MMTA Hosts 18th BOB Conference

The Massachusetts Marine Trades Association hosted its 18th annual BOB (Business of Boating) Conference at the Lakeview Pavilion in Foxboro, Massachusetts. The conference brought together approximately 175 attendees, which was up more than 10% from last year.

The professional development conference provided attendees with sessions that included workforce development, boat sales and inventory, employment law, electrical code and compliance, employee retention, government relations and legislative issues, and more.

The conference included two lunchtime presentations, one awarding Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll as the 2023 MMTA Elected Official of the Year. The second was the distinguished MMTA Frank Farrell Award, presented to Warren Kelly, a former owner of Baert Marine. Warren has been a leader within the recreational boating industry for half a century and has always been a strong supporter of the MMTA and the Business of Boating in Massachusetts. Warren is the fifth recipient of the MMTA Frank Farrell award, joining Joe O’Neil, former owner of the New England Boat Show, Dick Egan of Crosby Yacht Yard, Ed Lofgren of 3A Marine, and Larry Russo, Sr., of MarineMax Northeast. The award is in honor of the late Frank Farrell (1928-2001). Farrell was a co-founder of the New England Boat Show in 1957 and was instrumental in the formation of the MMTA in 1964. He became the first full-time executive director of the MMTA in 1975, a position he held for more than 25 years.

Hosted by the MMTA, the BOB conference is planned and organized by a volunteer Conference Committee and the MMTA executive director Randall Lyons. The BOB Conference was made possible through the generosity of its sponsors including 15 table sponsors and 61 annual sponsors of the MMTA.