National Pronto Association recently held its annual Fall Membership Meeting at the Omni Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas. The event ran Sept. 26-28 and was attended by more than 500 members, vendors and guests.
The conference began Monday evening with President and CEO Bill Maggs giving an update on Pronto’s progress throughout the year with Federated Auto Parts and their combined efforts in Automotive Parts Services Group (APSG) and their global initiative 1Parts. Outgoing Chairman of the Board Steve Yanofsky from Pronto member Parts Authority also gave members his assessment of Pronto’s future activities. The night continued with Pronto announcing its annual supplier awards highlighted by the 2016 Pronto Executive of the Year presented to APSG Executive Vice President Mike Mohler. A Chairman’s Reception cocktail party concluded the evening.
The meeting continued with a members-only session Tuesday morning followed by the Pronto members attending a vendor booth show in the afternoon that featured more than 120 exhibitors. The exhibition allowed Pronto members to view both current and new offerings from the entirety of the Pronto vendor community. To end the day, everyone attended a lively dinner and reception at Billy Bob’s, the world’s largest honky tonk, in the historic Fort Worth stockyards.
The meeting concluded Wednesday morning with a general session led by business humorist Greg Schwem and then a members-only session to discuss Pronto’s sales, marketing and data initiatives for the future.
CEO Bill Maggs said, “We continue to raise the bar on our meetings. This session was a great opportunity for the Pronto shareholders and vendors to network and share. We had a great meeting and look to carry this momentum forward as we close out our year.”