Local business leader awarded NCE designation

Sunday, February 20, 2005
From left: NAMA president and CEO Richard M. Geerdes; Ron Cichy of Michigan State University and Tim Merideth.

CHICAGO -- Sikeston business leader Tim Merideth was inducted into the National Automatic Merchandising Association Certified Executives on Feb. 10. The announcement was made by NAMA President and CEO Richard M. Geerdes.

Merideth serves as vice president of Burch Food Services and was award the NCE designation to recognize his accomplishment, initiative and professionalism in the vending, coffee services and on-site food management industry. Burch Food Services Inc., a member of the Canteen Vending Franchise Group, is a regional food service provider with its home office in Sikeston. Burch Food Services provides vending services, custom catering, coffee service and inmate commissary to institutions in parts of five states.

In discussing the award Geerdes said: "We congratulate Tim on this momentous occasion recognizing his success. Tim earned this mark of excellence by being a devoted professional who has invested his career serving and advancing our industry. We are very proud of his achievement and congratulate him on a lifetime's investment of hard work, dedication and commitment to success."

To be awarded the NCE designation, applicants must first complete an application that documents personal and professional experience. Once the candidate's qualifications have been verified, he or she is eligible to sit for the NCE exam. The exam is based on the NCE Competencies and Body of Knowledge, which is an evolving document reviewed on an ongoing basis. Its purpose is to identify those areas of information, knowledge and expertise with which the NAMA certified executives should be familiar, and includes a broad base of topics ranging from Food and Beverage and Leadership to Sales Management and Technology.

Merideth, who has been involved in the industry since 1990, has also been actively involved in the Mid-America Merchandising Association for 10 years, including serving three years as president. He and his wife, Missie, live in Sikeston with their two children.

"We are proud to award Tim Merideth the NCE designation that tells the world about his commitment to excellence and dedicated service to our industry," Geerdes concluded.

NAMA is the national trade association of the food and refreshment vending, coffee services and on-site food service management industries. Its membership is comprised of service companies, equipment manufacturers and suppliers of products and services to operating service companies. The basic mission of the association, to collectively advance and promote the automatic merchandising and OCS industries, still guides NAMA today as it did in 1936, the year of the organization's founding.

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