The rapidly growing constituency of industrial or manufacturer representatives in the Industrial Supply Manufacturers Assn. now will have a seat on that organization's Board of Directors.

A change in ISMA's bylaws calling for approval of an associate industrial representative seat on the Board was overwhelmingly approved by the ISMA membership, and the Board subsequently appointed David P. Turpin, president of Turpin Sales & Marketing, Inc., located in West Springfield, Mass., to serve a one-year term in that capacity.

Since being accorded associate member status last year, almost 80 firms representing manufacturer representatives have joined the ISMA. Said ISMA executive director Charles Stockinger, "We expect this category to continue to expand in both the short and long term."

For more information, call (216) 241-7333 or visit www.ismaonline.org.

According to the National Assn. of Electrical Distributors' recently released 2003 Performance Analysis Report Highlights, the economic outlook for electrical distribution improved slightly in 2002. Compiled from a financial survey of 172 NAED distributor members throughout the U.S., the PAR showed increases in profit margin, return on assets, and return on net worth for the "typical" distributor. The profit margins for the "high-profit" distributor continued to decline, but that group's margins were still nearly three times that of the "typical" distributor.

Featuring statistical breakouts by sales volume, customer emphasis and warehouse sales, the PAR provides detailed information on profitability and productivity ratios, income statements and balance sheets.

For more information, call (888) 791-2512 or visit www.naed.org.

Richard Rivkin was elected president of the Safety Equipment Distributors Assn. during the organization's annual business meeting held at Safety Week 2003. Rivkin is president of Saf-T-Gard International, Inc. in Northbrook, Ill.

Other election results include: Heidi Levitt, vice president of Levitt-Safety, Ltd. in Oakville, Ontario, was elected 1^st vice president; and Larry Loizzo, president of Lab Safety Supply, Inc. was elected 2^nd vice president.

Elected directors include Frederick H. "Ted" Cowie of Safety Today, Inc., Jay Arnold of Hagemeyer North America, H. Eric Emery of Bennett-Bowen & Lighthouse, Inc., and Fred Ryan of Moldex-Metric, Inc. as affiliate director.

For more information, call (443) 640-1065 or visit www.safetycentral.org.

The Electrical Apparatus Service Assn. has announced its new international officers for the 2003–2004 term: Les Parsons of Arlington P/L in Inverell, New South Wales, Australia as chairman of the Board; Bill Nielsen of Flanders Electric Motor Service of Illinois, Inc. in Marion, Ill. as vice chairman; and Brian Gibbon of Anstee & Ware, Ltd. in Bristol, England as secretary/treasurer. Serving on the Executive Board are past chairman Woodrow S. McClure, Jr. of Dixie Electro-Mechanical Services in Charlotte, N.C.; Art Anderson of Electrical Mechanical Services in St. Paul, Minn.; and George Stratton of G.E. Jones Electric Co. Inc. in Amarillo, Texas. New regional directors include Robert Giesen of B&B Electric Motor Co. in Wichita, Kan.; Sandi Howlett of Ainsworth, Inc. in Toronto; and David Giffin of CPM Engineering, Ltd. in Manchester, England.

For more information, call (314) 993-2220 or visit www.easa.com. kgriffiths@reedbusiness.com