Upfront
Editor Steve Noe snoe@m2media360.com
Industry well wishes I
would like to take this opportunity to hand out well wishes to some well- deserving individuals who have played prominent roles in making this such a great industry. For starters, I would like to wish a happy 60th anniversary to the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI), which plans to celebrate this remarkable milestone in grand fashion at its annual meeting in June and is the subject of the cover story in this issue, beginning on page 14. Without giving away too much of the cover story, OPEI was founded by 11
mower manufacturers as the Lawn Mower Institute in 1952, adopted its current name in 1962, and has steadily grown to approximately 80 members. In its rich 60- year history, OPEI has accomplished a tremendous amount on behalf of our industry — for which all of us should be eternally grateful — and has big plans to continue to do so during these challenging times under the guidance and leadership of its president and CEO, Kris Kiser. I highly encourage you to read this issue's cover story to learn more about this fine organization and its significant achievements and contributions. I would also like to wish a happy 100th birthday on May 15 to Bill Quinn, founder of this magazine. He established Lawn Equipment Journal in September 1959, switched the name of the magazine to Outdoor Power Equipment (OPE) in September 1969, and served as publisher and editor of the magazine for nearly 30 years. In February 2001, I had the great honor and pleasure of meeting Bill, his wife
Lynn ("Lennie") and their son Rix as they were gracious enough to drive to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where I had flown in from Chicago on my way to the Outdoor Power Equipment Distributors Association's annual meeting in Cancun, Mexico. During the time I scheduled between flights, the four of us sat down for a very nice meal, and we talked about OPE and the industry's past, present and future. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to them reminisce about the good old days when they ran the magazine and traveled to various industry events. (But that's another column for another issue.) Since then, I've developed a great friendship with the Quinns, and Rix still writes occasionally for OPE. According to Rix, his father is in excellent health and looking forward to celebrating his 100th birthday with about 80 of his closest friends and family members at a country club in Fort Worth. Once again, I would like to congratulate OPEI and Bill Quinn on turning 60 and 100 years young, respectively!
M2MEDIA360
1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230, Park Ridge, IL 60068 Phone: (847) 720-5600 • Fax: (847) 720-5601 www.outdoorpowerequipment.com
Executive Vice President Editor
Production Manager OPE Staff
Editorial Direction Art Director
Charles Forman Steve Noe
Karen Kalinyak
Richard Brandes Brian Snook
Direct Mail List Sales Cheryl Naughton, (678) 292-6054; e-mail cnaughton@m2media360.com
Cheryl Naughton, (678) 292-6054; e-mail cnaughton@m2media360.com
Reprint Service President/CEO
Vice President, Finance and Operations
Vice President, Circulation and Collateral Services Production and
Operations Director
Executive Director, EETC Senior Advisor,
Servantage Dixie Sales
Pres., Plano Power Equipment and Whipper Clipper
M2MEDIA360
Marion Minor Gerald Winkel
Joanne Juda-Prainito Mary Jo Tomei
Editorial Advisory Board Jim Roche
Jim Starmer Glen Whitt
For subscription inquiries and customer service questions, Circulation
please call (845) 856-2229 or fax (845) 856-5822 business hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. EST
Publisher's Notice: We assume no responsibility for the validity of adver- tising claims in connection with items appearing in Outdoor Power Equipment. Reader Service Numbers are given to facilitate further inquiry. Commercial product names are used for the convenience of the reader. Mention of a commercial product does not imply endorse- ment by Outdoor Power Equipment or M2MEDIA360, or preference over similar products not mentioned.
1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230, Park Ridge, IL 60068 Phone: (847) 720-5600 • Fax: (847) 720-5601
OPE
626 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 500, Los Angeles, CA 90017 Ph: 213-596-7226 • bloria@m2media360.com
Account Representatives: Bruce Loria
16267 W. 14 Mile Rd., Ste 202, Beverly Hills, MI 48025 Ph: 248-530-0300 • lpalmer@m2media360.com
Leslie Palmer
Phone: 213-596-7220 • Fax: 213-624-0997 gdatz@m2media360.com
Classified Sales/Marketplace: Glenn Datz
6 OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT www.outdoorpowerequipment.com