John Spaulding honored with 2015 Jim Barker Award

Recognized for dedication

VANCOUVER B.C., Canada — NTP-Stag Marketing Director John Spaulding accepted the Jim Barker Award during the 41st Annual 2015 Recreational Vehicle Aftermarket Association (RVAA) Executive Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia last week.

During the event, RVAA past president Jim Stark read a letter from Spaulding’s wife.

She described him as a fair-minded supervisor and a man dedicated to his work and the industry, who always does the right thing, even when it’s a difficult decision.

“I will tell you what has kept me standing alongside him for 24 years,” she wrote. “A steadfast sense of loyalty and integrity and an internal sense of optimism. Congratulations on this high honor today, you certainly earned it. Your family is enormously proud of you and we toast you from afar.”

Spaulding was met with a round of applause before suppliers, distributors and RV dealers when he approached the podium to speak.

“This probably won’t happen often, but I am speechless. I am honored, as my wife said. I have made remarkable friends…and I love my work. This is very unexpected,” he said. “I’m here partially because of a lot of you in the room. I’ve had terrific mentors and colleagues that I’ve worked with throughout the years that have helped me temper my quick judgment and forged a more respective approach to working with the market and working with suppliers and customers of all the businesses I have been associated with. I thank all of you for being a part of that. I am not going anywhere, thankfully. I intend to keep my involvement with RVAA very active. I thank all of you for this tremendous honor and I hope I can be able to live up to your standards.”

The Jim Barker award is highly coveted and is only awarded when a worthy recipient is nominated. There are several conference years where the award is not given.

The award is given to individuals who work enthusiastically on behalf of RVAA for several years, who have donated time and money spearheading projects and programs targeted to improve RVAA, served the board of directors or chaired a committee and have dedicated a clear objective to improve the RV industry that is noteworthy of their colleagues and contemporaries.

The 2015 RVAA conference was a record-breaker with 270 attendees including new suppliers and distribution, and sales representatives. Seven dealer council representatives served on a dealer panel to respond to questions regarding effective training methods, distribution and competing with Internet-based dealers. Several attendees were recognized with various awards and new committee members were welcomed as detailed below:

2015 Award Winners

• President’s Award: Matt Warner, Unified RV
• Distributor of the Year: Coast Distribution
• Supplier of the Year: Star Brite
• Product of the Year first place: Winegard
• Product of the Year second place: Atwood
• Product of the Year third place: Valterra

2015 – 2017 RVAA Executive Committee

• Past President - Jim Stark – Dealer Resources Group
• President - Susan Carpenter – JR Products
• Vice President - Steve Johnson – Northern Wholesale
• Treasurer - Tom Manning – Manning & Assoc.
• Secretary - Matt Warner – Unified RV
• Board Rep. - To be determined by board vote after first board meeting