Tom Franks and Keith Trowbridge at the 2011 ARDA Conference
Greg Crist, president of the National Timeshare Owners Association, posted some sad news on Facebook shortly before Christmas: “Industry friends…..I just got a message that Tom Franks has passed away. I’m passing this on in memory of Tom.
“He had a broad range of industry experience spanning more than 30 years. He served as Senior Vice President of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) from 1982- 1990 and as President of ARDA from 1990- 1997, where his tenure was marked by financial success, industry leadership, and a strong understanding of the evolving timeshare industry. Subsequently, Franks served as President of Resort Acquisitions and Executive Vice-President of Corporate Affairs for a large publicly-held vacation ownership company where he gained important insights into the vacation ownership business.
“Rest In Peace Tom!”
The super-tabloid Resort Trades news journal was established in 1987. Today, the monthly print publication is mailed free-of-charge to every resort in the United States including a subscriber list of almost 7,000 individual timeshare resort professionals; while the digital edition is distributed to more than 22,000 digital subscribers to the newsletter, Resort Trades Weekly. The website ResortTrades.com was launched in the mid-90s and consistently achieves first page, first-position search engine ranking.
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