. The strategy has been named “Project Reinvent.”
Membership
Ed Avis, IRgA’s managing director, reported that IRgA currently has 75 paid members in the Bronze, Silver, and Gold levels, and 213 unpaid members. The board decided that beginning January 2016, all memberships will be paid and all memberships will have a renewal date of January 1. These changes will correspond with the development of a new membership database and directory that will be promoted to potential clients throughout the country.
Stay tuned for more details about IRgA’s future strategy and membership database/directory in coming issues of IRgA Today.