A Dealer Panel of five well-respected men will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of the 2026 RV Industry Power Breakfast, which this year will be the morning of May 21 at the Northern Indiana Event Center on the campus of the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Ind.
Serving on the Dealer Panel will be: Loren Baidas of General RV Center, Jon Ferrando of Blue Compass RV, Nathan Hart of Walnut Ridge RV, Ben Hirsch of Campers Inn RV, and Jarrod McGhee of Fun Town RV.
The five dealers will field questions on several topics, including timely issues of particular interest to the greater RV industry such as their perspectives on the short- and long-term retail market environment, the relationship between OEMs, dealers and other industry players, and the impact of industry consolidation.
Hosted by RVBusiness and facilitated by B.J. Thompson & Associates, the 2026 RV Industry Power Breakfast is sponsored by Airxcel Inc., Cummins Inc., Dometic, Forest River Inc., Kampgrounds of America Inc., RV Dealers Association, RV Industry Association, Spartan RV Chassis, THOR Industries Inc., Wells Fargo IF, and Winnebago Industries Inc. The Coffee Bar sponsor is Genesis Products.
The event will open with a breakfast buffet starting at 6:45 a.m., with the general program beginning at 7:15 a.m. Tickets — available for $80 per seat or $750 for a Table Sponsorship of 10 seats — will go on sale at 10 a.m., April 6 via a link on RVBusiness.com.
2206 RV Industry Power Breakfast Dealer Panel
Loren Baidas — After serving as company President for nearly 20 years, Baidas was named General RV Center’s Chief Executive Officer in 2024.
Growing up around RV dealerships, Baidas spent every summer of his teens working in the retail Parts department. After attending Alma College, he pursued a career outside the family business and worked as a credit analyst in the banking industry. He returned to General RV Center in 1999 and became a sales associate in the Wixom dealership.
Prior to becoming president, he was General Manager of the Wixom Supercenter and a national sales manager for the company.
As a third-generation owner, Baidas strives to make General RV a better place for employees and customers. With an eye always on the future, he makes decisions by considering the impact it will have on the long-term health of the organization and with the next generation in mind.
The company operates 23 full-service dealerships in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia, Florida, Utah, Pennsylvania and North Carolina as well as a Pre-Delivery Inspection Facility in Elkhart, Ind.
Jon Ferrando — Ferrando founded Blue Compass RV in 2018 and serves as the CEO and President. Since inception, Blue Compass RV has grown to over 100 RV stores in 33 states with over $3 billion in annual revenue.
He is a seasoned Fortune 200 senior executive with a strong strategic orientation and 25 years of experience leading entrepreneurial growth and large public companies.
Before Blue Compass RV, Ferrando was a key member of the AutoNation senior management team that drove the strategy/execution of AutoNation’s extraordinary growth phase from a start-up to a $20 billion enterprise and the largest automotive retailer in the United States.
Prior to joining AutoNation, Ferrando was a corporate attorney with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in Chicago, Illinois, one of the largest corporate law firms in the world. A native of Kalamazoo, Mich., Ferrando graduated from the University of Michigan in 1988 with a B.A. in Economics and from Harvard Law School in 1991.
Nathan Hart — A partner overseeing Walnut Ridge Family RV Sales in New Castle, Ind., and Louisville, Ky., as well as Primeaux RV Superstores in Lafayette and Alexandria, La., Hart traces his roots in the RV industry back to 1991, when his father surprised the family by saying he had bought a campground.
Five years later, an RV sales and service operation was added to the mix. Hart and his brother, Justin — also a partner in the dealerships — worked all sorts of jobs for the family business, which, as he says, “turned into a lifelong obsession and career that I’m thankful for every day.”
Hart served as chairman of the RV Dealers Association Board of Directors in 2023, and Walnut Ridge Family RV Sales has been recognized as one of the Top 50 RV Dealers in North America for 11 consecutive years, also being designated as a 2025 Blue Ribbon Dealer — an honor reserved for the top five dealers in North America.
Ben Hirsch — Ben Hirsch is the Chief Operating Officer of Campers Inn RV, helping lead day-to-day operations for one of the largest dealership networks in the country. Over the last 13 years, he has played a central role in scaling the company from six to over 50 locations while building a people-first culture anchored in operational excellence and disciplined execution.
He is especially proud of developing and retaining a high-performing leadership team, with nearly no senior leadership turnover over the last seven years. Hirsch has led growth through dozens of acquisitions and helped guide the business through multiple RV industry cycles. He also serves on the board of the Priority RV Network.
Before joining the RV industry, Hirsch served eight years in the U.S. Army as a Captain and UH-60 Black Hawk pilot, flying combat missions in Iraq. He earned the General MacArthur Leadership Award twice and is a decorated Army aviator.
Hirsch is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and holds two master’s degrees, including an MBA from the Wharton School.
Jarrod McGhee — Fun Town RV Founder & CEO Jarrod McGhee founded the dealership in 2010 with a dream to provide “quality RVs to families and make them more affordable to everyone.” Being an RV salesman and former general manager at an RV dealership, McGhee said he saw firsthand a need for change in the industry and rose to the challenge of “totally revolutionizing the RV buying space.”
By pursuing innovative ideas and following many industry leaders in the automobile industry, McGhee built Fun Town RV to what it has become today, which is to 32 locations across Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma and Texas, employing nearly 1,000 individuals.
More recently, McGhee was instrumental in helping the RV Technical Institute launch an RV technician training program at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas. McGhee’s support included a sizable donation as well as scholarship funding.
