Scott Walode (1958)

Scott Walode (1958) is the owner of ExhibitCraft, Inc.

Biography

Scott Walode is a third generation trade show producer with 36 years of experience in exhibit fabrication, trade show management and special events planning. At 54 years old, he is the owner of ExhibitCraft, Inc. And the "buck" always stops on his desk. Since ExhibitCraft's launch in 1995, it took Scott only a few years to distinguish ExhibitCraft as a leading supplier of portable and modular trade show exhibits in the New York Metropolitan area. Demonstrating extraordinary and rapid growth in a highly competitive field, ExhibitCraft was quickly making a name for itself. Scott is married to Dr. Darlene Walode, a chiropractor in Wayne, NJ, and has four children, Lindsay, Jacqueline, Melanie, and Jordan. He graduated from the College of William & Mary in Virginia, in 1980, with a Bachelor of Business Administration as an accounting major. In 1980, Scott won the Rafer Johnson Upsilon Achievement Award as the most outstanding fraternity student in America. Upon college graduation, having had 4 years of part time employment in the trade show business, Scott joined his father's company, HW Exhibits, Inc. (HWE), in a management capacity. "I'm not quite sure how it all happened," quoted Scott, "I thought I was headed to law school' the next thing I knew I was running the operations and accounting at the family business". HWE primarily produced custom trade show exhibits, but in 1984, they added portable trade show displays to their offering in order to boost low spots in a sales cycle. Within 2 years they became the leading distributor for Nomadic Display in the entire USA. Scott introduced his own line of trade show displays, Euroframe, in 1987 and quickly developed a dealer network of his own. Scott purchased HWE after his father's retirement in 1989. And, in 1991, he sold the Portable Display division and Euroframe to Nomadic Display. During a 3-year contract with Nomadic, Scott set up 3 extremely successful direct sales offices in New York City, Hackensack, NJ, and Washington DC. In 1995, Scott left Nomadic and founded ExhibitCraft, with the vision that there was a viable market demand for a middle-level of trade show displays. "At ExhibitCraft we specialize in providing trade show exhibits that look custom-made, but have all the properties and costs commonly associated with prefabricated trade show exhibits. Clients want to have a custom look while managing their costs and maintaining control over their whole trade show exhibit program by being hands on. They want to save money by being able to bypass shipping, drayage, and local labor costs. But... they don't want to look like everyone else." As a founding partner of the American Display Alliance, Scott is a leader among his peers. "After a year of discussion and planning, we formed the American Display Alliance (ADA) in 2003 with the idea that seven companies with a common interest in aggressive marketing can form a network of huge possibilities for their employees and clients." Since then, the ADA has made quite an impression on the trade show exhibit industry. Also in 2003, Scott was one of the founding franchisees for Exhibits Galore. As the New York franchise, Scott and Exhibits Galore redefined the selling possibilities for portable displays through a highly sophisticated e-commerce website. Scott is recognized as an industry leader and trendsetter; he is often referred to as an expert and a maverick in the sales and production of portable and modular trade show displays. "I'm not sure about the 'expert' label, it still seems like I'm learning something new every day." As a leading distributor for Abex Display Systems, Scott sits on their advisory board. Four years ago, he won their first-ever Ambassador of the Year award. With many leading sales awards, "Best of Show" awards, and Business Marketing Association awards, Scott is very proud of ExhibitCraft's accomplishments. "It feels really great to know we've helped so many companies accomplish their goals over the years."