The ASA Executive Committee convened during its summer budget meeting to assess the organization's progress since the 2024 LEAD strategic planning meeting earlier this year in Puerto Rico and to review the 2025 budget requests from the strategic councils, task groups, special interest divisions and regional councils. This review aims to support the ASA's strategic vision.
The committee received updates on the development of an industry data product standard and the efforts to launch the first standard of its kind. This new standard aims to streamline data sharing and reduce costs for both manufacturers and distributors, who currently manage substantial data with limited resources.
"Distributors often assume that manufacturers have large teams dedicated to customizing data for distribution, which is not the case,” ASA CEO Mike Adelizzi explained. “If we can develop a standard for how data columns are shared, it would significantly ease the burden on our manufacturer partners and provide our distributor members with consistent data from hundreds of manufacturers, all formatted similarly."
The goal is to introduce the preliminary standards at the association conference this November in Chicago and then work towards widespread adoption by industry distributors and manufacturers.
The Executive Committee also reviewed the progress of the four ASA strategic councils on key initiatives, including efforts to recruit new talent to the industry, influence policy decisions in Washington, helping members navigate AI utilization and cybersecurity threats, and developments in business intelligence-benchmarking products and platforms the association provides.
ASA Executive Committee members include: Patrick Maloney (Coburn Supply, 2024 ASA president), Katie Poehling-Seymour (First Supply, 2024 ASA chairwoman), Dave Poteete (Tri-Star Pipe & Supply, incoming ASA president), Kip Miller (Eastern Industrial Supplies, ASA treasurer), Ashley Martin (NIBCO), Jeff Camuso (Charles D. Sheehy), Michael Keller (Keller Supply, ASA Education Foundation Chairman), Mike Plasier (Plumbing & Heating Wholesale), Chris Reynolds (Plumbers and Factory Supplies), Charlie Parham (Pepco Sales), Chuck Dean (A. O. Smith)
