After more than 20 years, Dick Covert will be leaving Master Pools Guild.
The executive director of the builders group will be retiring at the end of the year. He will serve in a consulting capacity for an undetermined length of time.
Teri Wiltshire, the organization’s long-time special projects manager, will become the new executive director on Jan. 1, 2022.
Covert joined MPG in 1997, charged with modernizing the organization and modeling it more after a professional organization. He computerized the group’s operations, updated its educational programs by collaborating with other industry associations, and upgraded its twice-yearly meetings.
Covert and the team also began forming agreements with vendors not specific to the pool industry, such as shipping companies, to offer member benefits. It signed on with a travel agent, certain insurance organizations and a credit card company to further expand its member services.
“He helped the organization by bringing in a lot of new ideas and not being afraid to try something different, to try something new, and take a little bit of a chance in the hopes of a really big reward,” Wiltshire said.
Under his supervision, the tight-knit organization nearly doubled, from approximately 60 to about 110 member companies — enough to increase its buying power yet restrained enough to maintain its policy of exclusive territories. During this time, international representation expanded significantly.
In growing the membership, Covert also worked to maintain the familial feel of the group, Wiltshire said. “He has a very strong sense of family, and I believe he has brought that to the organization, and I think that will remain forever.”
Covert and his wife, Sheila, plan to do extensive traveling after he completes his tenure.
“When I took this job, I came from large associations,” Covert said. “I had one association that had 60,000 members. I came to this job and loved the idea of a small close-knit group. They didn’t treat me as an employee, they treated Sheila and me like one of them, one of the family. It’s not been a job — it’s been a fun, fun 24 years.”
