Interview With Rod Crittenden of the Michigan Floral Association

One of the great pleasures of working as a vendor in the flower business is dealing with Rod Crittenden of the MFA (Michigan Floral Association), WUMFA (Wisconsin & Upper Michigan Floral Association). With some other associations and shows there is little interest in vendors and they are often treated as an afterthought or necessary evil. Rod on the other hand has always tried to create great relationships with vendors – giving us an environment to connect with retail florists and opportunities to support the industry by providing education.

Rod has also showed an ongoing commitment to business education. People in the floral industry from outside the MFA/WUMFA are often surprised by just how much outstanding business content Rod brings to florist members at events like the Great Lakes Floral Expo and the WUMFA Annual Convention. And it is a credit to the great florists of Michigan and WUMFA that they are so interested in this kind of content.

And, of course, Rod does an outstanding job for his florist members.

All of this continues to pay off. As other floral industry associations, events, conventions and conferences scale back (and all too often just disappear) the MFA/WUMFA events just keep getting better.

In this interview, on the PureReinvention podcast, Rod talks about how he has managed to keep things going even as the floral industry contracts. Rod makes it look so effortless it is easy to miss how hard he works and plans to keep things on the right track.

In this episode of the PureReinvention Podcast Rod Crittendon, executive vice president of the Michigan Floral Association shares some winning examples of how he has cultivated connections to help sustain and grow the organization.

It is a great listen for anyone who is interested in the state of associations and events in the floral industry.