RTOHQ: The Magazine September-October 2009

Complete issue of RTOHQ: The Magazine by APRO

And the Buddy Goes to... by Neil Ferguson and Ed Winn III

Training the Big Chief Way by Bud Holladay

Loving Las Vegas by Shelley Martinek

And the Buddy Goes to...

by Neil Ferguson and Ed Winn III

Each year, APRO recognizes a few special people in the rentto- own industry by awarding them a "Buddy." The Buddy is bestowed upon recipients of APRO's Rental Dealer of the Year, Vendor of the Year, President's Award of Excellence and—when circumstances merit—a Lifetime Achievement Award and a Heritage Award. But what is a Buddy and how did this tradition get started?  

Recognizing outstanding achievements is nothing new. Most rental dealers have an awards program within their companies. The Buddy, however, is the only industry-wide recognition and is awarded by APRO exclusively. In the early days of the association, recognition plaques were presented to the industry's high-achievers, but in 1997 APRO decided to make the physical embodiment of the award as special as the Oscars are to the film industry. The search was on for an award worthy of representing rent-to-own's Oscar. The art of Wally Shoop, a Minnesota sculptor of Native American heritage, was selected to convey our appreciation for the highest achievements in the rent-toown industry. His statue, created using the lost-wax casting process, depicts a person reaching to the stars and, appropriately, Shoop titled the piece "Reach."  

Coming up with an RTO-specific name for the statue was easy. Bud Holladay was APRO's first president, serving for three terms in the early 1980s. Throughout his career in rent-to-own, Holladay has exemplified the concept of reaching high. He established APRO as the national trade association for rent-to-own and, to this day, continues to coach and cajole professionals in our industry, always encouraging them to reach for the stars. Hence, we now award a work of art—the Buddy—to those who show exceptional dedication to our industry. This bronze, numbered statue embodies the attributes of APRO's first president. For recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award, the bronze statue is dipped in 24-karat gold.  

Congratulations to all of this year's Buddy winners and to all of those who strive to reach for the stars.—Bill Keese

Gary McDougal
APRO’s 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award

In APRO's 29 years, the association has honored only 15 men with the Lifetime Achievement Award. All of the recipients have had that rare and treasured drive to excel outside of themselves and give of themselves to causes larger than just making the next buck. This year's recipient, Gary McDougal, fits that criteria to a T.

Among his many talents, McDougal's political savvy is perhaps the one that others in the rent-to-own industry value most about him. Although he sold his five-store Tennessee rent-to-own business, American Rentals, several years ago, he remains an active spokesman for the RTO cause on Capitol Hill and at the Nashville statehouse.

Politics are his true calling. He is one of only three APRO presidents who have served in that capacity for three terms (1999–2002); he was president of the Tennessee Rental Dealers Association for 10 years and chairman of APRO's government affairs committee for three years. Although he's retired, he continues to be a driving force behind rent-to-own's relationship with the Congressional Black Caucus, an essential element in the industry's effort to win support in Washington, D.C. He might have left the industry, but the industry just can't leave him and Mary, his wife of 28 years, alone.

Over the past decade, APRO and the rent-to-own industry have donated more than $300,000 to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, an education scholarship fund. McDougal spearheaded that effort from the beginning and nurtures the relationship still. "If Tiger [Cleek, APRO's current president] calls me up and needs something, I'm glad to help out—whatever I can do," McDougal says. "There are a lot of shoulders I've rubbed over the years, so put me to work. The way I figure it, you've got to take care of your friends. We look forward to having the industry benefit from whatever help Mary and I can provide."

He worked for 20 years at Sears Roebuck. In addition, the McDougals' husbandand- wife business ventures have included restaurants (named M's, for Mary), a catering service, video rental stores, rental properties, a vending machine company ("Our kids went around filling the machines," McDougal says) and finally, in 1985, rent-to-own stores. Mary's been at the helm every step of the way. "We're tied together," McDougal says. "She's my best boss. If it hadn't been for Mary and all her business ventures, I wouldn't have been able to get off the ground."

In addition to helping the RTO industry and enjoying his "retirement," the McDougals stay busy in Chattanooga. "Everybody ought to be involved in civic activities," Mc- Dougal stresses. He serves on the boards of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium and the Tivoli Theatre and is active in the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce. Mary and he have traveled to every continent and, while they enjoyed the Greek Isles and Italy very much, McDougal declares that "good ol' America is the prettiest place."

When he was still in business, McDougal's company motto at American Rentals was, "Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back." But, as Tiger Cleek declared when presenting McDougal with the Lifetime Achievement Award, "Well, the association certainly is satisfied, Gary. It doesn't want its money back."

David P. David
APRO President's Award of Excellence

Twenty years ago, the Soviet Union was pulling out of Afghanistan, the elder Bush was president, a gallon of gasoline cost $1.12 and the iPod wasn't even a notion. In 1989, David P. David became a member of the APRO board of directors - and he continued to serve in that capacity until this year, making him the longest-serving board member in the association's history.

The typical 20th-anniversary gift is china; but instead, this year David received something better to commemorate his many years of service to the association: the APRO President's Award of Excellence. Each year, the award is bestowed at the exclusive choosing of the APRO president and, as the man who holds that title currently, Tiger John Cleek, says, "I got to pick one member who impresses me as making more of a contribution to the industry than anyone else. It's not always an easy decision, because a lot of people give more than they get in rent-to-own. Actually, though, picking this year's recipient was pretty easy."

David decided this year not to run for re-election in order to "make room for some new blood," he says. But while on the board, he served six years on the APRO executive committee. In addition, he was president of the Rental Purchase Dealers Association of Indiana for 11 of that group's 21-year existence. For the man with two first names, serving the rent-to-own industry is a no-brainer. "I think some are waiting for APRO to give them something," David says. "They're thinking ‘What's it going to do for me?' If they'd try to be a giver rather than a taker, then they'd see just how much will come around to them. They'd probably get a lot more than they ever expected. It amazes me how this industry pulls together to make something happen."

David has been in the rent-to-own business since 1981, running Full-O-Pep/American Rental, a multi-state company based in Bloomington, Indiana. His mother, Jane, and sister, Barbara, work for him and it was quite a surprise to David when they appeared on the scene in Las Vegas on September 1 during APRO's 2009 Awards Banquet - a surprise, that is, until he realized that they had come to see him honored with a Buddy.

"When I was young, my goal was to be a commercial pilot," David recalls. "But those plans kind of went out the window. After three semesters of college, my instructor talked me out of it, telling me that commercial pilots are just glorified bus drivers. I spent several years looking for something I really enjoyed doing, never expecting that it would lead to a wonderful career in rent-to-own. There are so many people whom I've enjoyed being around in this association. The APRO staff has become like family," noting that the association's Executive Director, Bill Keese, started at APRO the same year David joined the board.

Before his aspirations to become a commercial pilot and, ultimately, achievements in the rent-to-own industry, David helped his dad grow Christmas trees - lots of them. "Working with my dad in the Christmas-tree business is one thing I did that was [very] satisfying," David says. "A lot of what I learned [then], I put into how I run my rent-to-own business. What I like is making people happy, giving people enjoyment. When we rent product, it's something for our customers to enjoy. For me, rent-to-own is much more than just a way to make money." 

Dave Edwards
APRO's 2009 Rental Dealer of the Year
 
Few, if any, in the rent-to-own industry would want to assume the responsibilities of this year's Rental Dealer of the Year. Since 1989, the association has bestowed this honor upon those who have gone above and beyond the call of duty for the sake of rent-toown and, in 2009, New York's Dave Edwards certainly has earned his Buddy the hard way.
 
 For several years, New York has been a hotbed of anti-rent-to-own press and political activity. There are no fewer than seven bills pending in that state's legislature, each of which is aimed at crippling the industry there. Add to that a constant barrage of negative press heaped upon rent-to-own and a U.S. senator advocating the end of RTO altogether and you've got a state of tension, to be sure. Amidst all this, as the New York State Rental Dealers Association's president, Edwards has sought to put out fires, communicate with opponents willing to listen and enhance the image of rent-to-own, all with a calm demeanor, tireless dedication and thoughtful strategies.
 
 When Edwards attended his first state rental dealer association meeting in New England 11 years ago, little did he know that the purpose of that meeting was to dismantle the group due to its lack of activity. That region's state association activity lay dormant for almost a decade until three years ago, when Edwards picked up the gauntlet and re-energized the New York State Rental Dealers Association - and he's been reinvigorating rent-to-own in that part of the country ever since.
 
 Edwards, who serves on the APRO board of directors, works for SEI/Aaron's, which employs 600 and operates 72 stores. Along with mentors Charles Smithgall III and Charlie Loudermilk, Edwards is intent on raising the bar for rent-to-own and, in so doing, shaping an industry that's impervious to criticism and one that would give no legislator reason to dismantle the business. He's a strong advocate of the Computers for Kidz program, which encourages rental dealers to donate computers to their local schools. He's also developed rent-to-own's involvement in the Special Olympics in New York.
 
 As you no doubt glean from the photograph on the facing page, Edwards keeps his tension tamed in part by spending some time on the course - or courses, we should say. He's played more than half of the top 100 golf courses in the world, hitting the greens in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, as well as those all over the United States. He also savors his free time with wife, Samantha, and their 8-year-old daughter, Ashley Elizabeth.
 
 Edwards is humbled by this recent recognition. "I look at this not as an individual award, but an award for SEI/Aaron's," Edwards says. "Without the men and women I work with there, I wouldn't be able to devote the amount of time that I'm able to devote to the issues in New York and to APRO. It's an honor to represent this industry; it has been ridiculously good to me."
 
 "I see rent-to-own continuing to expand and the standards continuing to be raised," Edwards continues. "Many businesses that haven't nurtured higher standards are no longer a part of the industry and the strong have survived. By ‘strong,' I mean good people with ethical business practices, those who treat their customers well. They are the people who will continue to flourish."

Larry and Brenda Tinney
 APRO's 2009 Heritage Award
 
 Within a week of accepting APRO's 2009 Heritage Award in Las Vegas, Larry and Brenda Tinney left their home state of North Carolina again, this time to attend their 45th high school reunion in Athens, Texas, an event they organized. Larry and Brenda were high school sweethearts - she the head cheerleader and he the class president and quarterback of the football team. September was a month to celebrate their years together, both in business and in life.
 
 The Heritage Award is bestowed to some of the unsung heroes of the industry - those who go about running their own businesses as shining examples of how rent-to-own ought to be and, at the same time, are ever-ready to nurture the industry's legislative process by communicating with members of Congress, traveling to Capitol Hill, staying on top of state rent-to-own needs and more - all without shouting, "Hey, look at what I am doing!"
 
 Recognizing the Tinneys marks the first time that the Heritage Award has been given to a couple, but it would be impossible to distinguish one and not the other. Since 1984, Larry has been the only state association president that North Carolina has ever had and he's been at the helm there during some very challenging moments in the state's RTO history.
 
 The Tinneys caught the entrepreneurial bug while Larry was a prelaw undergraduate at The University of Texas in Austin. They lived in an apartment close to the football stadium and on game days would rent parking spaces in the yards surrounding their building, netting up to $300 a game. On one overcast game day, Larry overheard a bystander say, "Man, I wish I had an umbrella." It just so happened that Larry had one in hand and, seizing an opportunity, told the man, "Well heck, I'll rent you this one." A deal was struck, a product was rented and Brenda and Larry got wet watching the Longhorns - but it marked the beginning of their rental dealer careers.
 
 Larry practiced law in Dallas during the 1970s, but in 1980, the Tinneys were lured by Brenda's brother, Jim Graham, to run a ColorTyme franchise in North Carolina. In 1984, they launched Royal Crown Leasing/Rent America in Fayetteville, now 15 stores strong. In the early 1980s, the state's rent-to-own businesses were some of the first plagued by legislative threats and, by abating disaster for the industry there, Larry gained a reputation for political prowess. Over one entire summer of particularly contentious legislative debate concerning rent-to-own, Larry made the 70-mile trek daily to and from the state capital in order to stay on top of the matter. He credits North Carolina State Senator Tony Rand with giving him key advice: "You're going to have to make [legislative] friends - and lots of 'em," Rand told Larry. "They are not going to help you if you've never supported them. If you're dealing with consumer issues, you're foolish if you don't stay actively involved in the political process."
 
 The Tinneys have worked diligently in Raleigh and Washington, D.C., on behalf of the industry. Larry's experience as a lawyer has helped him understand the way things work in the halls of Congress and Brenda, ever at his side, is every bit as knowledgeable about rent-to-own and every bit as tenacious in her advocacy for the business

John Blair
APRO's 2009 Vendor of the Year

APRO has always understood the importance of vendors to the industry's success and, from its beginning, has welcomed vendors as members of the association. APRO members treat customers like they want their vendors to treat them - with patience, honesty, friendliness and good deals. Since the early days of rent-to-own, John Blair has been just such a vendor, making it long overdue to honor him as APRO's Vendor of the Year.

"I wish all of the vendors who have been serving this industry for more than 10 years could have stood up with me and received this award," Blair says. "I was truly surprised by the honor. As a vendor, my goal has always been to be professional and courteous - nothing less. Rental dealers put their trust in me to provide an honest service and I've strived to nurture those business relationships and friendships."

Blair has been involved with rent-to-own for decades. He worked for 11 years with Broyhill Furniture Rentals before becoming the first executive director of TRIB Group and serving in that capacity for 15 years. Blair was vice president of marketing and sales for M&B Jewelry (later CM Jewelry) for nine years and currently is special accounts representative for PTS Tax Service. He has served on APRO's vendor advisory committee since 2000.

He's worn a lot of hats in and around rent-to-own and understands the industry as well as anyone. But Blair has worn another hat - or helmet, rather - as well, and, as honorable as his service to the rent-to-own industry has been, it is his service in the U.S. Marine Corps that truly sets him apart.

Blair was a member of the Third Battalion, Fourth Marines, India Co. during the Vietnam War. In 2006, APRO Executive Director Bill Keese was honored to be a spectator at that company's reunion in Austin, Texas. One of Blair's Marine buddies told Keese, "I would follow John through hell - and I did. He got us out of that mess alive!" Others at the reunion agreed that Blair is the real deal, a true hero. In an unpopular war - one in which many sought to avoid service - Blair reported for duty.

In January 1968 during the war's dramatic Tet Offensive, Blair's platoon came under heavy fire from a large North Vietnamese force. Blair, serving as squad leader, and his men were pinned down, but he didn't hesitate to maneuver his squad forward and launch an assault on the enemy. He was awarded the Silver Star for his leadership and for disregarding his own safety that day.

Blair, of course, will never forget his lifechanging experiences in Vietnam. For the past 26 years, he and his wife, Diane - along with their children, David, Michael, April and (son-in-law) Matt - have hosted the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program in Marietta, Georgia. Blair's whole life has been about service -  both in the RTO industry and beyond.

Training the Big Chief Way

by Bud Holladay

All it takes is the right knowledge, something to write on and tools that you already have

For nearly a century, America's children trudged off to school each day carrying little more than a dog-eared Big Chief tablet and a No. 2 pencil. Once there, they actually learned things like spelling and writing and math, and what made our country the most admired engine of freedom and enterprise on earth. There were no laptops, no mixed media. Just kids with pencils and paper and a teacher with a clear mission. And they lifted us to the moon. Along the way they created computers and the Internet (with a little help from Al Gore), wiped out disease and liberated millions of people from hunger and oppression. Your aim may be less ambitious, to be sure, but change "kids" to "employees," "teacher" to "trainer" and gaining that 2 percent in new customers every month begins the same way - and leads to the same degree of success. The basic tenet: keep all learning simple, keep it focused and base it on real-life materials and examples infused with a healthy dose of common values. And always check the homework.

Remember that the only use for training is to improve business results. (If you can think of another, please write it in pencil on the back of a $50 bill and mail it to me; I promise to give you all the credit for your discovery.) It doesn't have to be complex, expensive or formal. The right start to developing an effective training solution is identifying exactly what you want. That may seem easy, but so does the national anthem until you start to sing it. Repeat: the key is simplicity. If you need a monthly increase in new accounts of 2 percent or more, say that - don't embroider with fancy corporate-speak such as, "Improve sales and customer satisfaction so as to grow the company in a way that provides maximum ongoing benefit to owners, stakeholders and blah, blah, blah..." Explain what you want in terms that even new hires can understand and that foster accurate measurement later. If bad account charge-offs are to be 1 percent or less of the accounts you began the month with, say just that instead of relying on weasel words such as "maintain acceptable charge-offs." After you have defined the improvements expected and determined how they will be measured, you are ready to go on to the fun of actually making all this happen.

First, find your Big Chief tablet and a No. 2 pencil. Or - because they stopped manufacturing Big Chief tablets years ago - grab the nearest yellow legal pad and a pen. Headline one page "Sales," another "Account Service" and a third "Admin." Make four columns on each page. In the first, list each of the result areas critical to future success. To the right of each, in the second column, enter the key functions or tasks that - when properly accomplished - ensure the right outcome. The third column is reserved for the tools and resources required to deliver the proper training in that area. Leave the fourth column blank; we'll get to that later.

You now have a training menu. On the left is what you want, in the middle are the daily tasks or functions involved in giving that to you and on the right are the tools your people will need. If you don't know the operations side well enough to fill your Big Chief tablet, someone else should be in charge of training. This is true whether you are the director of training or regional manager of things that need managing. When content misses the mark and audiences grow restless, the perceived value of all future training in your company plummets to somewhere just below zero. The chart below is an example of what one Big Chief Training Program might include:

Focus on the needs, teach the tasks and provide the tools. Notice that the first "Result Area" lists 2 percent monthly account growth as a desired result. But nowhere in column two does the word "Sales" appear. This is why it's important that the people designing your training have an insightful and deep understanding of the things that drive our business. Such a person will know that growth is the result of consistent merchandising - often to a customer base that has few alternatives and strong immediate need (Wow! Now there's a tough sell!) - followed by flawless execution of agreement closes and deliveries, plus unbroken follow-up by a local manager. When employees are trained and coached to keep well-groomed merchandise on rent by maintaining a base of confident, satisfied and on-time payers, even a small number of deliveries can produce decent growth - and require less inventory investment. When those things are not in place, few managers can "out-deliver" the store's returns and payouts. Just one person armed with knowledge and determination can generate enough deliveries to satisfy growth needs if everything else is in place. Getting a completed order is a task. Tasks can be accomplished singularly and at will. But growth is a process that requires concerted and concentrated effort by a team of trained professionals working with adequate resources and leadership, shaping and guiding myriad moving and interlocking parts with but one end in mind. Does that sound anything like your operation?

All the research suggests that adult learners learn best when the subject matter has strong relevance to their daily work and their perceived place in the organization. So everything on your chart should be found in your store. Training with the everyday tools that people will work with later ensures the higher comfort level that leads to more rapid grasp and better outcomes. Rapid transfer of information from teacher to learner is critical in that the time allocated to training is usually limited. The faster your people can grasp the meaning of each document, form and screen, the quicker they can apply their new competencies. How better to understand the proper use of store marketing aids quickly than by using the actual pieces in training?

Trainers love to write. Big, complex blocks of copy dressed up with footnotes, charts and quartile samplings all in a nice mixed-media presentation strum the strings of a trainer's heart. Then the learners go back to work and all is forgotten. Nothing they touch, read, see or handle looks much like the things they dealt with in the training sessions. The games they played there seem to have no relevance to the questions customers are asking or to the situations they face. Well, let's just write some more training to fix that. And so on.

Training has become a huge industry - but what has it done for your business lately? Owners and executives often become frustrated and simply give up trying to find training that is both effective and affordable. Meanwhile other companies spend huge amounts on the New Big Thing that will take their currently great organization to Greaterness (look it up). There is one thing that training seldom is: reliable. Rare is the boss who devotes precious payroll time to regularly scheduled training activities. That is because usually we train with the wrong things, at the wrong time and -  in many cases - we train the wrong people. So we only train when forced to, or when nothing else seems to work.

Anyone on the payroll for longer than six months needs and deserves training that's different than the instructional training administered to new hires. Their universes are not yet parallel. There are no shared experiences and their understandings are vastly different. So why do we believe that sticking both in the same class will promote acceptable outcomes? Deep down, we probably don't believe it at all. But the sheer economies of having all those people learning in one place at the same time overrides any convictions we may have about the real purpose and processes of training.

Most experienced workers know the hows and whats, but many have difficulty getting the blocks in the right order or persuading others that these are, indeed, the right blocks. Training for them should be all about values, goals, directions, interpersonal issues. But because details, forms and repetitive tasks are cheaper and easier to teach - and are certainly less controversial and easier to sell to the higher-ups than are concepts, values and ideas - we tend to focus on detail. Imagine that Sherman already knows how things work in your store. He can complete any task after eventually figuring out what's expected. What confounds Sherman are the other things. He doesn't read people easily, he exhibits poor body language, he cannot prioritize and often ends up just doing things himself because it's easier. Coworkers say Sherman frequently loses his cool when customers don't do what he expects or wants them to do. So how can Sherman and the kid hired last month benefit equally from the same training class? They cannot.

About that fourth column on our Big Chief chart. Label it "Roadblocks." Those are the things that get in the way of good work as it relates to each topic, task, function or resource. Poll every manager and associate and maybe even some customers. List all of the things that often get in the way of successful execution of store processes. Later, when district managers visit stores, they take out the charts and focus on Roadblocks. Each is either crossed off as resolved or highlighted for more attention. This simple method requires no complicated reporting or analysis and provides instant feedback. Sometimes it's not what you start, but what you stop, that proves most valuable.

If the Big Chief Training Program sounds way too simple, just think about how great most of those kids from yesterday turned out - kids like Wally and the Beav. And keep your fingers crossed that Eddie Haskell isn't up there in your training department, planning new adventures for you and your customers.

Loving Las Vegas

A recap of APRO's 2009 Rent-to-Own Convention and Buying Show

by Shelley Martinek

Rental dealers leaving the glitz and glitter of Las Vegas after APRO's 2009 Convention and Buying Show went back to their businesses with lots of new ideas, great deals from vendors, a better understanding of the industry's legislative goals, accolades from their peers and a renewed sense of purpose about rent-to-own. The industry's prime annual event is designed to bring the rent-to-own industry together and help forge the future -  and this year's spectacle was no different. APRO's Rent-to- Own Convention and Buying Show offers the best in networking, industry updates, education, entertainment, social events - everything rent-to-own. If you attended, we thank you for doing so and encourage you to take a few minutes and complete our convention survey; please visit the link to it on the homepage of www.rtohq.org. If you didn't make it to Las Vegas for this year's show, plan to attend next year - you will not be disappointed. Information on the date and location of APRO' 2010 Rent-to-Own Convention and Buying Show will be announced soon, so watch for updates in APRO's online newsletter, RTO Today, on APRO's Web site, www.rtohq.org, and in upcoming editions of this magazine.

• Michael Hoffman presented a light-hearted, thought-provoking keynote address during the General Session entitled "Igniting Performance in the Tornado of Business," which offered valuable tips on weathering the storms of modern commerce. Hoffman also moderated APRO's Rental Roundtable session this year.
• The annual Rental Roundtable included many interesting topics. America's Research Group CEO Britt Beemer presented an overview of APRO's 2009 Rent-to-Own Customer Satisfaction Survey. This valuable information, which is collected every four years, will be sent to all APRO members; contact the APRO office at 800/204-2776 for more information. Also at the Roundtable, APRO's general counsel Ed Winn III and Washington lobbyist John Raffaelli reported on a wide range of rent-to-own legislative issues. The Roundtable concluded with a new feature, the Best Rent-to-Own Ideas contest. Rental dealers offered their inside tips for doing better business and those in attendance voted for their favorites ideas. The following winners were awarded casino chip prizes: Trent Agin, SKC Enterprises (first place); Kevin Quinn, KLQ Enterprises (second place); and Dan Cole, National Rent To Own (third place).
• Another new feature at this year's Convention and Buying Show was the APRO Hot Show Auction. Exhibitors offered their best deals in a fastpaced auction program. Auctioneer Lyn Leach of Nebraska-based Ace Furniture & TV kept it moving and rental dealers bid on great fourth-quarter buys for their stores.
• APRO's 2009 line-up of seminars offered top-flight education by experts not only the in rent-to-own, but also in marketing, customer diversity, skip-tracing and online employee training. Handouts distributed at the seminars can be downloaded through APRO's E-Communities at login.rtohq.org.
• More than 50 golfers - rent-to-own dealers, vendors, employees and family members -  played in this year's annual Joe Eason/Tom Kitchens Golf Tournament, held at the scenic Angel Park Golf Club in Las Vegas. SEI/Aaron's Dave Edwards, Robert Barnes and Charles Smithgall III, along with Mark Fore of CEI Engineering, took home first place in the tournament with a score of 61 (net 56).
• During the Convention and Buying Show, David Keen, employee development manager for Rent One in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, was named APRO's 2009 RTO Employee of the Year. The 2009 RTO Customers of the Year award went to Sherron and Robert Wilder of Benton Harbor, Michigan. They've been Rent-A-Center customers since 1992. The APRO Education Scholarship was awarded to Robin Walker, whose father, Gary "Bo" Walker, is director of operations for RTO Rentals in Paris, Tennessee. Robin is a University of Mississippi sophomore. For details, see page 5. Also, view video presentations of the winners at www.rtohq.org/rto-video-main.php.
• APRO's 2009 Rental Advertising Excellence Award winners were on display outside the exhibit hall. RAE Awards showcase the finest rent-to-own advertising, marketing and community relations over the past year. Community relations is a category of increasing significance in the RAE competition. While the more traditional forms of advertising influence the industry's public image, a company's active engagement in its communities can convey a very powerful message. This year's first-place RAE Award winners for community relations were BJQ Sales/ColorTyme (in-house division) and Rent-A-Center for its "Random Acts of Caring" program (agency division). For a complete list of this year's winners, visit www.rtohq.org/pdfs/RAE2009winners.pdf.
• APRO President Tiger John Cleek was re-elected to a second term as president of the board of directors. In elections held during the General Session, four rental dealers won seats on the board for the first time: Dennis Adams (Full-O-Pep/American Rental, Bloomington, Illinois), Cynthia Baber-Strunk (Baber's, Pascagoula, Mississippi), Shawn DiLeo (ColorTyme, Lexington, Kentucky) and William McCrae (Buzz's Lease Purchase and Sales, San Antonio, Texas). The following were re-elected to the board: Chris Bolin (Bolin Rental-Purchase, Clarksville, Tennessee), Larry Carrico (Rent One, Mt. Vernon, Illinois), John Darden (Premier Rental-Purchase, Charlottesville, Virginia) and Dave Edwards (SEI/Aaron's, East Hartford, Connecticut). O'Rourke Sales' Bill French was elected vice chairman of the vendor advisory committee and also will serve on the APRO board, as will Michael Gerwe Jr. of RES Accessories, who was reelected as VAC's co-vice chairman. See page 10 for details on the new board of directors.
• At the APRO Awards Banquet, the association presented top honors to the industy's finest, bestowing "Buddy" statues for the Rental Dealer of the Year, President's Award of Excellence, Lifetime Achievement Award, Heritage Award and Vendor the Year. Read profiles of each of these winners - along with details of what the "Buddy" is all about - starting on page 14. Photographs of the award winners receiving their recognition are on page 44.
• Legislative achievements were acknowledged during the APRO President's Reception. The Illinois Rental Dealers Association was named State Association of the Year. The Most-Improved State Association award went to the Pennsylvania Association of Rental Dealers. The New York State Rental Dealers Association won the Legislative Achievement award. Continued Excellence awards went to state associations in Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia. Emerging Excellence recognition was awarded to the Delaware-New Jersey Rental Dealers Association, Georgia Rental Dealers Association, Northeast Rental Dealers Association and Southwest Rental Dealers Association.
   

Cover illustration by Larry Goode