The New Jersey Sanitary Supply Association (NJSSA) hosted its 2010 Supply Line Trade Show May 5 and 6 at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J. This year's event was co-sponsored by the New England Sanitary Supply Association, helping NJSSA to reach out to more members of the cleaning industry.

"The entire Board of Trustees could not have been more pleased with this show's outcome," says Peter Davidson, partner at Leading Edge Associates and NJSSA president. "Supply Line 2010 was promoted as a buying show, and exhibitors have commented that it resulted in them seeing more decision makers than at a typical trade show. All told, the overwhelming feeling was that it was a successful show for everyone involved."

More than 1,300 distributors, cleaning professionals and manufacturers came to the event, and first-day attendance was a show record. Booth space was similar to numbers from the pre-recession 2008 event.

Supply Line kicked off with a golf outing at Harbor Pines Golf Club on May 4. Later that night guests were invited to the President's Reception and Membership Meeting where Davidson reported on the state of the association and presented board service plaques to 2006-2008 President Fred Schimanski and 2007-2009 Treasurer Patrick Amato. Dan Josephs, general manager of Spruce Industries and NJSSA board vice president and chair of the legislative committee, updated members on the progress toward passage of a green schools bill. Special guest Atlantic County Senator Jim Whalen who serves on the N.J. Senate Education Committee also spoke at the meeting.

Before the reception closed, Barbara Casse-Bender, president of BCB Janitorial, Hackensack, N.J., was honored with the 4th NJSSA Bob Stader Lifetime Achievement Award. Casse-Bender served as executive director of NJSSA and was responsible for reinvigorating the Supply Line Trade Show in the 1990s. In addition, she was one of the original creators of the association's Operation Clean Sweep program of community service. Casse-Bender could not attend the event and her son Rich Casse accepted the award for her.

"My mother wanted me to thank you all for this prestigious honor and to say she wished she could be here in person to once again be a part of the Supply Line show," stated Rich Casse.

The trade show also featured cleaning seminars presented by David Frank of the American Institute of Cleaning Sciences.

The 2012 Supply Line trade show will be held again in Atlantic City.




POSTED ON: 7/8/2010