Industry veteran beloved by dealer thought leaders retires after 42 years.
Top: Dayle Russell (second from left); Suzanne Payer, vice president, channel marketing, Ricoh USA; Jim Coriddi; and Joji Tokunaga, president and CEO, Ricoh USA.
At the recent Ricoh ConvergX 2019 event Jim Coriddi, vice president, dealer division, announced the retirement of Dayle Russell, director, corporate events channel marketing, for Ricoh Americas Corp. It wasn’t just a shout out but an invitation for Russell to come up on stage and receive heartfelt thanks from Coriddi and the Ricoh dealers.
A video collage of thank you messages from dealers led by Dawn Abbuhl, president, Repeat Business Systems; Mary Jo Johnson, owner and CEO, EO Johnson; and others expressed how much they appreciated the times Russell was there for them on their annual incentive trips.
Coriddi was overcome with emotion that a valued part of his team was leaving the Ricoh organization. He emphasized Russell’s contribution and her unflagging ability to meet the challenges of dealer meetings and incentive trips.
Make no mistake, Dayle Russell was a veteran of the “Dealer Game” for 42 years which began in 1977 when she joined Savin. I first met her in 1988 when Brian Merriman was president of Savin. The Savin dealer meetings we attended were always well done and I was aware that the dealers liked Russell.
In December 1994, Savin and Ricoh merged. Russell and many other talented sales, service, and administrative employees became part of an organization known as the Ricoh Family Group.
I reached out to Sal Camillieri, vice president, Konica Minolta Business Solutions who worked with Russell at Savin and contacted Bob Ingoglia, Ricoh’s former vice president of corporate communications who Russell supported throughout a good part of her career.
“Dayle was always a class act who never sought the limelight but always did an outstanding job,” Camillieri stated. “She ran all our shows and dealer trips and as you are aware things sometimes go wrong at these events but you would never know it because Dayle was such a professional and so on top of everything that she always had a workable solution and the events came off without a hitch.”
The toughest part of the job is the dealer incentive trip and catering to a group of dealers along with their spouses. As the videos showed at ConvergX 2019 revealed, Ricoh dealers appreciated the way Russell handled their requests or problems and it was clear she did that job well.
“She worked 24-7 and deserves to get off the road and relax for a change,” said Ingoglia who had that responsibility for 25 years at Ricoh and speaks with authority about the challenges of managing dealer incentive trips.
The dealer meetings are far less demanding but require an inordinate amount of time and experience to coordinate events that included general assemblies, product fairs, individual group meetings, and separate dinners for special guests and the press.
We know what it takes to host a dinner for 280 people and follow that the next day with a brunch for the leading women executives in our industry. Carol Cannata starts working on the next year’s event almost immediately after the last one has concluded. Our dinner was held on Thursday, November 8 and the following week she visited with the hotel and reserved dates for next year’s event. That is the kind of attention to detail that is required.
We can only imagine the challenge of hosting such large events and we applaud Dayle for her professionalism and expertise. In Russell’s case, the dealer meetings entail hosting a group from 500 to 800 guests plus Ricoh staff and press.
The Cannata Report is happy to add our thanks to Dayle Russell for her years of service. She will be missed.
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