NEDA-ECA Merger Will Advance the Cause of US Electronics Makers

The National Electronics Distributors Association (NEDA) and the Electronic Components Association (ECA) will be joining together on Jan. 1 to form the Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA).

The new trade association will be a united voice for the authorized sales of electronic components, bringing together component manufacturers and their authorized distributors and independent field sales representatives.

In 2011, the ECIA will assume the activities and member benefits of ECA and NEDA to provide greater member value. The core functions of the new association will be:

• Industry standards, guidelines and best practices
• Industry promotion and advocacy
• Industry statistics and surveys
• Networking and technical conferences

The new association will continue to host the NEDA Executive Conference, ECTC, CARTS, and EDS.

There will be three primary categories of membership: distributor, manufacturer, and independent field sales representative. Existing ECA and NEDA members will become ECIA members while sales reps will join as new members. Each membership category will use the same dues structure, which is based on annual sales of electronic components in North America.

There will be a transition period of several years as current members move to the new dues structure, with some members paying more, some paying less, and some paying the same dues. Dues invoices will be mailed in December to current ECA and NEDA members.

A board of directors will govern the new association, with representation equally divided between distributors and manufacturers during the first year of operation. In subsequent years, reps may join the board based on a formula tied to the number of rep members.

John Denslinger of MuRata Electronics Inc. will be the first chairman of the board. Michael Knight of TTI Inc. will be the chairman-elect, and Brian McNally of Arrow Electronics Inc. (NYSE: ARW) will be the past chairman of the board. The new association will be headquartered in Alpharetta, a suburb of Atlanta, with an office in Washington, D.C.

I am honored to have been selected as the president and CEO of ECIA. ECA president Bob Willis will assume the title of Chief Technical Officer in the new organization. Mailing addresses and phone numbers will remain unchanged. However, email addresses and Website addresses will gradually be changed over to eciaonline.org. Announcements of these changes will be sent to members at the appropriate time.

This combination of two industry associations has been a long time in the making. It has taken a great deal of time, effort, and talent on the part of the merger transition committee, who are owed a great deal of thanks. I look forward to the new decade and a new era for the electronic components industry.