May 16, 2011 — BASF Corporation is the first committed sponsor of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ (SCRS) Repairer Driven Education series (RDE), planned for this year’s SEMA Show.
RDE sessions, first made available at last year’s show, will be offered in the afternoon during each day of the 2011 event, set for Nov. 1-4 in Las Vegas. The seminars will cover a variety of industry issues and are meant to help professionals grow their business.
Sponsor contributions serve as a foundation for the program. So far, one other organization, the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers (AASP), has committed to being a sponsor this year. BASF is sponsoring at the master’s level and AASP is sponsoring at the associate’s level.
“It is gratifying to enjoy both continued support from prominent companies like BASF, as well as new support from industry fixtures like AASP,” said SCRS Executive Director Aaron Schulenburg. “These organizations share our vision in the value that RDE brings to the industry and the SEMA Show, and they have committed to helping to do what it takes to ensure the series' ongoing vitality. The support of SCRS and the industry they show through their involvement in our educational initiatives is much appreciated. We can't thank them enough.”
Joe Surka, manager of OEM and Industry Relations for BASF, said the company has increased its support for educational programs during the last decade.
“We want our customers to thrive, not just survive, and helping provide the tools to make this happen is one of our core strategies,” he said. “We see both SCRS and the Repairer Driven Education series as viable opportunities to support this strategy.”
Rick Starbard, president of AASP, said he was impressed by last year’s RDE offering.
“It was great to be able to experience educational seminars that are truly repairer driven, and our association is proud to be a part of that experience in 2011,” he said.
SCRS is comprised of 6,000 collision repair businesses and 58,500 industry professionals. For more information on the organization and its RDE program, go to scrs.com.
