Ivan Cross receives 2021 NMRA Old Pro Award
Ivan Cross of The Merifield Company is the 2021 recipient of the National Marine Representatives Association (NMRA) Old Pro Award.
The presentation to Cross was made by NMRA President Scott Kolodny during the NMRA annual membership meeting at IBEX last week.
The NMRA Old Pro Award annually recognizes a member who actively contributes to the Association and the marine rep profession as a whole.
Ivan Cross has spent his entire professional career in the marine industry. He became a partner in the Merifield Company in 1983 and he’s the third owner of a company that was started 1932. “He is a complete professional, an awesome sales person, extremely knowledgeable of all things boating related, a hard worker, an avid boater, and an overall great guy,” Scott Kolodny said.
John Rothermel of Fisheries Supply had this to say about his friend and colleague of more than 50 years.
“Ivan was my predecessor at Fisheries Supply, then a customer, a competitor, and thereafter one of the best factory representatives in our times. When he was a distributor salesman – competitor – we would end up in the same town every Tuesday…the perverse customers would give the weekly stock order to the first rep in the door. How frustrating to drive for an hour and a half – and then see Ivan’s car already parked at the dealership. Ivan is a great choice for this award. Very few have worked this hard for this long and done more for our industry, our manufacturers and their customers,” he said.
