Stephanie Shark, second from left, is joined at an RSA event by Doyle Cryer and Rich Gigl of National / AZON, Steve Blanken of Contex, and Dave Ganey of National / AZON
Editor’s Note: Stephanie Shark became the executive director of the Reprographic Services Association one year ago. In this interview with IRgA Managing Director Ed Avis, Shark offers her views on the association and the reprographics industry.
What was your background prior to joining the RSA?
I started my association career about 13 years ago with the Museum Store Association. My background is marketing, so I was in marketing and membership. From there I went to the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. And then most recently I was with the Colorado Mining Association. I've been involved in marketing and membership and operations and events and all the things that go with small-staff associations.
How has working with the RSA been different than those other associations?
Well, there's a lot of similarities between all associations like membership and marketing and those kinds of activities. I think the biggest difference for me has been the equipment side of it, because we're actually processing orders and managing all of that process. So that's probably the biggest difference from all the other associations that I've worked with. But I think other than that, every association has their own quirks and ways that they operate, so I’ve been learning the things that are more specific to the RSA.
Do you feel that you've been able to apply some of the things that you learned at your previous positions to your job here at RSA?
Oh, for sure. One example is that earlier this year we went through a strategic planning retreat with the board of directors, which was a great process to hone in on what our goals and strategies should be for the coming years. That's something that all boards of directors must deal with, and something I’ve been involved with before.
What has surprised you about the RSA or the reprographics industry?
I knew coming in there would be a lot to learn about the industry. Obviously, reprographics isn't my background. I think the equipment side of it has certainly been the highest learning curve for me. Thankfully, Kevin Howes agreed to stay on to assist with a lot of that, and that's been extremely helpful. But in terms of what I didn't expect or was a surprise, not a lot, honestly.
What challenges is the RSA facing?
Membership growth is definitely a challenge. As current members are getting to the point where they’re looking at options for succession planning, there is some concern about the potential loss of those businesses as members. Given geographical growth limitations, we’re looking at ways to expand membership into adjacent verticals and are reviewing our overall approach to new member acquisition. In addition, we’re continually identifying ways for our members to expand their business offerings to ensure the long-term sustainability of both individual businesses and the RSA as a whole.
Have you considered some strategies that could help with those issues?
Our plan at the moment is to do the research. Does it make sense to reach out to other markets? Can we provide a value proposition to attract those markets? We have a great group of volunteers on our membership committee that will dedicate their time to questions like these and create a plan that supports the strategic goal of member growth.
What have you changed, if anything, at the RSA since you came?
Well, what have we changed? I think this year for me was a lot about learning. How are we doing things currently? And then looking at the year coming up, what changes do we want to make? One thing we did do this year was to implement a new website with a backend association management system that supports it so that it houses all our member information, and all of our events, so that everything is in one place and tied together with a member record, which is a really nice thing to have.
And then the other thing that we did was to implement a new online community. Right now, it is primarily used as a member forum for asking questions and sharing updates, but my plans for future use of that community is to really facilitate some niche discussions, so that maybe there's a forum for specific equipment users and they have a place to talk, or there's a forum for people who are interested in specific technology, those kinds of things.
What's your feeling on the future of reprographics itself?
We’ve talked to our members quite a bit about their future plans. Are they planning to close or sell their business in the near future or maybe pass it along to a family member or employee? For the most part, the feedback has been that members plan to continue to run their businesses for a while or have hopes of passing it along to someone else. If we can continue to provide value as an association and help our members (and future owners of their businesses) to grow their business offerings, I think there’s definitely a future.
Thank you, Stephanie. Before we end our conversation, can you share anything about yourself personally?
I am originally from Southern California, but I've been here in Colorado for 20 years. I live in the south Denver metro area, and I have a husband, two children, two stepchildren and a grand dog, who visits every week. We take advantage of all the Colorado things like hiking and camping, and we have a boat we take out on the little lake near our house. I don't love winter. I don't like being cold, so really, Colorado summers are my thing, and then I kind of hibernate for the winter.