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8 FEDA News & Views Association Highlights Strategic "Listening Campaign" Pays Off! Ray Herrick Executive Vice President ray@feda.com Need more information on how FEDA can help you? Contact me by phone at 800-677-9605 or by email. I n just nine short months, FEDA President Joe Schmitt has made great progress in spearheading a multi- pronged "Listening Campaign" to gather valued insights from the membership and our many friends within the indus- try. Those efforts include industry vet- eran Tom Szafranski's special research on FEDA's role in the industry and its current service offerings. In October, an impres- sive number of members participated in the Future survey, which provided feed- back about the FEDA Convention, The NAFEM Show, and various educational offerings. Joe also has taken the time to personally speak with many of you. Thank you for caring enough about FEDA and its mission to share your constructive thoughts. With the counsel of the FEDA Executive Committee, board members and many industry friends, Joe will be taking action over the next 15 months to implement the following: ➤ Make FEDA more technologically effi cient and user- friendly in serving its members and industry friends. ➤ Enhance FEDA.com to make it a more engaging and useful tool. ➤ Improve the FEDA Convention experience by upping the value with more top speakers—in addi- tion to offering more opportunities for broader industry networking. ➤ In cooperation with AutoQuotes, continue to move toward a robust FEDA Data Interchange, which will improve the accuracy and effi ciency for dealers and reps in expediting open orders. ➤ Create greater collaborative educa- tional efforts among channel part- ners to achieve what no one single group can accomplish by itself for our mutual benefi t. By late spring of 2017, my successor should be hired and learning the ropes as deputy executive vice president. That person will assume the posi- tion of executive vice president upon my retirement on April 1, 2018. What will not change is FEDA's Mission: Maintaining a strong dealer voice united for a profi t- able dealer-based dis- tribution system, and providing education, information, network- ing opportunities and business management tools to help dealers grow their business. Stay informed with News & Views and watch for more details on the exciting changes coming your way from FEDA! The 2017 FEDA Convention "Leadership In A Changing Environment" How will you rethink Innovation in your company to create customer loy- alty? How will you unleash the power of continued on page 36 In October, an impressive number of members participated in the Future survey, which provided feedback about the FEDA Convention, The NAFEM Show, and various educational offerings.