The American Supply Association’s Plumbing Division’s Executive Committee is proud to announce the inaugural Plumbing Division Award of Excellence will be presented to bothWinWholesaleCEORick Schwartzand retiringEmbassy Buying GroupExecutive DirectorWally Gummat the ASA Plumbing Industry Educational Forum & Breakfast, Thursday, Oct. 18 at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort in Orlando.
After long and thoughtful deliberation, the ASA Plumbing Division Executive Committee agreed to present the award to two recipients in 2012, both of whom have greatly distinguished themselves and are well-deserving of the honor.
Rick Schwartz
Rick Schwartz - WinWholesale
Having had a long and distinguished career in serving the advancement of the plumbing industry, Rick Schwartz’s most recent service to the American Supply Association was as a member of the ASA Executive Committee and Board of Directors. Schwartz has been very instrumental in helping to keep national wholesaler members as active members of ASA. WinWholesale has exhibited its commitment to ASA, serving as an anchor with other national wholesale firms by keeping them engaged. Schwartz’s stewardship at WinWholesale has encouraged participation by his team members to become actively engaged in ASA’s regional affiliates, and also by their participation in leadership roles at the local level.
Wally Gumm
Wally Gumm - Embassy Group
As mentioned, part of the criteria for receiving this award is based not only on the recipient’s influence on the current status of the channel, but also for being instrumental in positively affecting the industry in general. Wally Gumm has been a pioneer in establishing buying groups as a driving force in the plumbing industry. Many independent wholesalers are as strong as they are today because of the success of various industry buying groups. Over the last five years, Gumm has been instrumental in building strong ties between Embassy Group and ASA, opening their meetings to association staff and allowing them to participate in their appointment rotation. This has resulted in a nearly 75% representation of ASA members by the current Embassy membership.“Congratulations to both of these gentlemen on this outstanding industry recognition. They are most certainly well-deserving and match the award criteria admirably,” statedMike Adelizzi, ASA Executive Vice President. “They represent the beginning of a long line of distinguished industry recipients of this inaugural award,” he added.
