Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/263143
24 • MARCH 2014 • WORLD FENCE NEWS American Fence Association executive director issues update on recent move to self-management Tony Thornton, the new executive director of the American Fence Asso- ciation, recently issued an update on the organization's progress in its move to self-managment. The following is that report. The board of directors came to a decision in the fall that AFA should be a self-managed association beginning January 1, 2014, with new headquar- ters located in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. To that end, dedicated task forces enthusiastically went to work to search for an executive director who would be directly employed by AFA, as well as office space, professional support staff, equipment, and much more. The board of directors traveled to Dallas in late November to interview the final candidates and professional staff and visit potential office space. The AFA has successfully accom- plished these objectives. As of January 1, 2014, I have as- sumed the fulltime duties of executive director of AFA and have relocated to the Dallas area. I am supported by Fusion Market- ing, LLC (FUSION). FUSION will provide the AFA with experienced support professionals that will work diligently to make AFA's member services more dynamic, while increas- ing our presence within the fencing in- dustry. Moving forward, in order to serv- ice our members better in the future, we are working on many projects to streamline the services AFA provides to its members. First and foremost, we are work- ing on updating the AFA web site for not only our members, but for cus- tomers to visit and learn about our in- dustry. As part of the web site, we are working on updating our "Find A Con- tractor" and "Request A Quote" por- tions of the site as well. With that in mind, it is important that we make sure our database is up- dated with current information so our customers can reach our members. If you are a non-member, I en- courage you to take a look again at the AFA. We have big plans to move AFA forward in 2014 and offer increasing benefits to our members. Finally, we are creating a member portal which our members can visit to keep up on AFA happenings, share valuable industry information, sign up for and log training classes, as well as find links to the fencing industry's largest annual event, FENCETECH. We hope to finish these updates in the very near future. We are excited for the many op- portunities in the coming year. Please be sure to return your information so we can keep you updated. You can contact the American Fence Association at its headquarters at 6404 International Parkway, Suite 2048-A, Plano, Tex. 75093. Telephone 800-822-4342, fax 314-480-7118. E-mail: memberservices@ameri- canfenceassociation.com. Sincerely, Tony Thornton, CFP, CAGOI Executive Director American Fence Association www.odifence.com ov|z{vuG XX\ZYGlGo GyG oSG{G^^W`ZG _WWGZWZTZZ[_G maY_XTYX`TW`X`G OFFERING A FULL LINE OF CHAIN LINK FENCE FITTINGS, INCLUDING BLACK POWDER COATED TENSION BARS, BLACK & GREEN POWDER COATED STEEL AND ALUMINIUM FITTINGS, AND POLY ROLLERS WITH METAL COVERS. ihs{ptvylG ^]Z]GjGjGkG iSGtkGYXYY[G _WWT\ZXTZZ[_G maG[XWTY__TXXXYG {htwhG Z^X`GjGwGkUG zG]WWG {SGmsGZZ]X`G ___T`YXGZZ[_G maG_XZT]Z\T`Z[[G RING A FULL LINE OF CHAIN LIN U m B U Y D I R E C T L Y F R O M T H E M A N U F A C T U R E R ! ODI OVERSEAS DISTRIBUTORS, INC. Be Sure To Visit Us At Booth No. 941 Your single source provider of gates, access controls, operators, hardware and support. Visit ProAccessSystems.com or call (800) 800-3356 today. 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In addition, D&D is launching an entirely new branding campaign called "The World's Most Trusted Gate Hardware" to support and promote its successful gate hardware business. "When conducting industry re- search for the new campaign, D&D found that their products are clearly re- garded as the industry standard for gate safety and innovation, and above all, are trusted worldwide for their quality and reliability," said Jim Pater- son, SVP Sales and Marketing, D&D Technologies. "Based on this research, the new tagline was created, 'D&D Technolo- gies—World's Most Trusted Gate Hardware.'" A new ad campaign introducing this concept appears in World Fence News this month. "Our new tagline and campaign truly resonate with our findings at D&D," said Paterson. "Our customers and consumers consistently tell us they use D&D products because they work, they seldom require call backs, and they create more satisfied customers. The bottom line for our customers is they trust D&D products will perform continued on page 27