At the risk of overusing the term "change," there's no better way to describe what will be happening within our association during the coming year. As reps and manufacturers in our dynamic industry, we are certainly no strangers to the changes that seem to constantly and continuously bombard us from all sides. Economic pressures, technological advances and marketplace shifts, both locally and globally, are now routine. Throw in the international upheavals and natural disasters that impact our businesses in countless ways, and it's a wonder that our firms are still functioning much less succeeding.

There's no doubt that those of us left standing are true survivors. We've updated our products, customer bases, target markets, ways of doing business, personnel, company profiles and philosophies in order to keep pace. Our association must also keep advancing and changing if ERA is to remain a viable, useful and strong voice on behalf of the outsourced field sales function in the electronics community.

To that end, our national board has recently reviewed and approved major changes in our bylaws, and a vote by all members is now underway. This is not a scintillating subject, to be sure, but it is a necessary step in streamlining our operations so that our organization is not held back by outdated guidelines. Many of the bylaws revisions are being made to simplify both the language and a number of processes. Among the most noteworthy changes or new provisions are:

If approved, the new bylaws will facilitate ERA's expansion to include distributor members. We have had a long-time policy of engaging manufacturer members, and we are eager to do the same with distributors. They were highly involved in the programs of our last two national management and marketing conferences in 2009 and 2011, and our goal now is to make ERA the primary educational resource for electronics industry reps, manufacturers and distributors.

Change is also coming to ERA in terms of our staff. As announced at our October 2011 national board meeting and in CEO Tom Shanahan's column in the Fall 2011 issue of The Representor, we have been fortunate to appoint Bob Terwall, the retired president of Cherry Electrical Products, as ERA's chief spokesperson and ambassador. He is also serving as the director of our member service activities. Our intent is that Bob will be ERA's "Mr. Outside," while Tom Shanahan remains our "Mr. Inside," managing the day-to-day operations of the association. We are excited about the activities Bob is already developing and looking forward to both building our membership and expanding our value proposition for all. Stay tuned for details.

As many of you know, Tess Hill has been working for ERA for decades on what seems like a 24-7 basis, and she hopes to begin easing back on her full-time duties by the end of this year. So a process is now underway to hire a new staff member who will work with Tess this year and then begin gradually taking over her responsibilities in 2013. When that new hire has been finalized, members will be notified.

We all know that change can often be challenging but also exhilarating. We realize that standing still is not an option. My fellow officers and board members are determined that ERA will continue to move forward, providing more and better benefits, programs and services that our members value and deserve. This is our New Year's resolution for 2012 ... and unlike most others, it will be kept.