Dealers get new leader.

Dealers Get New Leader

THE NORTH American Equipment Dealers Association has selected Charles E. Kruse, most recently director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture, to be NAEDA's executive vice president.

Kruse joined NAEDA's St. Louis headquarters staff on August 1 to learn the ropes and is to take over the helm on September 1, the day after William E. Galbraith retires after 15 years.

Like Galbraith, Kruse has a strong military background. He graduated from several military schools and in January, 1990, was appointed brigadier general and assistant adjutant general of the Missouri National Guard. Academically, he holds degrees in agronomy: a B.S. from Arkansas State University at Jonesboro and M.S. from the University of Missouri at Columbia.

NAEDA (formerly the National Farm & Power Equipment Dealers Association) coordinates the activities of 30 regional dealer organizations in the United States and Canada, and serves about 7,000 retailers of farm, industrial and outdoor power equipment.

Among major NAEDA functions are legislative representation of dealers' interests, and providing insurance, financing and computer services, and publishing a magazine and statistical information such as used equipment trade-in guides and annual reports on dealership financial health.

In his position as top executive, Kruse will serve as president of 2 of NAEDA's wholly-owned subsidiaries, NAEDA Services, Inc., and North American Benefit Administrators, Inc., and chairman of the board of directors of NAEDA Financial Services, Inc. He will also serve as the dealer-member's liaison with machinery builders in the Equipment Manufacturers Institute and the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association.