QCA Founder Jay Deutsch Steps Down From Board

Jay Deutsch, creator of the Quality Certification Alliance, and cofounder and CEO of BDA Inc., Woodinville, Wash., announced that he is stepping down from his position on the QCA board after 10 years. Deutsch spent eight of those years as president.

"Jay was instrumental in creating industry standards for brand safety and ethical sourcing," Tim Brown, MAS, QCA's executive director of operations, said in a press release. "Without his passion and vision, QCA would not exist today. He has been an integral part of building QCA into an innovative, industry-leading organization, and his valuable counsel has played a huge part in QCA's growth and impact on the industry. Jay is leaving the board in a solid position, and is passing the torch to the current and future leaders of QCA. The organization is poised for growth as end-buyers are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of responsible sourcing processes that are independently validated."

Deutsch also spent time supporting multiple QCA committees, and formed the organization's Distributor Advocacy Council.

"QCA would not exist without Jay's 2008 vision of a product responsibility accreditation body for the promotional products industry," Larry Whitney, current board president of QCA, said in a press release. "Jay's contributions to the success of QCA are too numerous to count."

Just this year at the PPAI Expo in Las Vegas, Deutsch received QCA's first Heritage Award for "pioneers and visionaries that have demonstrated unwavering dedication, innovation, and leadership in the creation and sustainability of QCA and the organization's mission."

"Jay was absolutely instrumental in driving QCA's formation and development as the industry's leading compliance organization," David Nicholson, president of Polyconcept North America, said in a press release. "He recognized both the critical need and importance to address growing concerns around product safety—and the risks for our industry if something wasn't done."

Deutsch said that he wants to focus all of his attention on BDA's growth, and feels comfortable knowing QCA is in good hands with Brown and Dee Fenton, QCA's executive director of compliance.

"Over the past decade, we've worked tirelessly to deliver a set of exacting quality standards to the promotional products industry," said Deutsch. "With more than 25 years of working in the Far East, BDA brought to the table our world class supply chain quality control program and associated best practices as the foundation of QCA. This set a high bar for what is today's QCA proprietary auditing protocols. I'm really proud of the work that we accomplished, and the great suppliers that opened their doors to improve and certify their supply chain practices. There are many professional suppliers working hard to protect both our clients' brands and our overall industry."

He left with one last piece of advice:

"Safe products are in the best interest of everyone in the industry," he said. "Vote with your purchase orders and do right by your clients. Using QCA-certified suppliers is just good business."

For more information on QCA, visit www.qcalliance.org. For more information on BDA, visit www.bdainc.com.