Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/704526
4 FEDA News & Views Joe Schmitt President Rapids Wholesale Equipment jaschmitt@rapidswholesale.com The President's Message T hank you for asking! As you know, our industry is in the midst of sig- nifi cant change at a pace never seen before. The FEDA administration and offi - cers are active on several fronts and I wanted to keep everyone in the loop on the progress of the more signifi cant agenda items. While the response to this year's convention in Tucson was outstanding, we do listen carefully to suggestions offered by members of all members of all shapes, sizes and generations. Based on the feedback we received this year, the convention planning committee is reformatting some of the roundta- ble discussions to involve more of our Exceptional Manufacturers. New topics will include a more channel-specifi c dia- logue with a serious focus on identifying channel friction points. The goal being to address how, we as an industry, can work through the tensions to reduce costs and increase profi tability in the channel for all participants. The feedback on speakers was posi- tive but attendees indicated that a more interactive workshop format would be more benefi cial. These are a few of the changes that you are asking for and we are working to keep the FEDA Convention relevant and valuable. Also of great interest, the Interior Design issue. FEDA Chair Brad Pierce and I met in Washington with leaders from the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) to ensure that we are able to proactively protect our ability to be involved in the design phase. As you know, this is key because dealers rely on this business as a value-added service and profi t center for our end-user cus- tomers. We anticipate having signifi cant progress on this initiative before the end of the summer. Another important agenda item is col- laboration within the industry, which will continue to be a priority of FEDA's. We held our fi rst meeting of the "Five Families of Foodservice" in Denver on June 9. Twenty representatives from FCSI, CFESA, MAFSI, NAFEM and FEDA were all in attendance for this one-day session that was led by a professional moderator. It was refreshing to see that all of the participants were willing to leave their egos at the door, roll up their sleeves and work toward creating an environment that has the potential to transform our industry for the foreseeable future. The agenda for the meeting was two- fold: Kick start the dialogue on how we can collaborate on important issues such as training, education and recruit- ment efforts and discuss how we can collaborate to achieve enhanced profi t- ability for all parties in our channel. I am optimistic that with the structure that is in place we will be able to have a positive and profi table impact on our channel. Last but not least, as we prepare for the transition of Ray Herrick into his retirement stage of life, the FEDA Executive Committee voted unani- mously at its March meeting to con- tract with Tom Szafranski to conduct a three-month evaluation, which includes meeting with FEDA members, manufac- turers and other constituents within the industry to evaluate FEDA's direction, convention, education offerings, indus- try liaisons and products and services. This will be an important report that will help the Executive Committee and Board of Directors chart FEDA's future. More to come as we continue to make progress over the next several months. This is an exciting time in our industry and I am thankful to have the opportunity to serve. What's Going on at FEDA since our Convention in Tucson?