When he started his job at the RV Industry Association in 1977, Mac Bryan wouldn’t have guessed it would turn into a four-decade career.
Bryan, who announced his decision to retire this week, has served as vice president of finance and operations for all but three of the RVIA’s 42-year existence. He is the longest-standing current RVIA employee.
Looking back on the past four decades, Bryan said the bad times had strengthened his bond with the job more than anything else.
“Once you’ve been in the foxhole with these guys, I think there’s a bond that is unique in surviving those very difficult times, and perhaps even a step further to say that to enjoy the success when it came together,” he said.
Two years after he began the RVIA job, the 1979 Oil Crisis hit the U.S. economy, doubling the price of crude oil. Consumers lined up outside gas stations, hoping to fill their tanks, and RV shipments nearly halved in 1979, and again in 1980.
“The (1979-80 Oil Crisis) was quite difficult and quite confusing to me, I have to say, in the sense that I really didn’t have a good sense for what needed to be done in those situations,” Bryan said. “I was helped in that process by my immediate supervisor, Dave Humphreys, who sort of guided me through.”
The knowledge Humphreys and others passed on to Bryan left an impression, not only giving him the experience needed to respond to economic crisis in the future, but also helping to solidify his connection to the RV industry.
“I found that to be very rewarding,” he said. “We’ve obviously had many more good years than bad years, so that made the equation quite positive, but there’s something about going through difficult times together – both as a staff and as an industry itself – that helps galvanize your commitment to the mission.”
During his time with RVIA, where part of his job includes market data and research, Bryan has learned that the industry excels at adapting to meet consumer demand; an ability he said arises from both necessity and the character of the industry’s members.
“One of the things I’ve been proudest of is our ability to remain nimble in an industry that survives only because it is that way,” he said. “Our members can’t produce products that consumers don’t want and stay in business for long.”
Earlier this year, the RVIA delivered on that need to adapt, when newly appointed RVIA President Frank Hugelmeyer announced the group’s $500,000 plan to overhaul the National RV Trade Show and its member services.
The move is the most recent example of RVIA’s nimbleness, which he credits to both market forces and the industry’s character.
“This new restructuring of both RVIA service and its benefits to our members is something that will be a constant change. It’s just one step in the change,” he said. “The act of changing needs to be managed, that’s kind of the key to all of that.”
The future of the National RV Show should continue to be a marketplace for new ideas, but Bryan hopes to see it pave the way for the always-evolving RV market.
"I think you'll see a lot more from the RVIA in that area, in terms of providing a platform for this new generation of RV product," he said.
Another factor leading a business or industry to change is new leadership, a fact that Bryan acknowledges.
Last year alone, the RVIA tapped an RV-outsider in Hugelmeyer to lead the group, named two new members to its Board of Directors and filled the vacancy left after 28-year Membership Services Coordinator Diane Stuebing retired.
The examples are just a few from a slow process that Bryan sees as an inevitable process of handing Association off to a new generation.
“RVIA benefited for many years from being led by the founders of this organization,” Bryan said. “Well, those founders now have retired and are no longer there to guide the organization, so that ability to adapt and change with the times is, I think, a very important aspect.”
With the promise of change from new leadership on the horizon for the National RV Show, it is an exciting time to work with the organization, and the industry in general, according to Bryan.
“I’m very envious, and I told Frank (Hugelmeyer) that I’m really going to miss it, miss the people and miss the excitement,” Bryan said. “I’ve done this an awful long time. ... I look back and think, boy, it went really fast.”
For his part, Bryan will keep his job until he’s prepared his replacement, for which the RVIA is currently searching.