CHAIR
HISTORY/
Three Generations
of Leadership
Dan Dungan being named
NAED chair is nothing new for
Springfield Electric Supply—he
is the third person from the
company to hold the title. Bill
Schnirring, Springfield Elec-
tric’s chairman emeritus, was
NAED chair in 1979-1980, and
Mike Barker, currently chair-
man of the board, held the
post in 1999-2000. Both
Schnirring and Barker are
“retired” but continue to be
actively involved, giving the
company the benefit of an
unusually long institutional
memory and decades of addi-
tional experience. And both
helped establish the commit-
ment to community and indus-
try service that is Springfield
Electric’s hallmark.
Schnirring’s family ties to
the company that would become Springfield Electric date
back to 1919. His father, William, worked for Meador Electric, founded in 1912, which
sold a variety of electrical
products and appliances and
performed some contract
work. The senior Schnirring
bought the business in 1929
and three years later changed
the name to Springfield Elec-
tric Supply.
After going to college and
serving during the Korean
War, Schnirring started work-
ing in his father’s business.
“Within a few years I was
pretty much running the business because my dad had
other interests and wanted to
step back,” Schnirring recalled.
Schnirring had a notable career in his own right, growing
the company and serving in a
number of NAED leadership
positions, including chair. For
his industry service, he was
presented with NAED’s Arthur
W. Hooper Award. On the civic
front, he was awarded the
highest award in the state of
Illinois, the Order of Lincoln, in
part due to his and the company’s commitment to community service.
Despite the accolades he
70 the ELECTRICAL DIS TRIBUTOR • May 17
www.tEDmag.com
continued. “There is a renewed em- phasis on growing sales—whether through traditional methods or e-commerce tools. “The third big issue is channel ero- sion,” he added. “Traditional electri- cal products are being sold through an increasing array of nontraditional markets now. NAED is working very hard to make sure distributors have the training tools necessary to be able to provide the value-added services to customers. Distributors are looking for solutions in e-commerce to help address channel erosion.” Overall, Dungan is very optimistic about the state of the industry, but acknowledges he has been thinking a lot lately about the possibility of dis- ruption in the channel. “Our channel hasn’t been disrupted to a great de- gree like many other distribution channels have, and I wonder what the future holds and what that category killer might be,” he said. “I can’t pre- dict what will happen in 20 years, just as I couldn’t have predicted 30 years ago what we’re doing now. But we’re agile and able to adapt—the key is our people and our ability to really listen to our customers. Not long ago we thought big-box stores would be a disruptor, and while they took a piece of the channel, we’re still growing and thriving. It’s about growing and being able to pivot. I don’t have a crystal ball on what the next disrup- tor will be, but I feel confident we can react to whatever comes our way.” During his tenure as chair, Dun- gan is setting an ambitious but achievable agenda, focused on im- proving long-term strategy and pre- paring everyone in the industry for the technological changes that we cannot yet predict, but are inevitably on their way. “In my year as chair, the strategic planning committee is going to be very important for NAED. We need to use the new strategic plan as a road map—2020 will be here before we know it,” he said. “We need to have executable goals each year that we can work toward.” But the strategic plan is only one part of Dungan’s overall plan. He is a cheerleader for distributors prepar- ing their companies for an increas- ingly connected and networked world. “I want to focus on technol- ogy: the products we sell and the
NEW CHAIR
PROFILE
From left: Mike Barker, Dan Dungan, Bill Schnirring
