Mark Reed has been working in the pool industry since he was nine years old. One summer his father, Roy, who worked as a teacher during the academic year and for a pool company during the summer, put Reed and his brother to work digging plumbing ditches on a pool renovation site.
“I was born into the industry,” says Reed.
Those summer jobs eventually turned into a full-time position at Memphis Pool, in the Tennessee city after which it is named. Over the years, Reed has worked in just about every one of the company’s departments, including service and repair, retail and construction. After many years of dedicated service, he became president in 2011.
Raising the bar
Reed’s passion for education led him to serve the pool and spa industry beyond Memphis Pool.
When he noticed that the Association of Pool & Spa Professionals wasn’t very active in his region, he was fearful that the educational baton wouldn’t be passed on to the younger generation of professionals. To help keep the ball rolling, he stepped in to serve as president of the Mid-South chapter of APSP from 2000 to 2011.
During his tenure, Reed began inviting vendors to train APSP members during meetings in order to promote education. He also brought them together to collaborate on an educational event.
“We began teaming up with our distributors to put together a local two-day mini-show with manufacturer and distributor table tops and APSP classes for certification training,” he says. “Prior to this, the distributors each had separate open house events at their respective warehouses.”
Reed still serves on the local chapter board in an advisory role.
Armed with the idea that education “raises the bar for everybody,” Reed has been using his position to pass along education to smaller pool and spa companies that aren’t able to attend trade shows.
“It’s our responsibility to be good stewards of what we’re given and what we learn,” says Reed. “Education is the key to picking up [the pool and spa industry] and moving it down the road.”
He also served on the board of directors for the Master Pools Guild and credits the organization for helping educate the Memphis Pool staff.
“The education is ongoing and [accounts for] 90 percent of our meetings,” says Reed. “We’re heavily committed to education here at Memphis Pool.”
Armed with knowledge
Reed also believes that education is the key to battling the challenges of internet competition.
While he believes that brick and mortar retail stores aren’t going away, he recognizes that it isn’t possible to combat “the kid in his basement selling stuff on the internet for 2 percent over what you pay for it.” But what you can do is train your staff to do the best possible job and know things that people can’t get off the internet, he says. He cites customer service and giving customers what they want for a good value as keys to growth and to a prosperous future.
His respect for education has stretched beyond the retail arena. Reed is an advocate for Make A Splash Mid-South, an organization that provides low- or no-cost swimming lessons to underprivileged children. Over the years, his local APSP chapter has donated several thousand dollars to Splash and this year they were able to procure a $10,000 grant from the National Swimming Pool Foundation, which was donated to the nonprofit.
Noting the high rates of children who drown every year in swimming pools, Reed became involved with swimming education because “it’s the right thing to do.”
