Mr Ryan: great honour

Resignation fades into history as . . .

Caravanning industry's peak body honours
Jayco's Gerry Ryan

By Dennis Amor
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CARAVAN tycoon and multi-millionaire Gerry Ryan has been honoured by the caravan industry's peak body.

Mr Ryan, founder and owner of the giant Jayco company, received the Richard Davis Award from the Caravan Industry Association of Australia for his outstanding contribution to the industry.

The accolade comes six years after he parted ways with the association's forerunner, the Recreational Vehicle Manufacturers Association of Australia. No reason was ever given for the former president's resignation.

The Caravan Industry Association of Australia  said the Richard Davis Award recognised Mr Ryan's "great entrepreneurial mind and selfless generosity".

This had been provided financially and through guidance to the Caravan, RV & Accommodation Industry of Australia, the former Recreational Vehicle Manufacturers Association of Australia (RVMAA) and his continued involvement with Caravan Industry Association of Australia.

"Without such commitment to developing the industry through support of the national representative bodies ‒ both industry and what is now the Caravan Industry Association of Australia ‒ would look very different to what they do today," the association said.

Mr Ryan has previously been inducted into the Victorian Caravan Industry Hall of Fame and the Victorian Government's Manufacturing Hall of Fame for his tireless contributions to manufacturing excellence.

His company in Melbourne's Dandenong turns out around 11,500 RVs annually and enjoys a near $500 million turnover.

Mr Ryan was not present to accept his latest award, but he said in a video message: "It's a great honour to receive an award named after Richard Davis.

"I worked with him many years ago and he taught me there's more fun in giving than receiving."

Mr Ryan's Jayco company shocked the industry in 2011 when it resigned from the peak body's predecessor, the RVMAA.

No reason was ever given why Jayco ‒ Australia's biggest manufacturer of recreational vehicles ‒ abandoned its membership of the organisation, of which he was once president.

Jayco's website dropped all mention of the RVMAA and stopped attaching the organisation's badge to its newly-produced caravans and motorhomes.

Meanwhile, Jayco's name was scratched from the RVMAA online list of members, which contained 75 RV builders from NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia.

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