When First Supply Chairman Joe Poehling and InSinkErator Vice President of Wholesale Supply Joe Maiale are the recipients of the prestigious 2021 ASA Fred V. Keenan Lifetime Achievement Award.

Poehling and Maiale will both be honored on Nov. 10 at the ASA Member Lunch as part of NETWORK2021 in Las Vegas at the JW Marriott Resort and Spa.

The Keenan Award is presented to individuals with a long history of service and dedication to the PHCP-PVF industry. To be considered, individuals must have exhibited strong influence on the current status of the industry, project a positive industry image, be responsible for positively affecting the industry in general, and have provided a history of dedicated service to the American Supply Association.

 
Poehling and Maiale join 10 other distinguished individuals who have received this award since its inception: Fred Keenan (for whom the award was named), Karl Neupert, Ed Felten (of First Supply), John McDonald, John Martin, Frank Finkel, Nick Giuffre, Morris Beschloss, Joel Becker and Dottie Ramsey. The ASA Executive Committee accepted the unanimous recommendation of the Keenan Award Selection Committee to add Poehling and Maiale to this exclusive club. Ramsey was the last recipient of the award, which is not annual, back at NETWORK2017 in New York.

Poehling served as ASA president in 2009 and chairman of the board in 2010. Additionally, his efforts in leadership roles with the ASA Education Foundation helped bring the Karl E. Neupert Endowment Fund past $10 million through his personal outreach to companies. As a result, the endowment fund today has opened up countless opportunities for the Education Foundation to provide cutting-edge, relevant and timely training programs that have revolutionized the way the industry looks at training.

“In the popular management book ‘Good to Great,’ one of the author’s tenets to turn a good organization great is making sure you have the right people on the bus and then decide where you are going to go,” ASA CEO Michael Adelizzi explained. “It’s very true. But, even with all the right people, you need someone with vision, strength and dedication to drive the bus. Joe has been the bus driver of an era for ASA and throughout the industry.”

Maiale is the only member of the ASA Vendor Member Division to have served two stints on the association’s Executive Committee. In addition to his four years of service with the association’s top leadership group, Maiale has served seven years on the ASA Education Foundation Board of Trustees where he led this committee in 2013 and 2014.  

As president and chairman of the ASA Education Foundation, he was only the second manufacturer to hold that leadership role.  

“That, in itself, is a testament to the level of esteem in which Joe is held by distributors,” Adelizzi said. “Joe has had the foresight to visualize how education can strengthen our industry. He has used his ability to develop partnerships and inspire others to work with him to achieve this vision. Most of all, his personal and professional finesse in keeping everyone focused until success has been achieved is exceptional. These will be hallmarks of his legacy.”