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The Association was initially chartered as a nonprofit organization in California in January, 1980. Seven individuals signed the incorporation papers. In its first two years of its existence--the Aftermarket Body Parts Distributors Association as it was first knownwas administered from the offices of the Association's legal counsel in Oxnard, Ca. In 1982, headquarters was moved to a specialized management firm in Washington, D.C., By early 1983, after the account executive handling the administrative affairs of the Association made known his intent to leave that agency, Board members began exploring other management options. In April, 1983, then President Don Gorman signed a contract of services with Stanley A. Rodman, the current principal officer of SARCO Management & Publications, which was then Chicago-based. At the time, the Association had 63 dues paying members. During the next several years, the Association grew in membership, scope, diversity and activity. The name was changed by a vote of the membership during the October, 1984, annual convention in Hawaii with the "D" being dropped because the organization was representing not only distributors but all segments of the industry. Also in the latter part of the same yearNovemberthe main office was relocated to Houston, Tx. In 1987, ABPA was reincorporated as a nonprofit organization in Texas. In 1989, the membership, at the 10th Annual Convention in Arlington, Va., voted to again change the name of the organization. The word "Aftermarket" was dropped and in its place, the word Automotive was substituted. While the name changed, the initialsABPAremained the same.
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