Image: John O’Connell, CEO of Life Education Trust and Bevan Ritchie, Managing Director of Apparelmaster Group
As always, the annual Apparelmaster Group Conference brought together our branch owners, team members, our rising stars and many of our valued suppliers from all over New Zealand and Australia – and when we get together, we certainly know how to have fun!
This is the time of the year when we are able to let go, celebrate our successes and recognise those in the group who have really outdone themselves in the past 12 months. There were a number of awards this year ranging from the Apparelmaster Masters Golf Tournament Green Dust Coat competition to the Apparelmaster Supreme Business of the Year award and we want to congratulate every single one of our awesome winners this year! This year also saw the change in name to our Rising Stars award to the Bill Ritchie Memorial Rising Stars Award and we know that Bill would be so happy to have his name on this award. Bill was always such a huge supporter of every member of the team, fostering a passion for customer service that is genuine, friendly, and dependable, Bill truly is a star we can all look up to.
This year’s winner of the Supreme Apparelmaster Business of the year went to La Nuova Apparelmaster in Taranaki. Congratulations to Gordon, Brad, Bevan and the team from the Naki, who narrowly forced out Pryors Apparelmaster Auckland by an extremely slim margin for the top gong of the evening!
The presenters this year raised the bar once again and we were fortunate to have 2 of the best in Lance Burdett from Warn International (an absolute must see for any & everyone!) and Brad Mooar from the Crusaders, who was also brilliant. Check both these guys out if you haven’t heard of them, you will be better off for the experience, truly!
We also raised a significant amount for the LIFE Education Trust at conference this year. Over $20,000 was raised throughout the conference via silent and live auction action and a huge thank you has to go out to all of our members and branches who either donated prizes or put their hands in the pockets – sometimes pretty deeply – to bid for items. The generosity of our suppliers and our own members who donated fantastic prizes that ranged in value from coffee machines and barbeques to holiday home stays and fishing charters. We’re proud to support the Life Education Trust in the great work they do to educate New Zealand’s youth on the importance of health and wellbeing in what is a rapidly changing environment, and so again – a massive thanks and shout out to you all!
For the 2020 Apparelmaster Conference, you may have heard some whispers already – but we’re looking at doing something a little bit different – and a whole lot AMAZING! Stay tuned team…
Apparelmaster Group Awards 2019
- Master Golf Tournament Green Dust Coat: Paul Wickes – Pryors Apparelmaster
- Local Legends Awards: TCL Apparelmaster
- Customer Services Representative of the Year: Kylie Adair – Master Valet Apparelmaster
- Sales Achievement Award: Darryl Hamilton – Master Valet Apparelmaster
- Bill Ritchie Memorial Rising Star: Jo Howard – Apparelmaster Wairarapa
- Runner-up Business of the Year: Pryors Apparelmaster
- Supreme Business of the Year: La Nuova Apparelmaster
Congratulations to you all!