Hooper to Retire from NEMRA

Fran Pollart, Managing Partner of Pollart Electrical Sales and incoming Chairman of NEMRA, now has a tough job. He’s charged with leading a search to replace Ken Hooper, President of NEMRA, who last week announced his retirement from NEMRA.

NEMRA released the following statement:

The Board of Directors of the National Electrical Manufacturers Representatives Association (NEMRA) today announced that Ken Hooper, President and CEO, will retire from his role in June 2019. Hooper has served as NEMRA’s leader since 2009.

“Ken has been a visionary leader and under his direction NEMRA has grown its membership, introduced numerous innovative programs, and propelled our annual conference to be the largest and most productive meeting in the electrical industry,” said Joe Tumlin, Chairman of NEMRA. “We will miss his advocacy of the independent representative sales model but are confident our succession plan will yield a leader fully capable of maintaining our momentum,” Tumlin added.

“With this announcement, the Board has activated a search to be conducted by a leading executive recruitment firm. Over the coming months we will be actively engaged in assessing candidates for the position,” said Fran Pollart, NEMRA’s incoming Chairman and head of the search committee. “We are focused on finding a dynamic new leader who will work with Ken to ensure a flawless leadership transition,” added Pollart.

During Ken’s tenure the 650-member association has grown significantly while delivering a wealth of new tools to its members to help many compete in a changing marketplace. It’s Annual Meeting is regarded as one of the best (if not THE best) in the industry and attracts approximately 2000 attendees; NEMRA has launched a number of advanced, niche executive training workshops with leading universities to support the ongoing education of its members; initiative online training resources and sales skills training; had its version of the PAR report; is spearheading POS reporting to improve this process and compensation for its members; launched the Power Pact; facilitated the transition of NEMRA’s Technology Services Group to TradeTech Solutions who is now investing to update platforms and provide better solutions to reps and more.  In other words … he’s brought change to the association and had vision for its members.

Said Larry Rodger, President of Synergy Electrical Sales, a NJ-based rep, “I’m reeling a bit today from NEMRA’s announcement regarding Ken Hooper. I’m a huge fan of both the person & the many mighty contributions there.  Ken possesses an innate ability to deeply understand the entire supply chain of our industry, and to demonstrate where the intrinsic value of the rep agency model enhances the overall equation.

He has been extremely successful & valuable to membership in translating that understanding to value through raising the bar to the highest of heights with a modern, dynamic annual conference, and a vast array of educational opportunities for reps & the manufacturers who interact with them.

His leadership has been an inspiration to many reps, and will be sorely missed.”

While Fran has led a successful agency, his charge now is to help NEMRA take another giant leap forward with another dynamic leader to replace Ken.  We wish Ken well (and glad he isn’t leaving until June!)