APRO General Session kicks off in Louisville
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| L to R: Kathy Windsor, Shannon Strunk, Ernie Lewallen and Trent Agin with keynote speaker Jeremiah Wilson at APRO’s general session Wednesday. |
Close to 300 rent-to-own dealers from across the country packed the main Marriott Ballroom in Louisville, Kentucky today, for the general session of APRO’s annual Convention and Trade Show where they reflected on the year’s achievements, celebrated outstanding personalities and took aim at future challenges, namely by voting to fill half the seats on the association’s board of directors.
APRO President "Tiger" John Cleek led the session where the APRO Employee of the Year, Customer of the Year and Education Foundation Scholarship Winner in which honored. See photo gallery.
Cleek reminded members APRO — which now claims 400 companies with 6,090 stores across North America — is a multi-purpose association.
"APRO is a lot more than legislation," Cleek said. "Because of our efforts, financial analysts, members of the U.S. Congress and the media alike are starting to respect the value of the rent-to-own transaction."
Keynote speaker Jeremiah Wilson of ContactPoint presented his talk, "The Passion to Succeed, The Power to Break Barriers."
Wilson introduced his patented remote monitoring device, the Maculon, and the Sales Mentor System in 2001; it revolutionized sales and service training. Prior to founding ContactPoint, he served as a national sales and customer service training specialist and was assistant to the counselor of economics at the embassy of the Czech Republic.
The Trade Show portion of the convention opened immediately after the general session proceedings and featured close to 100 vendor companies exhibiting the latest in rent to own products across a broad spectrum of categories.
APRO’s popular Awards Banquet is tonight and will honor RTO’s top performers, supporters and industry ambassadors. The association will honor outstanding industry members with the annual President’s Award, Heritage Award, Rental Dealer and Vendor of the Year Awards and the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.