Retail Dealers of America (RDA), the former Key Southwest chapter that broke away from Brand Source/AVB in April, held its first national convention here last week at the InterContinental hotel.
Some 220 of the splinter group’s 340 members were expected to be in attendance, along with about 200 industry suppliers.
RDA, then known as Brand Source SouthWest, discontinued a proposed merger with AVB due to disagreements over the group’s direction. The focus, RDA president/CEO Deryl Sewell told TWICE, “needed to be a little more on the individual dealers,” rather than on the group’s national branding program.
Brand Source executive director Bob Lawrence said the impact of the departure has been “negligible,” and that his group has created a new division within that region comprised of 70 dealers that include “some of the better dealers in Texas.”
