Member Spotlight: Roger Moore

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When the opportunity to purchase Nautical Ventures in Dania Beach, FL presented itself to Roger Moore (and business partner Jeff Garcia), in 2010, they jumped on the chance to turn the then kayak and sailboat retailer into the boat dealership it is today. Check out the interview we had with Roger to learn about his personal feats (like sailing around the world) and how Nautical Ventures have grown in the last few years.

Q: How did you get started in the boating industry?

Moore: I was a successful California businessman-turned-entrepreneur who one day sold everything to buy a 63-foot Cheoy Lee Motorsailor and embarked on a 13-year, 42,000 nautical mile journey around the world with my wife Samantha. In 2006 we dropped anchor in Ft. Lauderdale, where I retired my Cheoy Lee and bought an 84-foot Delta Expedition Yacht. In the process I met a local broker, Jeff Garcia, became a yacht broker myself, and the two of us partnered to form QPS Marine, a marine company that refurbished and resold boats. In 2010 our business neighbor, Nautical Ventures, mentioned he was selling the business. At the time, Nautical Ventures was primarily a Hobie Kayak and Sailboat retailer. But I saw the opportunity to turn it into a boat dealership. So, we bought the company and turned it into the dealership it is today.

Q: What is the most interesting aspect of your current role at the dealership?

Moore: I feel it’s in the brand development and brand maintenance of our dealership – Nautical Ventures. This constantly requires new and innovative approaches to grow the business. This would include new product & brand acquisitions, expansion in to key geographical markets, hiring key personnel who support our vision, establishing financial conduits to supply strategic capital when needed, and creating innovative marketing programs to get the word out about Nautical Ventures.

Q: Nautical Ventures has been growing its operations. What would you say is the secret to your success?

Moore: Customer satisfaction across all departments. We offer top quality water sports products and support along with a highly trained and caring staff. We are dedicated to educating and advising our customers, so as to provide an extra-ordinary buying experience.

Our waterfront location, along with our motto, “Try-It-Before-You-Buy-It” affords customers that opportunity and it has proven to satisfy our customers and build relationships.

Q: You are going through Dealer Certification. What compelled Nautical Ventures to become a Certified Dealer?

Moore: In order to provide our customers with an extra-ordinary buying experience, then we have to be an extra-ordinary dealership, complete with sales staff and service personnel who can treat our clientele in a manner they expect. I feel that by going through the Dealer Certification program, the MRAA lays out a definable path for us to follow, so as to become the best dealership possible.

Q: As a dealer that puts an emphasis on growing and continuously learn, what would you say was the most important thing you learned in the business this year?

Moore: I would say it’s the importance of sales training and having a system in place to take full advantage of the narrow window of opportunity we have with potential new customers. Customer inquiries move at a very fast pace these days. A timely response by an attentive and knowledgeable sales person can make all the difference in making the sale.

Q: What are 5 things that people may not know about you?

Moore:

  1. I live full-time on my boat and haven’t owned a house in 30-years.
  2. I’m a self-taught classical guitarist.
  3. I’m a former pilot, one of the youngest hired by TWA.
  4. I hold several patents in the field of water purification.
  5. I once owned a monkey who traveled 3-years with us on our round-the-world voyage.

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If you have a nomination for the Member Spotlight section of our newsletter, please send an email to mickaela@mraa.com.

Grow Boating and MRAA unveil MDCE educational partnership

The two organizations are working together to help dealers navigate a changing marketplace.

MINNEAPOLIS — Grow Boating Inc. and the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas are partnering to provide training and education at the 2017 Marine Dealer Conference & Expo, to be held Dec. 10-13 in Orlando, organizers announced today.

During the Grow Boating Summit in December 2016, which was held to take a pulse on the industry’s support of the Discover Boating campaign, participants voted unanimously in support of continuing the industry-funded marketing campaign and identified four areas of focus for Grow Boating moving forward: the boating experience, consumer education, research and industry education.

“An integral part of our strategy is to make sure that we provide our stakeholders with insights and learnings that they can apply to their businesses while better understanding the value that the Discover Boating campaign brings the industry,” said Carl Blackwell, president of Grow Boating Inc. “We see MDCE as a great venue to help us with our education effort.”

Grow Boating is committed to creating opportunities  to help marine businesses enhance their marketing, sales and customer service success, by attracting more prospects to boating and providing consumers with an outstanding buying and ownership experience.

“The No. 1 reason marine retailers come to MDCE is to participate in the more than 30 educational sessions and workshops offered,” said Liz Walz, Vice President and Director of Education for MRAA, which co-produces MDCE alongside Boating Industry magazine. “With Grow Boating as our education partner, we can do even more to provide marine retailers with the data and training they need to successfully adapt to changes in today’s consumers.”

While this partnership officially kicks off at MDCE 2017, the two organizations are exploring ways they can build on the momentum generated by their MDCE collaboration to help the industry improve and grow through education year-round.

MDCE is the premier educational conference designed exclusively for marine retailers by marine retailers. In recent years, attendee numbers have increased dramatically. As a result of new and improved features for this year, coupled with record year-to-date registration numbers, MDCE now expects a record turnout for the 2017 conference.  

About the Marine Dealer Conference & Expo
The marine industry’s only dealer-specific educational conference, MDCE offers an in-depth lineup of educational topics, a full-featured expo hall and a series of fixed networking opportunities, all of which are designed to help marine dealers connect with and learn from others who can foster their success. MDCE is co-produced by MRAA and Boating Industry, and it features Educational Tracks, Pre-Conference Workshops, Keynote Presentations, Roundtable Discussions and Learning Labs. The 2017 event will be held Dec. 10-13 at the Orange County Convention Center, Rosen Centre Hotel, and Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando, Fla. For more information, visit marinedealerconference.com.

About Boating Industry
Boating Industry is the leading trade magazine serving the marine industry. For more than 85 years, boating professionals have turned to Boating Industry for market intelligence, product updates, best practices and industry news. For more information, visit BoatingIndustry.com.

About the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas
The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas works to create a strong and healthy boating industry by uniting marine retail businesses, providing them with opportunities for improvement and growth, and representing them with a powerful voice. For more information, visit MRAA.com.

James Cunningham to Emcee MRAA Awards Program

MINNEAPOLIS – The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas and the MRAA Educational Foundation announced today that they have engaged James Cunningham as the event emcee for the MRAA’s 2017 Opening Night Awards Celebration.
 
Cunningham, who has hosted and performed at numerous events for clients including Pepsi, Frito-Lay, McDonald’s, Walmart, and more, has also hosted a series of sold-out events across Canada for “The Power Within,” where he shared the spotlight with such luminaries as former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Sir Richard Branson, Martha Stewart, Barbara Walters, and others.
 
“James Cunningham has proven that he’s among the most skilled corporate emcees and comedians in the world,” says Liz Walz,  Vice President of MRAA and the Executive Director of the MRAA Educational Foundation. “His personalized performances seem to guarantee laughter, and we’re thrilled to be joining forces with him to deliver an entertaining and inspirational event.”
 
The MRAA Opening Night Awards Celebration will shine a spotlight on outstanding members of the marine retail workforce, as well as initiatives at the MRAA and MRAA Educational Foundation designed to support workforce development and growth. Cunningham will help MRAA and the Educational Foundation bring fun and honor to the night as the recipients of several scholarships and prestigious awards are recognized. In addition, Cunningham will host the Fork It Over Marine Industry Talent Show, a fundraising effort that promises to delight.
 
For some unique insight into the awards, watch this video.
 
To learn more about the Opening Night Awards Celebration, click here.
 
Complementing his work as a corporate emcee and entertainer, James is also the hilarious host and associate producer of the TV series Eat St., which airs on Cooking Channel USA and Food Network Canada, and in more than a dozen other countries around the world. He is the author of the bestselling cookbook of the same name (Eat St.), wherein he shares recipes from the most daring, delicious, and inventive street food that can be found anywhere.
 
The MRAA Opening Night Awards Celebration is sponsored in part by Priority One Financial Services, SeaDek Marine Products, Protective Asset Protection, Barletta Boat Company, Boating Industry, and Soundings Trade Only.
 
About the Marine Retailers Association
At the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, we believe that for the marine industry to thrive, the retail organizations that interact with the boaters in their community must thrive. With that in mind, MRAA works to create a strong and healthy boating industry by uniting those retailers, providing them with opportunities for improvement and growth, and representing them with a powerful voice. For more information, visit MRAA.com or contact us at 763-315-8043.
 
About the MRAA Educational Foundation
As part of its mission to create a strong and healthy boating industry, the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas is committed to offering training, education and professional development opportunities to its members and the entire marine dealer community. In 2004, the association launched the MRAA Educational Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 corporation, to provide financial support for education, training and professional development in the recreational marine trades. For more information, visit MRAA.com/foundation or contact us at 315-692-4533.

MRAA Now Taking Applications for Fully Funded MDCE Scholarships

Attend MDCE, at no cost, thanks to partnership with Soundings Trade Only.

MINNEAPOLIS — In partnership with Soundings Trade Only, the Marine Dealer Conference & Expo will offer scholarships for three dealers to attend the three-day educational event, to be held Dec. 10-13 in Orlando.
 
“We are honored to partner with the MDCE to provide three recipients with access to the incredible educational programming that the event offers,” says Dean Waite, publisher of Soundings Trade Only. “We see how important the conference is for the industry and want it to be accessible to all who see it as an opportunity to be better. That’s why, for the third year, we have chosen to partner with MDCE to support these scholarships, as a chance to learn and grow. Because in the end, it’s the power of education that helps our industry flourish.”

Each scholarship includes an MDCE Standard Dealer Registration, up to $450 in travel reimbursement, and a three-night hotel stay at the MDCE’s host hotel, for a total value of $1,396 per scholarship.  

Marine dealers can apply for the chance to receive an MDCE scholarship by completing an application at www.mraa.com/MDCEScholarships. The scholarship committee will meet to consider two important aspects of the application: how candidates plan to put what they learn at MDCE to work in their business as well as their financial need. The recipients will be selected and notified in early November.

This year’s event will take place Dec. 10-13 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. MDCE boasts increasing registration numbers year after year with the 2017 event featuring nine Pre-Conference Workshops; four concurrent Educational Tracks, including Leadership, Sales, Marketing and Service Plus; three dealer-to-dealer roundtable discussion sessions; an opening and closing keynote; an expo hall filled with 100 exhibitors and special events sprinkled throughout the conference.

In total, MDCE 2017 includes more than 30 educational offerings, and attendees are invited to choose whichever combination of sessions best fits their needs and desires. All of these educational offerings are included with a standard MDCE Registration, with the exception of the Pre-Conference Workshops, which require a separate registration fee.

“We are grateful to Soundings Trade Only for continuing this partnership to provide some deserving dealers with a chance to attend MDCE,” Matt Gruhn, President of the MRAA, which produces the annual event alongside Boating Industry. “We hear the impact straight from the dealers after each conference. It remains a consistent theme in the eyes of the dealer community that MDCE is powerful, inspiring, and an undeniable value-add in their business, so what’s inspiring to us is to present this opportunity to those who actively desire to participate, but wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend.”

About the Marine Dealer Conference & Expo
The marine industry’s only dealer-specific educational conference, MDCE offers an in-depth lineup of educational sessions, a full-featured expo hall and a series of fixed networking opportunities, all of which are designed to help marine dealers connect with and learn from others who can foster their success. MDCE is co-produced by MRAA and Boating Industry, and it features four Educational Tracks, Pre-Conference Workshops, Keynote Presentations, a Learning Lab, Dealer-to-Dealer Roundtable Discussions, and an Innovation Spotlight. For more information, visit MarineDealerConference.com.

About the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas
The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas has been delivering powerful educational programs for marine dealers since 1977. At the MRAA, the team of professionals believes that for the marine industry to thrive, the dealers on the front lines of the industry must first find success. So MRAA works to create a strong and healthy boating industry by providing dealers with tools, resources and educational programs, such as its annual conference, and by representing them with a powerful voice. For more information, visit MRAA.com.

About Boating Industry
Boating Industry is the leading trade magazine serving the marine industry. From award-winning editorial to awards programs including the Top 100 dealers program, Movers & Shakers, Top Products of the Year and more, Boating Industry serves all aspects of the marine industry. For more than 85 years, boating professionals have turned to Boating Industry for market intelligence, product updates, best practices and industry news. For more information, visit BoatingIndustry.com.

Young Leaders Advisory Council Seeks Applications

Be a voice in the Marine Industry by applying or nominating young leaders to join for 2017

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.— The Marine Retailers Asosciation of the America’s is currently accepting applications and nominations for its Young Leaders Advisory Council through November 3, 2017.

The mission of the MRAA is to support and grow the marine industry, and YLAC plays a crucial role in making this possible. YLAC is made up of a group of experienced marine professionals under the age of 40, who are driven by the association’s mission. The group plays a large role representing the needs and ideas from the next generation to the MRAA’s Board of Directors.

“This group is a valuable voice for our work here at MRAA and for the industry at large,” says Matt Gruhn, President of the MRAA. “We’ve always been a firm believer in taking a step back to listen to different ideas and perspectives on how we approach our industry and our businesses, and that’s never as critical as when it comes to the next generation, the very future of our industry.”

Four one-time YLAC members — Martin Boyer, Austin Boats & Motors (Texas), Carly Poole, Buckeye Marine (Ontario), Chad Taylor, Taylor’s South Shore Marina (Ohio) and Jake Jostand, Oak Hill Marina (Iowa) — currently serve on the MRAA Board of Directors; a fifth former YLAC member, Liz Walz, has since joined the MRAA staff as vice president and director of education; and three other former YLAC members have also sat on the MRAA board.

For the immediate future, the YLAC group expects to continue its focus on helping provide solutions to the dealer body’s workforce development challenges.

Applicants or nominees should be willing to meet face-to-face with the group twice a year and provide their ideas and insights, in addition to working jointly with other council and MRAA Board of Directors members on subcommittees. Candidates must be under 40 years of age, hold a position of significance in a dealership and have a minimum of five years of marine industry experience.
If you would like to receive an email when the application and nomination form opens in the fall, please email sarah@mraa.com.

About the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas
At the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, we believe that for the marine industry to thrive, the retail organizations that interact with the boaters in their community must thrive. With that in mind, MRAA works to create a strong and healthy boating industry by uniting those retailers, providing them with opportunities for improvement and growth, and representing them with a powerful voice. For more information, visit MRAA.com or contact us at 763-315-8043.

Taking on Dealers’ Challenge, Part Two

Certified Dealers challenged us to make Recertification as valuable for them as Certification. So, we’ve spent the past year formulating a plan for how to do that and gaining industry insight into our plan. Read more about how we went about that in my last blog: Time for a Professional Change.

Now, we’re focused on execution. Our mission? Design relevant, timely and high impact education developed specifically for Certified Dealers and designed to drive continuous improvement in their dealerships. We call it Continuous Certification.

As we sketched it out, we knew the education needed to feature the topics that are most important now. Like how do you get a return on the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software you pay for each month? Or maybe even more importantly, how do you get a return on all the time and money you invest in getting people to contact and ultimately do business with your dealership?

That’s why the course we’re featuring in the first quarter of 2018 is: Taking Your Dealership from Good to Great, by Sam Dantzler of Garage Composites.
 
This session would be best learned when you need it the most – during prospecting season, also known as boat show season. When you execute a perfect CRM strategy, your CRM efforts will bring more traffic to your boat show display, traffic that you have a greater chance of selling at the show. More importantly, you will learn to start the follow-up process for those who don’t buy at the show and, as a result, sell more boats all year long.
 
Of course, boat show season is what makes this topic so timely. But relevant? How is this for relevant? Garage Composites estimates that dealers are letting 40 percent of their potential unit sales slip through their fingers, which could be solved through disciplined use of a CRM strategy. Get ready to learn from this session because Sam Dantzler takes this subject personally. He is going to show you how to adopt the core principles to make any CRM system work, including how to generate team buy-in, what data to capture, what to do with that data, and how to use your CRM to increase your customer satisfaction and loyalty.

I’m equally as excited about our second quarter course topic: Improve Loyalty with a Customer Experience Mindset, by Theresa Syer of Syer Hospitality. This is a perfect course for Certified dealers who are always looking for ways to exceed customer expectations.

Let’s get real: We serve customers with very lofty expectations. We are meeting and greeting prospects, many of whom likely drive two or more premium luxury cars, own large well-appointed homes, and have enough money left over to buy a boat that cost as much as a house! What do you think their service expectations might be? 

The NMMA CSI scores show that Certified Dealers already outperform dealers those who are not Certified. Is measuring the buying experience with other boat dealers using the right watermark? Should we look further?

Many of these prospects enjoy vacationing at hotels and resorts managed by the Four Season or Fairmont Hotels. I’m betting we can learn a thing or two from someone who trains and consults the upper end of the hospitality industry – not to mention several marine industry leaders. Someone like Theresa Syer.

Armed with the training this course provides, you will learn to provide a better retail experience, thus positioning yourself to sell more boats with improved profitability and retain more customers.

Stay tuned to this blog for information on the two other high impact topics for 2018: Accountability and Dealership Strategy.

In the meantime, have you and your team taken our Pilot Course, Buyer Motivation: The Key to Building Value? If not, it’s time! Simply sign into MRAATraining.com with your MRAA username and password, and scroll down to New & Popular Courses at the bottom of the homepage. Don’t have a username and password? Email us at info@mraa.com or call 763-315-8043 to receive a username and password today.

The only investment required for this course is your time. We have opened our new learning system to you at no charge so you can experience this interactive, online course firsthand.

This training is sorely needed in our showrooms to make sure that our salespeople are effectively presenting a boat’s features and benefits to each customer. We know that Certified Dealers already have a documented, well-followed sales process. This course will complement your sales strategy and help you close more deals sooner.

Spring Brook Marina- Letter From the Thorpe Family

Jim Thorpe and family, of Spring Brook Marine sent a letter to friends and business partners announcing the sale of their family business. Spring Brook Marina is a longtime MRAA member and Jim served on the MRAA board for 17 years.

TO ALL OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS:
In 1960, when my mother, father, and myself put the first shovel in the ground, we never imagined that we would build such a successful family business. From the beginning until now, Spring Brook Marina has grown from 7 acres of land and 15 small boat slips to 50 acres of land and over 200 boat slips. We went from hand building Chris Craft kit boats in our basement to one of the largest yacht dealers in the country. After purchasing the first 7 acres of land, we started digging the first of 3 harbors. My father and I built the docks by hand and installed them in the spring of 1961. We quickly sold out of docks the first year, built a workshop, and purchased a travel lift. Our family business was off to a great start.

In 1988, my son, Steve joined the team full time, and in 1989, my daughter, Tammy joined in making for an even clearer path to success. In 2003, we hired Kyle Stenzel. Even though Kyle was not from the marine industry, he learned very quickly and sold his first boat at the 2003 Racine Boat Show. In 2007, Kyle received the Number 1 Salesperson award from our yacht manufacturer. After several years, he took over the responsibility of sales manager, and in 2012, was instrumental in signing on with Prestige Yachts, which has led us to selling and servicing over 55 of these beautiful yachts. Now in 2017, Kyle will be introducing Fairline Yachts, with the first one coming this winter.

We have grown this family business in leaps and bounds over the past 56 years, and now we have decided it’s time to release the reigns and sell this family legacy to Kyle Stenzel. Myself and the current Spring Brook crew are confident and totally onboard with supporting Kyle in this new venture. We can assure you Kyle, along with Tammy and Steve, will continue to offer and provide the exceptional customer service and support that you are accustomed to from Spring Brook Marina.

I will still be around, helping out at boat shows, flying the crew to where they need to go, and providing advice, if needed. I plan to do some traveling, play some more golf, and relax a little more.

I would like to thank my family, our employees, and all of the Spring Brook customers for making Spring Brook Marina the success that it is today, and for your continued support in the future.

Sincerely,

Jim Thorpe
Tammy Murphy
Steve Thorpe

MRAA Introduces Certification Program at SeaArk Boats Dealer Meeting

Monticello, ARK.  – The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas participated at the SeaArk Boats dealer meeting last week, presenting opportunities for dealership growth and success through the Marine Industry Certified Dealership.

At the meeting, MRAA Lead Certification Consultant Bob McCann presented twice to the dealers in attendance, offering them insight into a proven path for growth and success. The Dealer Certification Program, endorsed by SeaArk Boats and parent company Correct Craft, Inc., provides dealers with a blueprint for building an industry-leading dealership operation.

“We work with dealers on a daily basis to help them strengthen their competitive advantage, and we had an engaging conversation with SeaArk’s dealer network on how to instill a culture of continuous improvement,” says McCann. “We believe the roadmap that Dealer Certifciation offers them leads them down a path of stronger operating systems, greater employee engagement, and higher levels of customer loyalty, which all add up to greater profitability for SeaArk Dealers.”

As part of a broad campaign to fulfill its mission, MRAA has been working closely with a number of manufacturers throughout 2017 to help extend such opportunities to their networks in custom programs. Additionally, MRAA has evolved the Dealer Certification Program to create much greater value for Certified Dealers and their staffs. Today, not only will the process of becoming Certified help dealers stay focused on continuous improvement, but it will also share real-world strategies, best practices and insights from world class experts.

“We believe the Dealer Certification Program is an ideal resource for our dealer network to tap into and use to grow their businesses,” says Steve Henderson, President of SeaArk Boats. “As SeaArk looks to strengthen its position in the market, we wanted to give our dealers access to tools and educational programming like that which the MRAA offers to help them strengthen their competitive advantage, as well.”

About Dealer Certification
The MRAA’s Dealer Certification Program provides a blueprint for boat and engine dealers to create a culture of continuous improvement within their businesses. Dealer Certification focuses on enhancing dealership performance through three key pillars of building a competitive advantage: Operations, Employee Engagement, and Customer Satisfaction. The program unites the best and most effective tools, resources and educational programming offered by the MRAA into one package that offers dealers the most direct route to growth and success in today’s market. For more information, please visit MRAA.com/Certification or contact us at 763-315-8043.

About SeaArk Boats
With over 59 years of experience in boat building, SeaArk Boats (owned by Correct Craft) is the industry’s premier aluminum fishing boat known for outstanding product quality and excellent customer service. Mostly known for heavy-duty aluminum boats built specifically for cat-fishing, SeaArk also builds bass- and crappie-fishing boats, jon boats, duck boats, and bay boats, offering a wide variety of tunnel and jet tunnel hulls. For more information visit www.seaarkboats.com.

Forest River joins MRAA as Platinum Member

Forest River Marine, makers of Berkshire, South Bay and Trifecta pontoons has joined the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas at the highest level as a Platinum Partner Member.

 

“We believe in the importance of a strong and effective dealer body,” says Tom McCuddy, General Manager of Forest River Marine. “We are proud to have a strong network of dealers, and we believe that supporting the work of our industry’s dealer association is an important contributor to the overall health of our industry and our boating community.”

 

Forest River Marine’s three boat lines: South Bay; Berkshire and Trifecta offer many different floor plans to appeal to all types of boaters. John Sweeney, Marketing Director, states; “We have a boat for every on-water activity, from cruising and fishing models to luxury entertainment and triple tube performance models. Quality is engineered into each boat’s DNA. You can see it in the styling, feel it in the performance and experience it in the excitement of owning one of our pontoons!”

 

“The Forest River team has shown a great desire to strengthen its dealer network in support of their customers,” says Matt Gruhn, President of MRAA. “From their participation at our annual conference all the way through to their communications with the Forest River dealer network about programs and opportunities that our team here at MRAA has to offer them, they continue to invest in and lead the way with dealer development.”

 

Forest River joins a continually growing roster of boat manufacturers, vendors and suppliers that have chosen to support the dealer community through partnership with the MRAA. The support of these organizations enables MRAA to expand the products and services it offers to dealers, with the goal of providing them with more tools, resources and educational opportunities to fuel their success. Find a full menu of partner benefits here.

 

About the Marine Retailers Association
At the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, we believe that for the marine industry to thrive, the retail organizations that interact with the boaters in their community must thrive. With that in mind, MRAA works to create a strong and healthy boating industry by uniting those retailers, providing them with opportunities for improvement and growth, and representing them with a powerful voice. For more information, visit MRAA.com or contact us at 763-315-8043.

 

About Forest River Marine

Based in Middlebury, Ind., Forest River Marine is a top-tier pontoon boat manufacturer, building entry-level through luxury performance boats powered by up to twin 400 H.P. motors.  Brands include: South Bay, Berkshire and Trifecta. Product offerings include; cruise, entertainment, fish, and sport models.  Forest River Marine, a division of Forest River, Inc., has been building high quality pontoon boats since 1998. Founded in 1996, Forest River, Inc. employs over 10,000 people in multiple manufacturing facilities throughout the Midwest, south, southwest and west coast, producing motorized class A, B and C motorhomes, travel trailers, fifth wheels, pop-up tent campers, park model trailers, commercial vehicles, buses, pontoon boats and restroom trailers. Forest River, Inc. was acquired by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. in 2005. For more information please contact ForestRiverInc.com or 574-825-8696.

MRAA to Host Opening Night Awards Celebration

The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas announced today that it will host an Opening Night Awards Celebration at the upcoming Marine Dealer Conference & Expo.

The MRAA Awards Celebration will shine a spotlight on marine industry workforce efforts, showcasing a series of awards and scholarships to be presented by both the MRAA and the MRAA Educational Foundation. Other recognitions will include Marine Industry Certified Dealerships, as well as an all-new MRAA Lifetime Achievement Award.
“In bringing this exciting event to the marine industry, we’re looking to not only kick off our annual conference in style, adding a sense of entertainment and flare to our awards program,” explains Matt Gruhn, President of MRAA, “but also to recognize the men and women who work tirelessly to make our industry such a great place to work.”

The MRAA Educational Foundation will present several great scholarships, totaling more than $30,000, including Technical Scholarships, the Marine Industry College Scholarship, the Kevin Lodder Scholarship, and the Duane Spader Leadership Development Scholarship. Additionally, the Foundation will recognize the Darlene Briggs Woman of the Year. The MRAA itself will recognize Marine Industry Certified Dealerships, in addition to introducing the inaugural MRAA Lifetime Achievement Award. All MRAA Members are encouraged to apply for the Lifetime Achievement Award.

As part of the build-up to the recognition of these outstanding individuals, the event will feature a professional emcee as well as the “Fork It Over” Marine Industry Talent Show, aimed at benefitting the MRAA Educational Foundation.

“We are looking forward to an incredible evening of fun, excitement and recognition of the passion and hard work that goes into helping our industry prosper,” says Liz Walz, Vice President & Director of Education at the MRAA and Executive Director of the MRAA Educational Foundation. “We not only want to hold the individuals and organizations to be recognized up as examples to be emulated, but we also are honored to support their efforts to advance their boating business careers.”

The MRAA Opening Night Awards Celebration is sponsored in part by Priority One Financial Services, SeaDek Marine Products, Protective Asset Protection, Barletta Boats, Boating Industry, and Soundings Trade Only.

To be held Sunday, Dec. 10 from 6 to 10 p.m. in the Executive H Ballroom of the Rosen Centre Hotel, the MRAA Awards Celebration will immediately follow the MDCE’s regular opening night poolside reception. That reception will be held from 4 to 6 p.m., and the doors to the Awards Celebration will open to all MDCE attendees for entertainment, awards and scholarships presentations. There is no need to RSVP for the event, but for those people or companies looking to guarantee a great seat, reserved tables can be purchased here.

About the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas
At the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, we believe that for the marine industry to thrive, the retail organizations that interact with the boaters in their community must thrive. With that in mind, MRAA works to create a strong and healthy boating industry by uniting those retailers, providing them with opportunities for improvement and growth, and representing them with a powerful voice. For more information, visit MRAA.com or contact us at 763-315-8043.