PRESIDENT’S LETTER
Happy New Year
We at the NAED are truly grateful for you—our members. It is because of your involvement and
commitment that we are the successful association we are today. Our volunteers have dedicated
countless hours to ensure that the industry as a whole continues to move forward.
Before we launch into 2014, I wanted to take a moment to look back at the past year and some of our
accomplishments.
• The NAED Government Affairs team mobilized distributors to force removal of language from a
senate bill that would have expanded liability for distributors in lighting standards compliance
• EPEC Lighting, the first NAED EPEC level that focuses on a specific product line, was launched
• The research project Hire Today for Tomorrow, which considers the projected state of the industry
and how companies can best prepare to do business in the future, was published
• New technology guides were launched to cover the topics of mobile device security policy, server
virtualization, selecting tablet computers and IT disaster recovery
• DATAFirst, a collaborative data quality program to benefit both distributors and manufacturers,
was launched
You may have noticed the new format for our quarterly newsletter—The Current. In addition to the new
format, we also changed the focus a bit to bring you some best practices as well as share what makes
our members stand out in their communities.
We will also continue to bring you industry-specific research through the Channel Advantage
Partnership—look for a new project on ‘alternate channels’ from Frank Lynn and Associates. Members
will also notice an improved NAED PAR ReportTM—be sure to check out the article on page 16 for the
details.
I wish you a prosperous and wonderful 2014!
Tom Naber | President | NAED
Tom can be reached at 314.812.5312 or [email protected].