The Iowa-Nebraska Rental Dealers Association (INRDA) held its 6th Annual Meeting in late September in Johnston, Iowa. The half-day event was chock-full of presentations on hot rent-to-own topics, from recession impact to state legislation.
The morning kicked off with Michael Kays, Vice President of Rental Sales at Ashley Furniture Industries, discussing the current state of the furniture business and how the recession is affecting the industry. Mark Kottke with National Account Systems of Omaha LLC followed, offering attendees collections options for problem and charged-off accounts. Next, Iowa lobbyist Doug Struyk of Carney & Appleby Law gave a state legislative review of the 2022 session and expectations for the 2023 session; a little later, lobbyist Matt Schaefer of Mueller Robak LLC did the same for the Nebraska Legislature.
Other presenters – all before lunch! – included: Aaron Nielsen, VP of Sales & Marketing for Mid-State Distributing; Doug Funk, Senior Account Executive for High Touch Technologies; Dennis Shields, Executive Director for the TRIB Group; and Iowa State Representative Eddie Andrews.
The INRDA then held its Annual Business Meeting, re-electing the organization’s current officers: President – Jason Kunz of Arona Corporation, dba Arona Home Essentials; Vice President – Mike Shuler of S&P Rentals Inc., dba Premier Rental-Purchase; and Secretary/Treasurer Brian Luksetich of First State Financial Corporation.
“We had a strong showing of attendees at this year’s meeting,” said event organizer Luksetich. “Our generous sponsors updated us on what they’re seeing out in the RTO marketplace, while our lobbyists provided an overview of their important work at the two state capitols. So our members got a lot of good info for their businesses in just one morning.”
