McClean, VA—PMA transferred ownership of the Professional Picture Framers Association (PPFA), which has been a PMA organization for nearly 15 years, to Monarch Expositions, effective immediately. Monarch Expositions is owned by Deborah Salmon and Bruce Gherman, principals of the West Coast Art & Frame Expo and publishers of Picture Framing magazine.
The past several months have been a time of significant transition for PMA. “It has always been PMA’s goal to provide an excellent level of service to all our members,” wrote Jennifer Kruger, director of Communications for PMA. “After a long period of gathering information and analyzing the best ways for us to serve our membership, the PMA board of directors voted in May on new strategic initiatives for PMA.
“Because the newly established strategic initiatives are directing us to focus our full attention on our core members—businesses in the photo imaging space—we made the decision to look at other avenues to ensure PPFA members would be well served and have their needs catered going forward.”
PMA has partnered with the leadership of Monarch Exposition for the past few years, colocating the PPFA conference with the West Coast Art & Frame Expo and National Convention. Just as the photography industry is PMA’s core focus, the framing industry is theirs.
A membership in PPFA has always been a subset of membership in PMA. For that reason, current PPFA members will remain PMA members and be afforded all PMA membership rights and benefits, for the duration of their current membership year. All PPFA membership rights and benefits are now being administered by Monarch Expositions.
“We recognize several PPFA members are involved in both the photography industry and the framing business,” added Kruger. “For those in that category, we are joining with Monarch Expositions to create a special discounted package for dual membership in both organizations. More information about this membership arrangement will be forthcoming.” pmai.org
