The board of directors of the Independent Glass Association of North America has announced that Michael P. Russo, previously controller at Thru-Way Autoglass Distributors Inc. in Syracuse, New York, a…
The board of directors of the Independent Glass Association of North America has announced that Michael P. Russo, previously controller at Thru-Way Autoglass Distributors Inc. in Syracuse, New York, and former member of the Board of Directors of the Independent Glass Association, has been appointed executive director, with effect as of 1 May 2010. The board began an extensive search upon the resignation of Key Communications last month, said IGA president David Zoldowski. We searched far and wide and found the best candidate close to home. Mike has been in the auto glass business and, until recently, served on the IGA board of directors. He is the perfect person to manage the association going forward. First I want to thank Key Communications for an outstanding job on behalf of the IGA. During Key“s tenure, IGA became the only association strictly devoted to auto glass, inaugurated an outstanding certification program, began an anti-steering program complete with data collection, increased its legislative work and retired all its financial debt, said Russo. Since becoming a participant in the auto glass repair and replacement industry, I learned rather quickly that the current practices in the industry are not characteristic of a free marketplace. Independents have not been failing at epidemic proportions because of poor business judgment. It will be my intent to open the association up and make it even more responsive to the needs of its membership. If you want to talk, I want to listen, said Russo. I look forward to forging new relationships with our trading partners to improve the business climate for everyone. If we are to be successful in securing equal opportunity for all of the players in the industry, we have to work together. The best opportunity for all parties to come together will be in May at the IGA Spring Conference in Ft. Myers. For information, please refer to the website, www.iga.org. I look forward to seeing you all there. The transition, which began on 12 April, will be completed by 30 April. Key will continue to manage IGA“s annual conference and convention for the association.