| October 3, 2003 | Contact: Richard H. Ekfelt |
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | 877/770-9274 rekfelt@trsa.org |
During the past 10 months, TRSA and UTSA have been discussing the possibility of a merger. The discussions have been comprehensive and have involved the Chairmen, the Executive Committees and the full Boards of Directors of each organization. Proposals and counter proposals have been exchanged in an effort to reach a common ground. Unfortunately, these efforts have not been successful.
At its Board meeting on August 10, 2003, the TRSA Board of Directors unanimously adopted a final offer to be made to UTSA. The TRSA Board had previously accepted a proposal that had been made by the joint Executive Committees of each association only to have the UTSA Board reject that proposal. The August 10, 2003, TRSA offer included terms that had already been accepted by the UTSA Executive Committee and was designed to address the objections made by the UTSA Board. TRSA's offer included acceptance of Richard Senior, UTSA's Chairman as the Chairman of the new organization and acceptance of David Hobson, UTSA's President as President of the new organization.
The TRSA Board invited Mr. Senior to meet with the TRSA Board and the August 10 final offer was explained to him. At that time, the Board indicated that the discussions had been going on for ten months and everyone knew the issues. The Board felt that additional negotiations would not be beneficial and the UTSA Board should decide whether to accept the offer or reject it. It was explained to Mr. Senior that basically TRSA wanted a simple "Yes" or "No" from UTSA.
The UTSA Board chose to reject TRSA's offer but made a counter offer. In reviewing the counter offer, it became clear to the TRSA Board that the negotiations over the past several months have not resulted in establishing the foundation necessary for a successful merger. Without such a foundation, a merger is not in the interests of either organization.
The TRSA Board met on October 2, 2003 and agreed to inform UTSA that the Board was sorry that UTSA had not accepted TRSA's offer and therefore TRSA will continue to operate as a separate organization.
TRSA is proud of the staff that has been developed by President Dick Ekfelt and believes that it is in the best interests of the TRSA members that TRSA continue to operate as a financially strong, independent association. The Board noted that at the recent Clean Show in Las Vegas, TRSA signed up 35 new members and that the Association has a great Committee structure of enthusiastic volunteers that continue to provide strong support for TRSA activities.
TRSA's Chairman David Rawlinson has conveyed to Richard Senior that although there will be no merger, TRSA will continue to cooperate with UTSA in the best interests of the members and that he will encourage Dick Ekfelt and the TRSA staff to work closely with the UTSA staff. Rawlinson said that he recognizes that many supplier members have urged that the merger go forward to avoid the expense that is involved in servicing two associations. He will be appointing a task force to address this issue and come up with some realistic proposals for resolving the problems presented.
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