There has been a lot of discussion in the pool and spa industry of duplication and redundancy of effort, where consolidation would lead to more efficient use of assets. With economy of resource in mind, NESPA has moved to consolidate its five chapters into four in order to better serve its constituent members.
The Capital District Chapter (representing the eastern half of New York State) and the Metro New York/New Jersey Chapter (representing New York City, the Hudson River Valley in New York and Northern New Jersey) have combined under the Metro Chapter name.
With the merger now complete, NESPA is now made up of four local Chapters: Connecticut Spa and Pool Association, Metro New York and New Jersey Pool and Spa Association, Long Island Pool and Spa Association and Penn Jersey Pool & Spa Association (encompassing all of Eastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey).
“Merging the Metro and Capital Chapters will allow us to pull together our resources in terms of both members and volunteer leadership so we can provide more educational and networking opportunities for our members across New York and northern New Jersey,” said John Migliaccio, president of the Northeast Spa and Pool Association.
NESPA began reviewing its Chapter boundaries in 2011 with the creation of a Chapter Boundaries Task Force. The Task Force specifically looked at how to best serve members located in the Capital District to ensure that they received the same benefits offered to members throughout NESPA’s region. As part of their evaluation, the task force met with leaders of all five Chapters and surveyed members for their input. After an 18 month process, the final recommendation was to merge the Capital and Metro Chapters.
The Board of Directors of NESPA presented the task force’s recommendation to leadership in both Chapters and they agreed a merger would be positive for all involved. Membership of both the Capital District and Metro Chapter were given the opportunity to vote on the merger and the results were overwhelmingly in favor of approving the merger. As of February 27, 2015, the merger became official.
“We are excited to welcome members from the Capital District into our Chapter,” said Mitchell Katz, president of the Metro New York/New Jersey Chapter. “As part of the merger process, we’ve created the Capital District Council to make sure our colleagues from northern New York have a voice in our future plans and the wheels are already in motion to hold several membership programs in the Albany area this year.”
The Northeast Spa & Pool Association has over 860 member companies across its four Chapters. The Metro New York/New Jersey Chapter over 250 member companies and is the largest Chapter organization of both NESPA and the Association of Pool & Spa Professionals.
