Congratulations to Mark Springer, CR, CEPA, on being the recipient of the 2024 Marty King Award. Below is the presentation speech from the RIA Convention on April 9, 2024.
Opening Comments by Pete Consigli:
Good afternoon fellow Marty King award recipients, RIA members, convention delegates, and association staff. Thank you for attending RIA’s 78th Annual Convention and the 37th Martin L. King award presentation ceremony.
Every year there are only a handful of people that know who will be presented with the annual Marty King award. That group is the presentation speech writing subcommittee, RIA’s CEO tasked with having the MLK award plaque ordered, and a few people sworn to secrecy.
That last group is asked to submit a testimonial to the speech, but most importantly to ensure the recipient is in the room to receive the award by keeping the secret. I can tell you firsthand, that has been a challenge at times!
This year’s committee vote was close, just like I reported to you last year in Orlando! While all nominees on the ballot were worthy, only one candidate is awarded each year!
There were 6 candidates on the 2024 MLK award ballot. 19 voting members on the committee made up of past Marty King award recipients, are asked to cast up to 3 votes in order of preference. 18 votes were cast this year.
The final ballots are tabulated on a point system assigning a descending value from 1st to 3rd. This year’s recipient was named on the most ballots
(13) and tied for the most first place votes with (6). The 2nd place candidate was named on 12 ballots.
This year’s recipient received 4 points more than the 2nd place person and was clearly the leading candidate in the field of 6 by the committee’s voting. Like I said after last year’s balloting, it was close!
For the past decade, the MLK committee has asked the previous year’s recipient to deliver the presentation of the award.
Unfortunately, last year’s recipient , RIA Past President Scott Stamper, CR is unable to be with us this year and asked if the speechwriting subcommittee could deliver the presentation. Scott promised he’ll see everyone next April 28-30th in West Palm Beach, Florida at RIA’s 79th annual convention!
Pete to deliver the beginning of the presentation speech: Opening Comments:
Therefore, in compliance with Scott’s request, I will deliver the first part of this year’s presentation and my fellow RIA honorary member Cliff Zlotnik will take the podium shortly to deliver the second part of the presentation and call the 2024 recipient to the stage!
Pete gives the first part of the presentation speech:
This year’s honoree grew up in the cleaning and restoration industry in the family business as a 2nd generation restorer, something that is fairly commonplace in RIA over its almost 8 decades serving the industry.
A notable achievement of this year’s honoree is the completion of the Certified Restorer program over 2 decades ago as the youngest person to achieve the designation in a Marty King taught CR course.
After toiling in the trenches for many years, building and growing the family business, this year’s honoree had the foresight to see the impending emergence of the industry’s maturation and consolidation. This led our 2024 MLK award recipient to become a primary driver behind a nationwide “Partner” family of like-minded restoration companies. that scaled and merged through acquisition; to compete in an increasingly competitive insurance damage repair marketplace.
Our 2024 honoree has served over a decade on the RIA board of directors after being invited by RIA Past President and last year’s MLK recipient Scott Stamper, and I quote, ”To get more involved with RIA!”
And just like that, with one member asking another member to volunteer their time and talent to help give back to the industry from which they have derived their livelihood, by serving the greater good!
By now, I suspect many in the room who have served with this year’s recipient may know who it is, I’m certain the honoree knows their name will be called shortly to come to the stage!
I will now turn the podium over to my friend Cliff Zlotnik to finish the presentation speech for the 2024 MLK award ceremony…
Cliff to take it from here and finish the presentation speech:
This year’s honoree ascended to eventually serve on the RIA leadership team committee and helped the association survive and thrive through some turbulent years.
Under the watch of that RIA leadership team, several important RIA and industry initiatives were advanced or completed.
The publication of the Certified Restorer Body of Knowledge and the historic partnership agreement with IICRC to help advance the unification of the cleaning and restoration industry are two of the more prominent accomplishments!
In 2019 our 2024 recipient penned an article in C&R magazine that won the Golden Quill award which laid out a blueprint for the launch of the AGA and served as a catalyst for the growth of RIA’s advocacy movement!
Many of you may be thinking, what does this person have planned for an encore? Using the lessons learned over the past several years as a volunteer on RIA’s strategic planning committee, and working through the challenges a company goes through to grow and scale up through private equity, many lessons have been learned which can help others traversing a similar path.
In that context, those lessons learned and applied as part of the journey, includes an exit strategy for the entrepreneurial business owner, Therefore, our honoree will now help others navigate the often-turbulent terrain involved to start, grow, and eventually sell a business.
Recently the honoree launched an Advisory Consultancy to help other businesses build value, based on the many lessons learned over the past 2 decades. In that role our 2024 recipient sought and achieved a new credential as a Certified Exit Planning Advisor, with the acronym CEPA.
Before calling our honoree to the podium, I’d like to share a testimonial from RIA’s President, Ben Looper.
“The RIA and the restoration industry are blessed to have this transformative leader in our industry. In my opinion, he is the most transformative leader of our generation. As a second-generation restorer he had no intention of being in the industry, but we are all grateful he changed his mind, and our industry is better for it. He has committed the majority of his career to the RIA and uniting the restoration industry.
His influence and relationships throughout the industry have been able to open doors and move mountains that would have never been possible otherwise. He is the restoration industry’s version of a ‘renaissance man’. I am blessed to call him colleague but even more blessed to call him my personal friend for the past 20+yrs.”
END of Ben’s Quote!
Cliff’s Closing Testimonial:
In closing, I’d like to add my personal reflection of this year’s honoree.
I’ve been a member of RIA and its various predecessors for 50 years. Over the course of that time: RIA has been through Good and Bad times.
As a 73-year-old, who’s spent most of my life involved in the disaster restoration industry; I admit at times being very, very concerned about both the future of the industry and the future of RIA.
According to the Library of Congress, the most popular movie of all time is the 1939 Classic, The Wizard of Oz.
You’ll surely remember that in the movie; 3 fictional movie characters each sought something they thought they were missing: a brain, a heart and courage.
The 2024 recipient of the Martin L. King award is the living embodiment and epitomizes what the characters sought: our honoree is smart, cares deeply, and most of all is courageous!
While uncertain as to how our honoree would fare as both a leader and President of RIA, my expectations were exceeded.
Teddy Roosevelt is attributed with the statement that “every man owes a sacred obligation to the profession which gives him his livelihood.”
The phrase ” passing the baton ” is thought to have originated in an Olympic relay race around 1967, signifying duty and denoting that a successful outcome requires collective effort.
To you, the current members, and leaders of RIA; you know that our honoree has fulfilled the obligation. My question is, will you?
End of Cliff’s Testimonial:
Without further ado, please help me welcome to the stage, the recipient of the 2024 Martin L. King award Mark Springer, CR, CEPA!
Cliff leads the applause as Pete welcomes Mark onto the stage!
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