Ed is the Director of Repair and Service Support for Lowe’s, the #1 Appliance Retailer. Ed joined Lowe’s in 2006 as a Contract Employee with a 4 month assignment to develop and propose to the Lowe’s Senior Executives the value of owning and managing the customer repair experience verses outsourcing this service. The objectives were to improve customer loyalty and drive increased product sales. The initiative was approved 120 days later and a national program was launched in 2010, with Lowe’s becoming the #1 Appliance Retailer in 2012. The program now supports over 2mm repair events annually, many of these customers being handled with great care, by you, the USA membership.
Leadership accountability for Field and Factory Service, Parts Sales, Consumer Experience Centers for US and Canada, Warranty Administration as well as strategic guidance for NAR Continuous Improvement efforts.
Overall vision and strategy development to redefine the Industry standard for service excellence delivering a differentiated consumer experience. Leads large scale organization of 1,543 employees serving 7M contacts a year from WP consumers.
Overall responsibility for $423.5M Revenue Generation, $204.5M EOP.Delivery of Trusted Care Service Levels to drive consumer loyalty, retention, purchase intent, and satisfaction throughout the end to end service experience.
Redefine service as a competitive advantage by driving exclusivity within our Service Network disabling the competition.
Deliver Operational Excellence utilizing Continuous Improvement Methodologies to drive simplification and speed while sharing best practices across NAR
Deliver People Excellence through extraordinary results, great people and winning culture to meet all Talent, Diversity and Engagement targets. Implement fully integrated systems, technology and processes to create an “uber” experience for our consumers and strengthen interactions with trade partners and our service network
STEPHAN SPENCER IS A 3-TIME AUTHOR
He is the author of Google Power Search published in July 2011 by O’Reilly, co-author of Social eCommerce, published in August 2014 by O’Reilly and co-authored by Jimmy Harding and Jennifer Sheahan, and co-author of The Art of SEO, now in its third edition (2015), also published by O’Reilly and co-authored by Eric Enge, and Jessie Stricchiola.
Netconcepts started out as a web design and marketing agency, but over time morphed into a leading SEO firm. Stephan, and Netconcepts, had been heavy into the science of SEO since 1999. Netconcepts was acquired in January 2010 by paid and organic search software/services agency Covario. Covario is one of those rare companies to have made it onto the Inc 500 list two years in a row — in 2009 and again in 2010.
Kim Clinkunbroomer is a Governing Partner and the Executive Vice President of Paid Search at Philly Marketing Labs. She has over 15 years’ experience designing and executing winning marketing campaigns for her Clients. Kim began her marketing career with website design and organic search engine optimization and changed her focus to towards Paid Search in the early 2000’s. Her marketing experience crosses many different business verticals for Clients small to large. She has worked with well-known brands such as NBC Universal Sprout TV, Mrs. Dash, Pirates Booty, Cream of Wheat, New York Style, Exederm, and many more.
Kim loves to share her knowledge with others and has been a Google Top Contributor since 2006. She has presented for audiences at Google’s Mountain View Campus. Kim contributed to the very popular AdWords book Quality Score in High Resolution by Craig Danuloff, and has written for well-known search industry magazines such as Search Marketing Standard. Her articles have been picked up numerous times in major search industry news outlets such as Search Engine Land, Search Engine Roundtable, Marketing Land, and Wordstream’s Blog.
What really fuels Kim’s fire is working closely with her Clients by becoming part of their team and guiding them through the ever-changing digital marketing landscape to ensure her Clients succeed in reaching their goals.
Jordan Andrews is a Sr. Financial Planner for the Private Wealth division of Ronald Blue & Co. and serves clients out of the branch office in Orange County, California. He joined the firm in 2010.
As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM certificant, Jordan supports the Orange County branch advisors by helping analyze clients’ overall financial condition to develop customized recommendations designed to help them realize their financial and life goals. He evaluates a client’s estate, insurance, tax, investment, philanthropic, and cash flow considerations and brings them together to create a comprehensive plan tailored specifically to the client’s needs.
Jordan earned his Bachelor of Arts in Business Management, from The Master’s College in 2010.
Jordan is an active member of The River Church of the South Bay where he is a small group leader in their high school ministry.
Jordan and his wife, Brooke, reside in Hermosa Beach.
He is a San Diego CPA, as well as an advanced QuickBooks Pro-Advisor and Instructor. He has over 18 years of experience in finance, tax, and operational management.
Dave has worked in various accounting and technology, consulting and management roles for Philip Morris, USWeb, Inspired Arts, and many others, and is now a San Diego based CPA. In 1999, he founded and ran a successful internet and business consulting company called IP Strategy.
Dave holds a BA in Business Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara with concentrations in Accounting and Computer Science.
Dale West is one of America’s top asset protection experts, having helped thousands of professionals achieve financial peace of mind by teaching them how to properly structure their assets for tax reduction, lawsuit protection, and estate planning. For more than two decades his seminars have trained professionals in every state of the Union. His career has been credited with helping thousands of people save millions of dollars. Dale West is a nationally recognized speaker and has shared the stage with Donald Trump, Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, Margaret Thatcher, Colin Powell, and former U.S. Presidents Reagan, Ford, Clinton and George Bush. He has lectured at hundreds of conventions and seminars across the country with excellent reviews. His clients include Hollywood celebrities, professional athletes, renowned surgeons, and CEOs of large corporations. He is a contributing author to the best-selling books, America’s Greatest Tax Secrets Revealed, The Asset Protection Bible, and Cover Your Assets: Lawsuit Protection.
Doug has been on the frontline of efforts at The Dwyer Group® to maximize the efficiency of its franchisees. He also focuses on continuously improving internal and external customer satisfaction. Doug joined Mr. Appliance in March 2004 as the vice president of operations and was later promoted to chief operating officer in June 2005. He was named president of Mr. Appliance in June 2006 and president of ZorWare, also known as Z-Ware, in February 2007.
Prior to joining our service-based franchise company, Doug spent 10 years with the Whirlpool Corporation, where he served as the manager of service contract indirect sales and manager of refurbishment centers for operations in the United States.
Doug has received several awards throughout his professional career. He was twice awarded Outstanding Contributor at Whirlpool Corporation, once in 1999 and again in 2003. He was also awarded the Presidents’ Choice Award at The Dwyer Group in 2007
Doug has a bachelor’s degree in business administration with computer emphasis from Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Third generation business owner who grew up in the Appliance Service Industry. Formally started managing family business in 2002. In 2008 bought Andy’s and started growing the business. With the help of my parents, USA and many mentors that I was blessed to meet along the way I was able to grow the business to 13 techs and expand our service area. In Nov of 2014 I sold Andy’s and have started other businesses in retail and nutrition. I joined the USA board in 2006 and was the USA representative at NARDA, Vice President in 2010 and President in 2011. I have been a speaker at the ASTI Convention and presenting and RSTIs since the beginning of the program.
Cate’s introduction to the appliance industry began at the age of five when she would visit her grandfather’s shop. By the age of seven she was riding along on appliance service calls with her father. Cate’s first impactful involvement in the industry occurred in high school when she began designing marketing materials for the family business.
Cate attended the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana and graduated with a degree in Architecture. After graduation she worked with companies like General Growth Properties, Westfield, Crate & Barrel, Sears and Walgreens. Cate’s architectural work can be found at malls and store locations across the United States. As her career progressed she gained responsibility for reviewing financial documents in order to make store design decisions. Through these experiences, Cate’s interest in business and finance bloomed.
This keen interest in business led Cate to transition her career to AAA Appliance Service Center in 2010. She learned the business by getting involved in customer service representative activities and financial data entry. Within 18 months, Cate rose to the title of Director of Operations. Under Cate’s direction, AAA Appliance Service Center reached a historical high water mark in both staff and revenue within 2 years.
In 2012, Cate attended her first ASTi convention and leveraged her connections to bring CareerBuilder along as a presenter. Partnered with CareerBuilder, Cate taught a class focused on recruitment and team participation. One year later, Cate taught three classes at the ASTi, was nominated/elected as a board member of the United Servicers Association, and anonymously submitted the winning design for the United Servicers Association logo contest. As Cate’s influence grew, her subject matter expertise was published in Retail Observer magazine.
Cate has been extremely active on the United Servicers Advisory Board along with the Marketing, ASTI, and RSTI committees. She created content and helped plan the RSTi and ASTi training events. In 2015, Cate’s efforts were vital in spearheading the development of the new ISM program. At present, Cate continues to be an active trainer for the ASTi, RSTi and iSM programs.
Daniel Beaule is a Gazelles international Certified Business coach who teaches business owners and teams of executives how to accelerate their business without damaging their people, cash and culture. He is also president of Service 2000 Appliance located in the Montreal Area, Canada.
After graduating top in his high school appliance repair course, Dean Continued to work for Trible’s, an appliance parts distributor, until he was hired as a technician by a small service company. He was soon invited back into Parts Distribution by Trible’s as the store manager of their Baltimore branch.
Dean started his own Appliance Repair company in 1983, running service calls and managing the company, growing to five technicians. In 1989, On the verge of insanity, due to the pressure of running a full days calls, and also managing all aspects of the company, Dean attended a NARDA business management convention. In a class conducted by Dave Ashton, Dean was challenged to decide if he was going to be a technician or a business owner, because he was not going to excel at both. After returning home, Dean never ran another service call!
At that convention Dean discovered a need for a national flat rate pricing program, and in 1991 began selling a paper version of the flat rate system he had developed and was using in his own business. What is now known as the national Job Rate Price Guide, popularly called the Blue Book.
He is also the Creator of the GLEEPS! Soft Skills Training Program for Technicians and CSRs and a number of other business training programs.
In 1995, Dean started the first appliance peer group called “Top Gun”, and has continued to encourage others to form through classes at conventions and personal mentoring.
Dean is the past president of USA, and former Secretary of the Appliance Technicians of Maryland, as well as the Legislative Chairman of the Maryland Alliance for Fair Competition.
Dean has previously served on the Boards of the National Federation of Independent Business – Maryland chapter, The Eastern Baltimore Area Chamber of Commerce as well as American Home Shield’s national Contractor Network for several years.
Dean has been a Convention Speaker for American Home Shield, as well as the NARDA Institute of Retail & Service Management, Tech Talk Magazine, Mega, Nationwide, and Brand Source Buying Groups, Marcone Servicers Association and the United Servicers Association.
Dean sat on the AHAM development task force that created the National Appliance Service Technician Certification (NASTeC) program. He was a contributing author to Appliance Service News, and Appliance TechTalk Magazine, and the USA newsletter.
Dean is the Current president of Landers Appliance, Inc. Landers Appliance has won numerous awards including eight time winner of Angies List Super Service award, and nine times voted Baltimore Best Appliance Repair Company by Baltimore Magazine. Dean is a Partner in Service Company Solutions, providers of “My Parts Help”, the National Job Rate Price Guide, the Blue Book in our industry, GLEEPS! and other service company management tools. Dean is also a partner in an appliance service consulting business, helping increase profitability to improve value and salability.
Personally Dean is involved in a number of ministries including a mentoring program for boys and young men. Dean serves as the chairman of a non-profit group that delivers a message of abstinence to middle and high school students and is very active in a church plant in Baltimore City.
Dean and his wife Tricia have five children between them and have the sweet blessing of having 22 grandchildren!!!!
Paul is the founder and owner of Factory Appliance Service in Toronto Canada. Started in 1983 with just one technician, Paul grew his independent service business to 38 technicians on the road and 75 employees at the height of his career. After 26 years in business Paul sold his business in 2006 to Direct Energy A North American Energy Company.
Paul Joined United Servicers Association in 1998 and served as association president from 2001 through 2005. It was through his participation in the trade association USA that Paul learned how to grow his business and increase its profits.
Today Paul is a consultant to many service companies and retailers who look to him to help improve their service operations and increase profits. He continues to work with USA in the RSM and ASTI programs and provides business management training.
