Jeff Robboy Inducted Into the Council of Fellows

Jeff Robboy (pictured on the left) is one of the two newest members of the DPHA Council of Fellows (the other inductee, Fred Silverstein, was featured last week).  The Council of Fellows was established to recognize career contributions of industry leaders and to provide a forum where those leaders can continue to give back to the industry that they have helped shape. Case in point is the DPHA Alberto Comini Memorial Scholarship. The Scholarship program is run by the Council of Fellows and awards two $3,000 annual grants to the children or grandchildren of DPHA members.

 

Jim Babbitt's induction introduction given during the Saturday Awards Luncheon at this year's annual conference in Chandler, AZ explains several of the reasons DPHA honored Jeff Robboy's career contributions to the Association and industry.

 

I could speak to the fact that Baci by Remcraft has been in business for roughly 75 years, but in fact, I do not know all of the intimate details of Jeff's dealings with that business; what I do know is that he has been an active, highly involved and deeply dedicated charter member of DPHA. Jeff served on the original Board of Directors, was Treasurer of the Association in 2005 and the President in 2007.

 

Although Jeff stopped serving on the Board in 2009, he did so only because the Bylaws do not allow more than one member from any company to sit on the Board, and because he hired David Crossley as Baci's national sales manager at that time, he stepped aside so that David could continue to serve on the Board as well as being the president himself in 2012. However, that did not stop Jeff from continuing to serve the Association.

 

He has been an active member of the Awards Committee, and in fact, he (along with Sarah Jenkinson of Barber Wilson/Sterlingham) has been the primary advocate, sponsor and organizer of the Wednesday afternoon/evening activity that have been held at the past few annual conferences and which are used to promote the award nominations process. And again, per Jeff's insistence, each activity is split in two equal groups - one group is for those people who submit nominations in the Professional awards categories and who then have their cost for the event covered by the activity sponsor(s), and the second group is made up of people who actually pay the fee for participating in the activity, but with all proceeds for the event then going to the Council of Fellows' Scholarship Fund. Needless to say, Jeff has been, and remains, a driving force on the Awards Committee.

 

There is so much more that we could say about Jeff, but what more can I say other than that he has always been an extremely dedicated member of this association, and if I ever need someone to help, Jeff's first and only response is "what can I do?" He is selfless with regards to DPHA and if there is anyone better who exemplifies the spirit of a DPHA member, I don't believe I have met them yet.

 

Congratulations, Jeff - this honor is long overdue!