President's Message
19 CVSN INSIDER August 2009 has been very satisfying and fulfilling. I have made friendships that I know will last a life-time. I am proud of what we have accomplished in the last two years and I hand over the gavel to Tom Stewart who I know will continue on the path that is necessary to ensure that CVSN grows stronger and better. President's Message Continued from page 2 A Look Forward Tom Stewart, In coming President CVSN has many things to offer both distribu-tor and vendor members; we provide common ground for open communication, educational, governmental and technological initiatives that cross marketing alliances. My goal along with the Board of Directors is to build on the strong foundations that have been established over the last 4 years. Is the road ahead smooth, I doubt it. The cur-rent economy has certainly thrown some stones in our path and altered how we do business. A year ago who would have believed the eco-nomic climate could have so radically changed. We have all lived with the ups and downs of previous cycles and we will tuff it out again this time. My hope is that as we move forward CVSN will be a source of information to help manufactures and distributors run there busi-ness more effectively, providing insight and maybe a little inspiration. Partnering with Randall Reilly and HDX/Datal-liance the Aftermarket Distribution Summit has become a great venue for dialog, relation-ship building and education. We will continue to build on the Summit's frame work making it a must attend executive forum. Growing our membership is another goal, many distributors feel that trade associations have lost there value in the past decade, that is far from the truth, yes there are other outlets to get information, yes there are other events when people gather but associations like CVSN provide direction on a variety of topics neces-sary for growth, success and in some cases survival. Finally before the gavel changes hands it is important to thank those that have worked so diligently for CVSN. Robyn and Ken as Presi-dent, together with those who have served or are serving on the Board and of course Angelo, Thanks is really not enough to express my ap-preciation for your hard work in making CVSN the leading industry association. I like to tell my staff that if you have to be at work, why not put out a 100% effort and see what you can attain. I suggest that for those that will read this and elect to stay home, why are you not putting forth that 100% effort? My philosophy is simple. I don't know what will be in store for me in the future, but I never want to think that I could have done more and chose not to do it. As Robert Frost said: ..Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.. I hope you will come to the Summit and other meetings in the future. We need each other to succeed. Industry View Continued from page 9