ASA president Conyngham winds up successful year at helm

BY MARY JO MARTIN
Editorial director

George Conyngham

Over the past year, ASA president George Conyngham has gotten a first-hand look at the status of wholesale distribution and the supply chain as he represented ASA at numerous industry meetings. He has worked closely with the executive committee, board of directors, executive vice president Inge Calderon and others on strategic development within ASA and the regionals to enhance programming and add value to members.

Conyngham’s 27 years at Eastern Pennsylvania Supply Co. well prepared him for this role. Shortly after college, Conyngham joined his family’s Wilkes-Barre, Pa.-based wholesaling firm. After a few years in the warehouse and counter area, he took on assignments in inside sales, purchasing, information systems and operations before becoming president in 2001.

Eastern Penn has been in the Conyngham family since its founding in 1889 by brothers William H. and John N. Conyngham and their partner Woodward Leavenworth. They got their start supplying the anthracite coal mining industry in northeastern Pennsylvania before expanding into plumbing and heating products. Eastern Penn now supplies plumbing, PVF, water systems, heating, building materials, electrical goods and industrial mill supplies throughout an 18-county region.

William’s sons, G. Guthrie and John N., got involved in the business in the late 1940s; G. Guthrie continues to serve as Eastern Penn’s CEO while John N. retired in 2004. Besides George, the third generation of Conynghams involved with Eastern Penn are his two brothers, Donald, vice president-sales and marketing, and Malcolm, building materials manager — the three of whom are sons of G. Guthrie Conyngham.

Eastern Penn’s headquarters are 90,000-square-foot facility in Wilkes-Barre, which is supported by branches in Allentown, Stroudsburg, Athens, Berwick, Tunkhannock, Montandon, Scranton and White Mills, Pa. Showrooms are located within four of the branches and the headquarters. There is also a separate electrical branch in Wilkes-Barre.

In addition to the wholesale plumbing supply business, the Conyngham family, through W.H. Conyngham & Co. Inc., owns extensive real estate including a dairy farm with a retail milk and ice cream store.

Conyngham has been involved with ASA and its regionals nearly his entire career at the encouragement of his father and uncle, both of whom had served as president of the former Middle Atlantic Wholesalers Association. Conyngham served two terms as MAWA president in 1999 and 2000, which led him into a position on the ASA board of directors and executive committee.

As his term as asa president nears completion, Conyngham recently shared with editorial director Mary Jo Martin some of the highlights from his tour of duty.

MJM: Can you give me an overview of your year as ASA president, including your travels and some of the important meetings you participated in?

Conyngham: Well, it has been a busy year, which leads me to wonder how my predecessors managed it before the consolidation of the ASA regionals under the “White Paper.” What had been 13 separate regional associations have been merged into a more manageable five.

February saw the ASA Winter Board of Directors meeting in Marco Island, Fla., and the asa Vendor Member Division council meeting in Dallas. In April was the well-attended k/bis show in Chicago. I took three members of our staff with me and pretty much played the role of wholesaler.

Things fired up in May with the aim/r Management Conference in San Antonio, Pacific Western Distributors Association Convention in Scottsdale, and an ASA Education Foundation meeting in Chicago. In June, I attended the Wholesalers of the Northeast Channel Partners Reunion in Cooperstown, N.Y., the Canadian Institute of Plumbing & Heating conference in Banff, Alberta, and the Southern Wholesalers Association Convention in Hilton Head, S.C.

Due to a conflict or two, I was not able to attend every regional meeting, but I was covered graciously by several ASA volunteer leaders.

The “dog days” of summer are pretty quiet as the ASA staff is in full convention mode. I really look forward to attending the convention and ISH trade show this month in Chicago. The executive committee has been relatively busy with conference calls throughout this time. The primary focus of these meetings has been on providing increased value for our various constituencies, brainstorming new educational ideas and ramping up projects already in the works involving the Education Foundation and the release of our new Marketing Information Kit.

At the regional meetings, I was invited to give a short ASA update report, attended numerous educational sessions, and got in a lot of networking — making lots of new friends and acquaintances. As I’ve mentioned before, I think our industry has great people, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting a chance to meet so many of them. I want to thank the regionals and partners like CIPH for being such gracious hosts to my wife Maureen and I, as well as my two younger daughters on several occasions.

MJM: What is your overall impression of the channel and its members after participating in so many industry meetings during the past year?

Conyngham: It is certainly still a vibrant and viable channel. All of those meetings listed above were characterized by good or, more frequently, excellent attendance, engaged attendees who were active in meetings and educational programs — and who knew how to kick off their shoes a little and have a good time. It was a lot of fun to participate in such a variety of events. For those who didn’t participate in their respective regionals, you missed a great opportunity to learn something new and network.

MJM: How difficult was it to balance your extensive responsibilities as president of ASA with the needs of Eastern Pennsylvania Supply? Did you have to delegate some of your normal duties at the office to other management team members?

Conyngham: If you have a great support team it isn’t that hard at all, especially these days with laptops and cell phones. My three vice presidents and several other key managers were well aware of my responsibilities and prepared for my year as president. They were able to handle almost all day-to-day situations and we resolved anything out of the ordinary with occasional multi-daily communication. I have to admit I sensed a spark of jealousy in some of them when I was bouncing in and out of the office, off to all of those great destinations.

MJM: What are some of the key issues that you have been involved with at ASA, such as
new programs/benefits, legislative efforts and education, during your years on the executive council and as president?

Conyngham: As others will surely state, the key for any organization is providing value to its members. We have been actively engaged in this process, but it is something we need to do more of and constantly work on. Our new marketing effort, the Marketing Information Kit, is designed to show current and prospective members from all segments of the channel the programs and benefits ASA offers, most of which aren’t available elsewhere in the industry.

We have introduced several new educational programs such as the Essentials courses and the Employee Toolkit, have several more in production and still several more in the design phase of the pipeline. We are committed to achieving a solid flow of educational programs in keeping with the Karl E. Neupert Endowment Fund, which, by the way, we hope will be closed out at its goal of $10 million principal by this year’s convention.

We have also increased our legislative efforts in Washington, D.C., and there are numerous issues in varying stages of consideration that all members of the channel need to keep their eye on.

MJM: Has your opinion of ASAa’s role in the channel changed since you became involved on the executive council?

Conyngham: I think we’re all aware of the challenges that consolidation and trade show issues represent, which both seem to wax and wane. But ASA is still the source for excellent affordable educational programs, quality technology initiatives, and is the channel’s voice in Washington.

On the bright side, the relationship between ASA and the various regional groups is better than before and still improving. I think we recognize that the stronger and more relevant we all are, the better off everyone is. We spend a lot more time now discussing providing value than when I first got involved with ASA or a regional.

MJM: What is it that you think is keeping some wholesalers from becoming members and keeping others from fully participating in regional and national conventions? Is there any way to turn the tide?

Conyngham: We’ve all heard the litany of “excuses” — I’m too busy, I’m too small, I belong to a buying group, etc, etc. To some extent, all of these are somewhat valid, but then again none are totally valid either.

For some it’s apathy, for others it’s the money. To me, for most of those who don’t participate it’s a question of perceived value. If you accept that your most important asset, regardless of the segment of the channel you participate in, is your people and you ability to attract, train and keep quality people, I think ASA offers a myriad of opportunities for achieving your goals, from the educational programs, to technology, to networking opportunities at both the national and regional level, to a quality convention.

Can ASA do a better job of marketing these opportunities to both its current membership as well as the prospective members? It sure can! Does the owner of a smaller company have a responsibility to be always on the lookout for ways he can improve his business and his people instead of “round-filing” information? You betcha! This is certainly the main thrust of our new marketing brochure.

MJM: There has been an increase in wholesaler consolidation in recent years, and now even large regional and national wholesalers are being acquired. There is so much speculation on how this is going to affect the independent wholesalers across the country. What is your take on this?

Conyngham: Hardly a week goes by without an announcement of a wholesaler acquisition, but I’m also seeing increased consolidation with the vendor/manufacturers and yes, even with the manufacturers’ reps. The big are getting bigger, but there are still loads of independent wholesalers out there, some small, some big. I don’t know where we’ll end up, but there are still plenty of opportunities for the well-run independent wholesaler.

MJM: We’re getting ready to attend the ASA Convention in conjunction with ISH-North America. What are your thoughts about the advance registrations, and what has ASA, Messe Frankfurt and their partners done differently this year to build even more interest?

Conyngham: Of course, ASA will again this year partner with PHCC for the convention. I know ASA and PHCC have been working together to build a stronger joint program and have “polished up” their brochures to make them easier to use as planning tools.

Advance registrations are tracking well as of my last call to ASA, and I expect there will be a very good turnout for the convention. Chicago is a great town, especially in September, and it is a good central location to pull a lot of regional attendees. In terms of the ISH trade show, it is my understanding that Messe Frankfurt has made some changes to their marketing efforts.

MJM: You’ve been in this industry a long time. In what ways have the business issues you face as a wholesaler today changed, and are there things that have remained a constant?

Conyngham: After 27 years in the business, I suspect some still call me a “newbie.” Technology, ever changing, continues to be one of the primary ways distributors are able to increase productivity and, therefore, control costs. At Eastern Penn, we are always looking to improve ourselves.

Healthcare has become as much as 30% of payroll — sometimes more. Insurance of all types have skyrocketed. Most firms, regardless of size, have either a full-blown hr department or at least a “mostly” dedicated person to comply with the myriad of government regulations, benefits, etc. So I think a distributor today spends a lot more time trying to control costs whereas the focus was “sell, sell, sell” when I first started.
One thing that hasn’t changed much is customer and vendor relationships — this is still a relationship-based business.

MJM: Have you taken advantage of some of ASA’s programming, especially through the Education Foundation or cat, within your organization? Can you share any of the benefits you believe Eastern Penn has realized from taking part in such programs?

Conyngham: We actively use the Essentials programs and have gone thru the “Train the Trainer” section of that series of courses. We also use the Employee Toolkit and are in the process of updating our job descriptions using that resource. We used Source ASA and are evaluating the Industry Database for both data synchronization and catalog content. Our only issue with the latter is that we carry electrical as well and need to fill in that gap. The first two programs used in conjunction with the ProductPro series makes for a great training base for new or re-tasked employees,

MJM: How do you feel about the future of ASA? What are some of the things the association is doing to improve revenues while providing increased value to its members and associate members?

Conyngham: I think that once you accept the fact that consolidation will continue, buying groups aren’t going anywhere and schedules are busier than ever, ASA still has a strong opportunity to be an integral member of the channel.

I’ve talked a lot about increasing both real and perceived value with ASA programs, but the real opportunity comes with the Endowment Fund and developing additional educational programs that members can use for immediate benefit. That’s our core focus and always has been our core. We now have resources to do this and I’m confident revenues will follow with the introduction of “increased value” programs.

Asa has also put itself under the scope and is constantly adapting by managing costs and adjusting its operations.

MJM: Just after I saw you at SWA in late June, I saw coverage of the devastating flooding around Wilkes-Barre and much of Pennsylvania. Were any of your operations or your home affected?

Conyngham: All of our operations are fine and only a few of our employee’s houses were greatly affected. The Susquehanna River flooded areas that are prone to these events, but the real problem was small stream flooding that wiped out numerous bridges, roads, buildings and houses.

It has disrupted our operations only in the logistical sense of making lots of detours, etc. My long driveway now looks more like a goat path and I still await an excavator since all are being tasked to work on bridge and road repair. Cleanup progresses, albeit slowly. It could have been a lot worse.