This year will be a shift for the SSA Board of Directors. Longtime member, and recent President Dale Read announced his retirement from the SSA Board, after serving faithfully and effectively for several years. Dale began his tenure on the SSA Board when he was publisher of Bedroom Magazine, in the late 1990's. In 2010 he became President of the Board and ushered in the SSA’s Environmental & Safety Program, and then the Bedfax Consumer Disclosure Labeling Program. Dale has been a strong proponent of market transparency and saw to it that the term is now in the SSA’s overall Mission Statement. Dale remains a member of the SSA, and is actively promoting several mattress/bedding companies via his PR firm, The Marketing Arm Group. The SSA salutes Dale for his devotion to the specialty category as well as to the association. This is not a goodbye to Dale, just a new chapter in the SSA’s relationship with this dynamic industry veteran.
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With Dale's departure, and the pausing of the Bedfax Program efforts, the SSA Board will revert back to it's structure of 9 voting board members, with an Executive Committee comprised of a Board Chair, Vice Chair and Sec/Treasurer, and an Executive Director. Chairwoman Angela Owen's (Suite Sleep) term has finished, and Mark Miller (Innomax Corp) was voted in as the new Chairman. Thomas Frismodt (Danican) and Pascal Roberge (Beaudoin) have renewed their positions as Vice Chair and Sec/Treasurer respectively.
Regarding his Chairmanship, Miller said, "I am excited for the opportunity to chair this terrific and energetic SSA board. It will be fun to continue to enhance the vendor experience within our Las Vegas showroom. We have a long history of promoting very strong business to business connections within our Specialty network that have proven to be beneficial to suppliers, so expanding upon our success in this area seems to be a natural. We also look forward to continuing to bring very timely and topical seminars to the market as these have been well received". Reflecting on recent conversations he has had with Exec Director Jones, he says, "Having been a part of the SSA both as a member and on the board since its inception we hope to go back to our roots in waterbed and encourage its current resurgence. We are always looking for new ways to be value added to the industry, our members, and marketplace".
Filling the 9th spot on the board is new member Rion Morgenstern (Pleasant Mattress). Rion says "The SSA is where innovative products are introduced to our industry and I am honored and excited to be a part of this organization."
The present board, along with Executive Director Tambra Jones, is devoted to insuring that the SSA's Las Vegas Showroom continues to be a thriving venue where manufacturers, distributors, suppliers and retailers will meet and create solid partnerships. The SSA is committed to increasing member visibility in the marketplace, whether that be in the showroom, via articles blogs on the association website, or via direct press releases and communications with the trade press. At the end of the day, the SSA is about it's members selling more beds, frames, pillows, soft-goods and sales programs.