ECIA announced the recipient of the newly created Partner Award at its annual Executive Conference held last month in Rosemont, Illinois.
The ECIA Partner Award is a new honour that helps to recognise special companies and individuals outside of ECIA that work to advance the industry. These include service partners, other trade organisations, and standards bodies. This year, Walter Tobin, who is retiring from the ERA, was the recipient of this new award.
“This first year, we want to honour a cherished leader of another organisation with which we share many of the same values, priorities, and a large number of mutual members,” commented ECIA CEO and President David Loftus at the ceremony. “Coincidentally, this individual also played a leadership role for several years in ECIA and our predecessor organisation NEDA, having received: the Distinguished Service Award from NEDA in 2001 and the Distinguished Service Award from ECIA in 2017.
“For the past 10 years Walter has built the ERA brand and value to an unprecedented level. As a strong partner to ECIA in putting on our annual joint industry event EDS, I have personally valued his wisdom, courage, and leadership qualities, and greatly appreciated his great advice as a peer association CEO. As he winds down his career to spend more time with his beloved wife Janice and their stable of grandchildren, we are very proud to present the first annual ECIA Partner Award to our dear friend, Walter Tobin.”
The ECIA Executive Conference is the premier event for industry executives. The conference is specifically tailored for senior management and executives in the industry’s leading companies. The date for the 2026 Executive Conference is October 19-21st 2026, at the Westin O’Hare Hotel.
