President’s letter: December, 2016

This is the final President's Letter that I will be penning for the website. Beginning next month, the new IACAC President, Scott Case, will take over writing this column. Scott was elected President at our elections in November and I trust he will continue the great work of the Presidents who came before him to engage the air cargo community here in Chicago. I will move into the position of Chairman of the Board.

Joining Scott will be Christina Aguirre as Vice President and our three new voting board members, Pamela DeSalvo, Laura Brown and Maureen Schmitt. Non-voting board directors elected this year are Therese O'Sullivan, Herman Ruiz and Pam Parekh. 2017 promises to be another great year for IACAC.

It has been an honor to serve as the IACAC President this year. When you stop and look at the roster of past Presidents, there are many great people who have served the Association. Thank you very much for this opportunity.

Thanks also need to go to our outgoing Chairman of the Board, Jim Wilbrandt and board member Olya Lebedyeva who are departing this year. We thank you both for your service to the Association and appreciate everything you have done.

Peak Season strong

From forecasts around the industry, there is a surprise bump in trucking demand in this last quarter and both air and sea carriers have seen some stability in rates and increases they have put in place have for the most part been holding.

Network, network, network

It was a hallmark of my tenure as President of IACAC, but I am a firm believer in networking. This year alone, IACAC held events at a baseball game, two events at Church Street Brewing and our March Madness event.

This holiday season, it looks like the calendar can get crushed with one association holiday event after the other, but these are great opportunities to keep your business networks active in case an opportunity presents itself personally or professionally.

In 2017, IACAC is going to be working to provide a mix of luncheon and evening networking events. We discovered the crowds we draw for the two events are different and new faces are able to join us more readily at night, and we are committed to cultivate the next generation of leaders.

IACAC Holiday Luncheon

Speaking of networking events, don't miss ours. It's Tuesday, December 13t,h and you can register online here. This event, as well as our golf outing, raise money for our Scholarship Fund. This year we've awarded two scholarships and have invited both of our winners to attend the luncheon.

Don't show up empty handed, either. Bring two things: An item to be raffled off (gift cards, baskets, sporting event tickets...think what you'd like to win) and an unwrapped toy for the Marine Corps Toys for Tots drive. We're also setting aside $5 from each ticket for our scholarship fund as well.

Finally, don't show up without a reservation. Please. Last year, we had thirty-some people registered and sixty-five people showed up. We were VERY lucky Belvedere could accommodate and feed everyone. That might not be the case this year, plus the size of the room will depend upon how many we give for a reservation count. Just click here to register.

President’s Letter: April, 2016

It's spring, we're days away from Opening Day and it's time for some introductions.

Hello, everyone. Thank you to those who participated in the special election earlier this month. I would like to thank Herman Ruiz who also put his name forth for the election. Herman has been an important and involved member of the IACAC for many years and I sincerely appreciate his service.

My name is Brian Bartolotta and I'm the Managing Director of BCS Placement. I am fortunate that many of our members are also my company's clients, so I look forward to having a chance encourage many of you to take the time to get involved in this great organization. I'll also be pressuring my non-member clients to join as well, because I believe that ours is one with tradition and history on our side.

Why I ran for President.

My vision for this organization which is in its 61st year is one of growth locally and nationally. We have a strong and diverse membership of airlines, warehouses, truckers and forwarders. We all have issues that are important to us and we should be working together to improve the air cargo community here in Chicago.

We should also reach out in all directions to other associations; CCBFA, ITA-GC, ITCC, the Illinois Trucking Association and others whose livelihoods depend upon a strong and growing air cargo industry.

We face issues here in Chicago that affect us directly, but sometimes the challenges we face are being repeated in other cities or on a national level. It is with this in mind that I look forward to engaging with organizations such as the Airforwarders Association or other air cargo associations around the country to network and share resources, tips and ideas. I encourage all of you when you travel to other cities to check in advance if your travel coincides with the meeting of a local air cargo association. It is a tremendous networking opportunity as well as a chance to learn something about the local marketplace.

I also want us to be more social. Last week we had a tremendous turnout for our March Madness event held with YFFA. We need to add more of these to our calendar, and surprisingly there are many great venues surrounding the airport where we can gather and share laughs in a relaxed and social setting.

If you have any questions or wish to reach me, feel free to contact me by email at bbartolotta (at) bcsplacement.com.

I look forward to working on your behalf and hope to see as many of you as possible at what will be a feature lunch event on April 12th with Bruce Campbell of Forward Air. Make your reservations today.