Carla Balakgie has extended her contract with the National Automatic Merchandising Association for another three years, according to NAMA’s board of directors. Balakgie has led the association as chief executive since 2011.
“We are honored and fortunate to have Carla lead NAMA for the next three years,” said NAMA’s new chair, Joseph Hessling. “In a completive environment like convenience services, talent like Carla’s is highly sought after in industry’s much larger than ours.”
Hessling, who is chief executive of Troy, MI-based 365 Retail Markets, one of the association’s largest backers, said for NAMA to have the level of talent that Balakgie and the NAMA staff bring to any organization is “unheard of” and speaks to the industry’s growth and opportunity potential.
Founded in 1936, NAMA is the association representing the $31 billion U.S. convenience services industry.
Balakgie, a certified association executive and a Fellow of the American Society of Association Executives, is the first woman to lead NAMA in its 85-year history.
