Though the theme at this year’s HTSA Fall Conference, held October 13–15 near Denver, Colorado, was touted as “ExPEERience” to highlight the importance of peer-to-peer engagement, there was also an underlying theme of change. The first major, full-group get-together at the event, the “State of the Union” session, is normally kicked off by Jon Robbins, whose 10-year contract as executive director of the group expires at the end of December, but this year, the introduction was made by HTSA Board member and owner of Lelch AV, Alex Lelchuk.
Lelchuk introduced HTSA’s new managing director, Shaun Schuetz, who will be taking over the executive director role starting January 1, 2027. Lelchuk also highlighted other changes to the organization’s team, including adding Ellie Doherty in the new role of director of member and vendor relations and promoting long-time employee Jordan Fuchs as director of operations.
director of technology initiatives.
Regarding the search for a new executive director, Lelchuk said, “The board had the monumental task of having to figure out a way to replace Jon. A lot of energy, a lot of effort, and a lot of resources were used. We had 325 applicants applying for this job, so it was quite popular, which was fun to see.
“We had the opportunity to speak to smart and accomplished people, and it was a hard decision to pick between all these amazing candidates. We ultimately selected two people — Shaun and Ellie — because when we were going through all this talent, we thought, ‘I don’t know if one person can do all this.’ And there’s opportunity and vision for this group to go into the next decade and decades beyond that and do more and be a bigger partner to our members and our vendor partners.”
As to why Scheutz was picked for the top role, Lelchuk explained, “Shaun has multiple decades of experience in operating and managing relationships within the industry, as well as a steady hand. One of the things that we were looking for in the next person was somebody that was willing to listen and learn, to use the talent that is currently here and evolve them. That is a difficult and monumental task. Many times, when people come into a leadership role, they want to shake the whole thing up. We didn’t feel like that was necessary; we wanted somebody to grow what we had and make it the best that it possibly can be from an already good spot.”
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Lelchuck then brought Schuetz to the stage to introduce himself to the collected dealer and vendor members.
“I will be rolling up my sleeves, listening and learning to find out what keeps the vendors up at night, what keeps our members up at night, what are the innovative ideas that are going on from both sides of our fence?” said Schuetz. “And, as we collect a lot of that information, it’ll help guide where we take these ideas into the future as a group.
“We will maintain HTSA in the leadership position that we rightfully own within the industry. I’m super excited, grateful, and, most importantly, I’m ready to get to work. Let’s figure out how we can take the industry to levels it’s never been.”
By the Numbers
Jon Robbins then took the stage to go over some of the trends the group’s research had revealed. HTSA is very big on monthly reporting from both its dealer and its vendor partners, using that data to gauge how the business is doing, and what adjustments, if any, should be made.
“We’ve gotten most of the September numbers in now,” said Robbins, “but through August, HTSA was showing overall vendor purchases fairly flat, slightly up — not quite as up as we finished in 2025 — but slightly up. The good news is that of the 35 vendors that have reported in September already, ten of them have reported their highest monthly purchase totals for the year, which is a good sign. The word we got is that the pipelines are full in general and okay going forward. So, it portends a pretty strong end-of-year.
“One thing I’m hearing is that we’re getting held up by other freight. We’re getting held up by the builders, plumbers, or electricians, and it is making us delay projects that would normally get built. It seems like the whole process has slowed down for our members, but we anticipate a strong couple of months. If it doesn’t play out that way, the first quarter next year should be really solid.”
Robbins is not the only HTSA executive who revels in numbers — director of technology initiatives Tom Doherty is also a fan, and held a vendor-only session entitled “Member Outlook for 2027” that was designed to reveal how HTSA member companies say 2026 went, and where they see 2027 heading.
Some of the key takeaways from the session were:
- 78% expect 2027 revenue growth
- The top five product categories that members expect to see growth in are, in descending order, Extra-Large Displays (98 inches and up); Lighting Fixtures; Premium Displays (from 75–97 inches); Service & Support Plans; and Lighting Design Services
- Client spending is moving away from control toward environment (lighting, shading, cameras)
- The top five concerns of HTSA dealers, in descending order, include slow client decisions and project delays; finding and keeping qualified people; economic or political uncertainty; interest rates and housing activity; and competitive pricing pressure
Overall, the research stated that the purchasing of members shows that 2026 delivered, with 42% of respondents being ahead of plan. The firms that are ahead bought 14% more through HTSA programs. It also seems that 2027 will look like 2026, with a stronger top end — 78% expect growth and 32% expect that growth in double digits.
And Now a Word About RESIDE
HTSA sold Lightapalooza to AVIXA, producers of InfoComm for commercial integrators, earlier this year. Then, shortly thereafter, HTSA announced that they would team up with ProSource in partnership with AVIXA on not only the lighting event, but also a new residential integration event named RESIDE, all co-located at InfoComm in Orlando, Florida, this June. AVIXA’s presence was felt at the Fall Conference not only from seeing AVIXA’s chief executive officer David Labuskes and senior vice president, expositions, Americas Jenn Heinold walking the event, but there was a dedicated session hosted by Doherty that filled members in on RESIDE’s and Lightapalooza’s progress.
“When Lightapalooza took off, the thing I heard more than anything was do this for audio, do it for video, do it for automation,” said Doherty. “What they were asking —what they were really wanting — was essentially what we have in Europe with ISE and bringing everything together. People want efficiency.
“It was November 2025 that I reached out to AVIXA about Lightapalooza. In order for it to continue to do what it needed to do, the event needed some real resources. We announced the sale in April, and then in May, the rest of the shoe dropped, and we revealed that we are finally giving the people that wanted Videopalooza, Audiopalooza, Automationpalooza, Networkpalooza, and so on a home, and bringing the full professional integration community together in one event.”
Doherty explained that HTSA was no longer “footing the bill” for the events; that was AVIXA’s responsibility, but HTSA and ProSource were advising the commercial integration association and working on the education programs.
Related: The Power of Peer Support – A Conversation with Jon Robbins
“The education side is an important component,” he said. With Lightapalooza, people really appreciated the level of education that was provided. The amount of time integrators spent in classrooms at those events is the model that we’re going to continue, but now we want to extend it to the rest of the categories that are outside of lighting. We see an opportunity there and have formed two education committees, one for each event. Lightpalooza is mostly baked and understood, but before, I was doing it informally, and now we’ve added structure. We have six people on each committee, and then we have AVIXA, which runs world-class education, being responsible for executing it.”
A Closing to Remember
Robbins has maintained that he is not retiring come January 1, but still, when he took to the stage for the Fall Conference’s closing session, he warned that he might get emotional toward the end, as he gave his final conference address to the group he had led for the past decade. He was not the only one emotional, as many in the crowd dabbed their eyes as he spoke.
His parting remarks to the group were as follows:
“My closing wish for you is this: May you be safe. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease.”
And with that, he left the stage to a standing ovation that carried on for quite some time even after he left the room.
