me — doing what I can to ensure the conOT: Why do you believe BTA “Another key role that tinued success of these events. is important to office technolIn addition, it has been amazing to ogy dealers and the industry as BTA plays is serving as see the continued growth of BTA’s mema whole? a source of education bership in recent years. In fact, we just Ouellette: There is no doubt that this and information that finished our third consecutive year with industry, and particularly its dealers, is independent of the a positive membership retention numneed an organization like BTA. The assobias of any specific ber. That has not always been the case. ciation’s efforts to address the proposal This is particularly impressive when you of state legislation designed to regulate manufacturer.“ consider that growth in this economy is MFP data security comes to mind as not easy for any organization and that the type of value that is more approprithere are far fewer independent dealers than in the past. So, ately served by a national organization. In recent months, as president, I will also be focused on working to help main- Bob [Goldberg] has been meeting with state legislators and tain this momentum through our ongoing efforts to find their staff members to explain the facts regarding data senew ways to add further value to membership. curity and demonstrating that the best answer is end-user Another area that is important to me is revisiting the education, not regulations, criminal penalties or fines. The possibility of adding a health insurance program to our industry would not be well served by any of the proposed member benefits. This has been investigated in the past. legislation. Individually, dealers could not address the probHowever, the Obama Administration’s health-care pro- lem alone. It would be too time consuming and expensive. gram understandably put our efforts on hold. There were Frankly, this has been an expensive effort by BTA and, so too many unanswered questions. I don’t know whether far, it has paid off very well for dealers and the industry. To we will find success with this, but with dealers some- me, this is a perfect example of the value of the association times facing 20-percent-plus increases in health insurance to the dealer channel and to the industry at large. premiums, I would like to take another look at this during Another key role that BTA plays is serving as a source of my presidency. education and information that is independent of the bias of
BTA 2011-12 President-Elect Terry Chapman Terry Chapman, BTA’s 2011-12 president-elect, has served as president of Business Electronics Corp., located in Birmingham, Ala., since 1988. The company, a Toshiba and Lanier dealership, employs 15 people. Chapman is a graduate of Birmingham Southern College and received his B.A. in 1984 and his master’s degree in 1989. He worked in the banking industry prior to his current role at Business Electronics Corp. Chapman, who has been involved with BTA for many years, was named BTA’s Volunteer of the Year in 2008 and also serves as immediate past president for the Southeast district. Chapman serves as chairman of the board for the American Cancer Society’s Jefferson-Shelby chapter and serves on the board of directors for Camp Smile-A-Mile, an oncology camp serving youth across Alabama. He also serves as president-elect on the board of directors of Episcopal Place, an independent living facility located in Birmingham. In his role as president-elect, Chapman says his goal is to support BTA’s president, Tom Ouellette. “I’m interested in supporting the president and his initiatives and continuing the success we’ve had with our district events and educational programs,” Chapman says. He also wants to encourage dealers to join BTA and take advantage of its numerous offerings. “I think BTA remains a great value and [a BTA membership] is one of the first things that deal-
ers should invest in because it pays such a great return,” he says. “Dealers new to the industry will benefit from Bob Goldberg’s legal advice and all of the documentation and resources that are immediately available through the BTA website. Established dealers will benefit from BTA’s education offerings, which seem to be lacking in the industry now, due to budget cutbacks. BTA is stepping up what it is doing with its education workshops to compensate for those cutbacks.” Chapman thinks BTA’s district events are some of the association’s most important offerings. He cited this spring’s BTA Mid-America event as the 2010-11 fiscal year’s greatest success. “I’ve been very excited and pleased about the development of the BTA Mid-America event this year. I enjoyed attending that event and I think it was very successful. It’s a new district event in a region that really needed more activity. We had a lot of people turn out and we had the president of one of the major manufacturers speak. We had a lot of successes during that event and I think that trend will continue.” Chapman sees success in BTA’s future, thanks to the benefits and programs the association offers its dealer members. “I think that the organization is going to continue to become more important to dealers,” he says. “We’re certainly offering more benefits to dealers and we’re doing a much better job of representing the dealer community. Not only are we offering more benefits, but we’re also doing more to advocate positions that the dealers want, which hasn’t really been done before.” — Elizabeth Marvel
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