Rent-to-own News - New RTOHQ: The Magazine profiles industry's finest

By APRO Executive Director Bill Keese,

APRO’s 30th anniversary party in Louisville is behind us. For all of you who were there, I know you learned a lot, enjoyed the venue and are now back home with a renewed excitement about rent-to-own.

Our seminars at the event were packed and attendees were inspired. The exhibit hall offered many new and enticing products and more than $12 million in purchases were made in a day and a half. The parties provided a chance to renew longtime friendships and meet new rental dealers. And the Louisville show was a reunion, where former rental dealers and industry leaders came to celebrate 30 years of success for the rent-to-own industry. Thanks to all who attended.

For those who weren’t able to attend, I hope you get a sense of the festivities in this issue of RTOHQ: The Magazine. The host city for APRO’s 2011 Rent-to-Own Convention and Trade Show is Little Rock, Arkansas, and the host hotel is the famed Peabody. We’ll see you there! Remember, APRO’s convention is the only opportunity in our industry where everyone can unite to enhance all aspects of rent-to-own.

In addition to recapping the celebration in Louisville, this issue also features a profile of the APRO staff. Last fall, your board of directors asked that we highlight the nine tenured professionals—with a combined 153 years experience—who work together on your behalf in Austin, Texas. Some of us were more willing than others to divulge rather personal information to Kristen Card, who wrote the staff profiles. You might not know it, but there are some shy people at APRO’s HQ. Kristen was able to get at least a morsel of information out of each staffer and I hope you learn something new upon reading the article.

Also in this issue, we honor both the 2010 Rent-to-Own Customer of the Year and the Rent-to-Own Employee of the Year. Let us never forget that the most important people in our industry are our customers. We better serve them when all rent-to-own professionals excel with outstanding service in our stores and our communities. During the next 12 months leading up to APRO’s 2011 Convention and Trade Show, please make a point of letting us know about your special customers and rent-to-own employees.

I want to thank Tiger John Cleek, his wife, Ann, and son and daughter-in-law, Johnny and Heather, for their service. Over the past two years, Tiger served with honor and great distinction as your president. As many of you know, he is a wonderful family man. I thank his entire family because Ann, Johnny and Heather attended almost as many meetings and rent-to-own get-togethers as did Tiger during his tenure as president.

It’s also remarkable that, for the first time in APRO’s history, a father/son combination served as president of the national association and a state association—the Missouri Rental Dealers Association—simultaneously. Thank you both for your service to our industry.