The Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) has announced that Kathie Cahill, CPMR, president of Net Sales Company of Victor, N.Y., is the recipient of the 2009 Ray Hall Spirit of ERA Award. Ray Hall and ERA President Bob Walsh, CPMR, presented the award during the association’s 75th Anniversary Party, held in conjunction with the ERA’s recent 44th national conference.
Cahill was nominated for the award by Empire State ERA and is that chapter’s immediate past president and current delegate to the ERA Board of Directors. She has served on the ERA Conference Committee since 2006 and chaired the 2009 Conference, held in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, Ill., in October.
In addition, since 2003, when she earned her Certified Professional Manufacturers’ Representative (CPMR) designation, Cahill has been a board member of the Manufacturers’ Representatives Educational Research Foundation (MRERF), the CPMR program sponsoring organization that was founded by ERA in 1984. She is now the MRERF vice president of education and chair of the Institute for Professional Advancement (IPA), the MRERF affiliate that oversees the CPMR and CSP (Certified Sales Professional) programs.
In presenting the award, Walsh cited Cahill’s many volunteer activities on behalf of the manufacturers’ representative profession and on both the local and national levels of ERA. He also called her “the most articulate conference chair any of us has ever heard!”
The Ray Hall Spirit of ERA Award was established in 2004 to honor the retiring CEO who had served ERA for 40+ years. Hall asked that the award recognize individuals who exemplify the spirit of ERA through their commitment to serving and advancing the professional field sales (manufacturers’ representative) function. Previous recipients of the award are: Mark Motsinger, CPMR, of Wallace Electronic Sales, Kernersville, N.C. (2005); Mark Conley of O’Donnell Associates North, San Jose, Cal. (2006); Bruce Scoggin, CPMR, of Electro-Rep Associates, Charlotte, N.C. (2007); and Paul Nielsen, CPMR, of Brainard-Nielsen Marketing, Elk Grove Village, Ill. (2008).
