Mystery Shopping Providers Association Elects New Members for the 2009 Board of Directors

The Mystery Shopping Providers Association, the largest professional trade association dedicated to improving service quality using anonymous resources, has installed its newly-elected 2009 board of directors.

The MSPA North America board consists of 11 members, two of whom are new to the board. Each year four officer positions are elected – president, vice president, treasurer and secretary. The remaining members each serve three-year terms as directors.

“Every year, talented new people join the board, tackle new goals and work to create a better overall mystery shopping industry,” said John Swinburn, executive director of the MSPA. “Our experienced board members are sure to make 2009 another productive year that advances the industry, despite any economic challenges.”

The new board includes four officers, five returning directors and two new directors.

Judi Hess, President. Hess has been active on the MSPA board for eight years and served as vice president in 2008 and treasurer in 2007. She is the owner of Customer Perspectives, based in Hooksett, N.H., which she founded more than 25 years ago. Hess is a charter member of the MSPA and has served as board liaison to both the Government Relations Committee and the Member Services Committee. She also founded a travel agency and has been active in state and local politics more than four decades.

Susan E. Seiler, Vice President. Seiler was a Shopper Services Committee chairman, and worked with several MSPA members in developing the MSPA Gold and Silver Certification programs. She founded SG Marketing group in 1985 in the San Francisco Bay Area, and she now serves as vice president of financial services for Market Force Information. Seiler has a background in banking, consumer products and publishing, along with hands-on expertise in sales training, customer service, product development, advertising and public relations.

Ron Welty, Secretary. Entering his sixth year as an MSPA board member, Welty has previously served the association as the chair of the Communications Committee. In 1999, he founded IntelliShop, where he currently serves as president. Welty brings a broad background to the board, as he has worked with clients in more than 20 different industries in the United States and Canada.

Lynn Saladini, Treasurer. Saladini represents ath Power as a founding member of the Mystery Shopping Providers Association. This is her second year on the board, and her input has helped MSPA to set higher standards for mystery shoppers and mystery shopping companies, successfully creating credible research packages for the end-user on an ongoing basis.

Two new directors join the MSPA Board for 2009: Elaine Buxton, president of Confero, Inc. (Cary, N.C.) and Paige Hall, president and CEO, AboutFace (Atlanta, GA).

Returning directors include Lise D’Andrea, president and CEO, Customer Service Experts (Annapolis, Md.); Candor Gutierrez-Vara, founder and president, Big K Mystery Shoppping (Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico); Carl Phillips, director, Customer 1st (Gressnboro, N.C.); Arcadio Roselli, CEO, Service Evaluation Concepts (Woodbury, N.Y.) and Christopher Warzynski, vice president, Beyond Hello, Inc. (Madison, Wis.).

About the MSPA

With more than 300 member companies worldwide, the MSPA has a diverse membership, including marketing research and merchandising companies, private investigation firms, training organizations and companies that specialize in providing mystery shopping services. Its goals are to establish professional standards and ethics for the industry, educate providers, clients and shoppers to improve quality of service, improve the image of the industry and promote the membership to other industry associations and prospective clients.