Joint Reception a Sterling Success

	The Street Performance Council joined forces with the Young Executives Network to host the first joint industry reception between the two bodies, kicking off the 2011 SEMA Show festivities.
	Members of the SPC’s Select Committee were on hand to celebrate the inaugural joint gathering and congratulate the evening’s award winners.
	The Street Performance Council joined forces with the Young Executives Network to host the first joint industry reception between the two bodies, kicking off the 2011 SEMA Show festivities.

If you’ve read previous Street Performance Council (SPC) articles in SEMA Member News or happened to overhear conversations about SEMA volunteer work, you know that collaboration between the various SEMA councils is an important goal and objective of Tyler Tanaka as incoming chairman. This has also been an initiative of SEMA Chairman of the Board Paul “Scooter” Brothers, and Tanaka was pleased to report that the SPC Select Committee answered that challenge with the first joint SPC/Young Executives Network (YEN) council reception at the 2011 SEMA Show.

“The SPC has always strived to be progressive,” Tanaka said.

“By joining forces with the YEN to hold an industry reception to kick off the week’s festivities, we continue to hit our mark. With an increased reception space over past years, the event was jam-packed with young exhibiting company employees, new attendees and Show veterans alike. It was an incredible way to network and meet new faces as well as recognize individuals with industry awards. The SPC was thrilled to partner with YEN to increase involvement and work toward growing the future leadership of the SPC and SEMA. I think that the hard work put into this inaugural event by YEN leaders Lee McGuire and Dan Kahn and by SPC Chair-Elect Brian Reese really paid off.”

The event attracted a record-breaking estimated 600–700 people, which was the largest council reception in 2011. In addition to great food, drinks and music throughout the night, the awards ceremony recognized many of the best and brightest in the street-performance industry. One prestigious award in particular garnered a tremendous amount of attention: the SPC/YEN Icon award.

The industry SPC/YEN Icon Award was established to acknowledge a person who has positively impacted the image of the street performance industry and young executives and the lifestyle that they generate. This honoree must have been in the industry for at least a decade, be well known and fully represent the industry through significant personal contributions that go beyond the call of duty in his or her job.

The 2011 SPC/YEN Industry Icon award was presented to Mike Spagnola of Street Scene Equipment. As the leader of an automotive aftermarket business, Spagnola understands the cost of doing business and the pressures that manufacturers face in all aspects of the industry. Over the past couple of years, Spagnola has served on the SEMA executive and governance committees, chaired the SEMA Show committee as well as the SEMA Show ’N Shine and Gala Fundraiser efforts.

In addition, he has been very active in the SEMA Cares committee and has served as the Board of Directors liaison to the Truck and Off-Road Alliance. He was also honored as SEMA’s Person of the Year in 2010.

With a lengthy list of experience, philanthropy and volunteerism in the automotive specialty-equipment industry, Spagnola has proven that his contributions were well deserving of this important award.

Riding on the raving positive feedback from the event, YEN and SPC have agreed to hold a joint reception again next year. If you missed it this year, be sure to mark it on your calendar for 2012, as it is the must-attend premier networking event at the SEMA Show.