President’s Letter: November, 2017

Happy fall, everyone! Last month I had the pleasure to travel and represent the issues of Chicago as well as the air freight community at large in a few different places. I was in Los Angeles where I met with Katie Griley of Griley Air Freight who is leading a local committee investigating the issues of congestion at LAX. She shares many of the same challenges and concerns that we have in Chicago, so it was great to get some ideas from her that we might be able to put to use. I also attending the annual WESCCON event held by the Pacific Coast Council. I saw a number of people from Chicago at the event and it was a great time. 

One of the panels I attended featured speakers from BIS, CBP and an attorney who cautioned that enforcement actions under the current administration for export violations are trending upwards. In short? If you're filing export information via AES, remember that as soon as you send a transmission to the government with incorrect information, even if you amend it later it could be construed as a violation for a false declaration. 

In early October, I also chaired a meeting at American Airlines Cargo of a number of truckers, airlines, forwarders and a lone ground handler to talk about getting ready for the busy Q4 air cargo shipping season. This discussion, coupled with our participation at CACMA and some discussions I had with other air cargo association leaders and airport leadership at the TIACA Executive Summit in Miami is giving me pause for thought on ways to deal with the challenges we're facing here in Chicago. I don't want 2018 to be more of the same and have a few things in mind for concrete steps to take to move the discussion forward. Stay tuned.

Elections: Vote for your IACAC board and by-laws changes on Tuesday, November 14th.

The IACAC are holding our annual officer elections Tuesday, November 14th. At this meeting we will also be voting on a few by-laws changes which you can read in this post here. If you are a regular member in good standing, either individual or corporate, do not forget to vote. We would love if you would join us in person at the Wyndham next week at 11:15, but if you can't attend, download an absentee ballot here and send it to Brian Bartolotta by next Monday - his information is on the ballot.

Holiday luncheon is December 12th - bring a raffle item. Bring a toy. Bring a friend.

We love to get together and celebrate at the holiday season with our membership and it serves as an additional opportunity to raise money for our Scholarship Fund as well as contribute to the Marine Corps Toys for Tots drive.

This year, we're doing something additional and are asking IACAC members who want to have a donation box dropped in their office to email Maureen Schmitt at Mallory Alexander and she will happily arrange for the drop and pick from your facility. Let's extend our reach this year to help out kids who otherwise wouldn't have much to celebrate with this holiday season.

Registration is open and we'll see you at Belevedere Events & Banquets on Tuesday, December 12th.

Membership renewals kick off soon.

We can't believe it is November, either, and this year we are getting a jump on our membership renewal process at the holiday luncheon. It'll be online in the next few weeks, but when you attend our luncheon, you'll have a chance to renew for 2018 right there on the spot. We hope as an organization that we are delivering the value that you expect for your membership in terms of events, information, education and networking and look forward to everyone joining us again in 2018. 

A personal thank you.

This year has been a wonderful experience representing the IACAC and leading a tremendous group of men and women who volunteer their time, their knowledge and themselves to do things on behalf of the group. This group succeeds because of the right mix of veteran leadership and new blood. We are hoping next year that the efforts we put in at our networking events and the outreach to former members and groups like airlines and ground handlers continues to bear fruit as we diversify and expand our board and the reach and success of the IACAC.