I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Charles Cohon, the Manufacturers’ Agents National Association (MANA) CEO, as he reflected on his career before retiring this summer. His career spans several decades, and the observations and insights he has gained and shared with our industry are second to none. 

His career started in journalism in 1977. Earning his undergraduate degree in journalism from Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.), he worked for a newspaper in central Illinois, the Springfield State Journal-Register, for about a year. After Cohon’s first year with the Register, he was offered a raise, moving from $165 a week to $175 a week. 

At the same time, his father owned a manufacturers’ rep firm, along with two business partners, and offered the younger Cohon a job starting at $12,000 a year, plus a car! It equated to a $3,000 annual raise, so he went for it.

Cohon worked for his dad’s manufacturers’ rep firm for eight years until his father retired in 1984. He did not envision himself working for his dad’s partners; instead, he started his own manufacturers’ rep firm. He worked in his rep firm from 1984 to 2011. 

In 2011, the position of MANA CEO became available. The younger Cohon believed he had one more career move before retiring, so he applied with MANA and was hired for the position. For the next two years, Cohon continued to run his rep firm alongside his new role at MANA until the sale of his firm was final. 

Successful Matchmakers

I asked Cohon what he considered his greatest successes during his time at MANA: The first thing that came to his mind was his experience with a very in-depth strategic planning session with the MANA board, where they paid a professional research firm to contact members with a curated list of questions, focusing on what key topics were most important to the membership. 

“Overwhelmingly, our manufacturer members said they come to MANA to find reps,” Cohon notes. “And the reps overwhelmingly said they come to MANA to be found by manufacturers. It was the No. 1 response by an overwhelming margin. So, we looked at everything we’re doing and decided: we were only going to focus on what our members wanted and what we could do well.”

That led the MANA board of directors to focus on being the premier rep matchmaking service. The strategic plan and resulting path have been the MANA vision since. The action behind the vision has resulted in many website updates, and Version 3.0 of its RepFinder smartphone app. Simply stated, MANA offers the manufacturers and reps tools that aren’t available elsewhere. 

“We certainly can look back and be proud that we took the resources we had and applied them to the problems our members told us they had,” Cohon says.

As AIM/R members, we have benefited from the services MANA offers and the partnership between AIM/R and MANA. Where MANA is not specific to any industry, AIM/R is specific to the PHCP/PVF industry. 

“We decided we needed to be a mile wide and an inch deep; we need to be everything about reps but not specific to any industry,” Cohon explains. “And [AIM/R] could be referred to as the opposite, a mile deep and an inch wide, because you’re focused on what is important exclusively to PHCP/PVF reps and the manufacturers who want to be engaged with those reps.”

Board Diversification

I then asked Cohon about the greatest challenges he faced and how he navigated them. His answer resonated with me as we have faced the same issues within AIM/R and the plumbing industry. “When I took over as MANA’s CEO, we had a 10-person board consisting of 10 gray-haired men 65 and older; we did not have a very diverse range of opinions because the board was homogenous,” Cohon notes.

Since then, MANA has worked intentionally to diversify its board to better represent its membership and make the group more attractive to potential clients. The first move was to recruit a board member under 65, a young gentleman in his early 30s. 

Cohon shared that the next move was more challenging: to find the right woman who was up for the task of being the first woman on the board, one who was up for the very difficult position and prepared to walk into a room of all men who had not previously welcomed female leadership. Today, MANA’s board is close to a 50-50 representation of men and women. Cohon will leave the board in a better position than how he found it.

Cohon’s parting words of advice for manufacturers and agents alike are: “You only get one chance to make a good first impression.” 

For manufacturers, that first impression includes reaching out in a personal manner (phone calls are the best!), having products ready to go to market, and a good value proposition to the rep firm, inclusive of a desirable contract. For the manufacturer’s rep, you must have an up-to-date website that tells your story in a professional manner and a complete profile on MANA’s rep finder.

Cohon’s reflection on his career is simply stated: “And then here I am, in 2024, and I had a good run.” Upon his retirement, he looks forward to traveling, spending time with his sweet dog Ellie, and enjoying time with his grown daughters and granddaughter. 

On behalf of the AIM/R Executive Committee, board of directors and entire membership, thank you, Charley, for a job well done! You have made an impact on our industry that will last for many years. 

Brenda Cashdollar, CPMR, is vice president at Synergy Sales NW in Vancouver, Wash. She serves on the AIM/R Executive Committee and board of directors and is currently the senior vice president for industry and PR.