Tag: Presidents Letter

IACAC President’s Letter – October, 2014

Posted on | by Brian Bartolotta, President

What a difference a day makes, huh? Warm all weekend and Monday and BANG, a face full of fall Tuesday. Candidly, it suits me fine. It's tough to think apple picking, hot cider and pumpkins when it's north of eighty degrees.Pumpkin farm

As I mentioned in the opening few paragraphs of The Pallet, we're entering the final quarter of my tenure as President of IACAC, and it has been one that has seen some significant advancement of the organization. My commitment was to return the organization to the prominence it had in its early days. We've been around since 1955. That's a very long time with a lot of history (we keep a list of Past Presidents if you ever want to read it) and a diverse collection of leadership from airlines and freight forwarders alike.

My goal was to reengage airlines this year, and I feel that we've done a great job of that to date. But we're not done. Three more months to go and we're not going to coast over the finish line.

Two don't miss events - Transportation Night (10/8) and our monthly luncheon (10/14).

I know, I know, it's hard to imagine that I'd spend a lot of time promoting things, but here I am doing just that.

Next Wednesday night is the annual Transportation Night that is put on by the Traffic Club of Chicago. I wrote about it here and we sent out an email about it last Friday, but I'm going to still tell everyone to put it on their calendars and make sure they attend. Besides the fact it's at the Rosewood (a venue that plays host to many events for the Traffic Club, ITA/GC and others), when you look at all the organizations who are participating you can't not be there. It's free, there's little on television to compete with, and if you have to, just record it and watch it when you get home.

The following week, on Tuesday, October 14th, we are pleased to be hosting Brandon Fried from the Airforwarders Association. Brandon is their Executive Director and absolutely plugged in to what is happening in Washington, DC. Brandon is a member of the prestigious COAC committee which advises Customs on policy and is also instrumental in working with regulatory agencies like FAA, DOT and TSA when it comes to how much air forwarders can and should be regulated. He's a great speaker who is candid and very approachable in his comments and we've asked him to come with a packed presentation on everything from infrastructure funding to the current economic climate for air cargo and the move to a paperless environment. Go here to register.

Next month - elections

The IACAC is preparing a slate of candidates to be voted on at next month's luncheon. Like government, we, too, hold elections in November. Continue to watch this space for an announcement with the names of who is being put forth.

 

 

President’s letter, July 2014

Posted on | by Brian Bartolotta, President

Welcome to July everyone, and I hope that last night's storms only caused people lost power but no damage to their property or injuries to themselves or family.

A man looks holiday fireworksAs we get ready to head into the Independence Day weekend, this is the month where IACAC has no structured activities taking place (i.e. our regular monthly luncheon).  Tonight is our monthly board meeting at Basic Enterprises which starts at 6, and if any members wish to attend, those meetings are open to your observation.  Just let us know you're coming and we are glad to have an audience.  Be careful, you might find yourself dragged in as a volunteer for an upcoming event, such as...

The 2014 IACAC Golf Outing

It is being held next month at the Bridges of Hoffman Estates on August 12th.  Registration is open for singles ($125), foursomes ($400 or lunch guests ($35).  We have also started to receive sponsorships and you will start to see the names of those companies in the advertising we do for the event.  If you can't wait until August 12th to get a course tune-up, then may I suggest the Chicago Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association) who are holding their annual outing on the same course next week.  You can visit their site here for more details.

Sponsorship for the IACAC outing can be had for as little as $100 for a hole sponsorship which includes a sign with your logo on the tee box.  Talk to Jim Wilbrandt, our Golf Committee chair, for the primo sponsorships on the holes where golfers will back up (hint:  the par 3's are a GREAT value for your dollars!).

Dennis J. Speck Scholarship Accepting Applications Through July 25th.

Funded through the generosity of our members and guests at events such as our golf outing, monthly luncheons and annual holiday luncheon in December, the Dennis J. Speck Scholarship Fund is named for a man who gave more than two decades of service to this Association and held every position on the board.  Open to family members of individual or corporate member firms, this year's topic is "How will technology change the future of air cargo?"  You can read more at the page here on the site including additional details for eligibility and download an application.

Final call for outstanding dues.

I respect that we all get busy in our jobs.  The IACAC is a volunteer organization that is funded by the dues of our members and sponsorship opportunities online and in our monthly Pallet.  When we transitioned to this new site, we gave login credentials to everyone who were members last year.  Some of those membership are still unpaid, and tireless board member Maureen Schmitt has been working to contact people personally to get them paid or we will remove their access.

Thanks everyone and have a happy and safe Fourth.  And to our friends north of the border today...Happy Canada Day!

 

 

 

President’s Letter – May, 2014.

Posted on | by Brian Bartolotta, President

Greetings, everyone.

It finally looks like Spring has arrived in Chicago, and none too soon.  Last week according to a local meteorologist, Chicago saw three and a half total hours of sunshine during the work week.  It certainly explains my funk.

Things continue to progress with your Association.  We are proud to announce that we are nearly ninety members strong (including both companies and individuals).  As a board, we realize that people are willing to take their time and dollars to be members because of value that they feel they receive.  We are continually working to deliver that and are exploring benefits or savings with vendors who provide service to the air cargo community and we will proudly share those when they are finalized.

We want to offer you more benefits and savings than you pay in dues.  These benefits can be educational opportunities, savings on training, services or products for your business or any combination of the two.  We want to make it a no-brainer that membership in IACAC rewards you and your companies many times over.

Change in luncheon pricing starting in September.

Thank you to everyone who attends our luncheons.  As we focus on finding guest speakers that you want to hear from (last month with Linda Dreiffen from American, this month with Frank Grimaldi, Jr. from the City's Department of Aviation), our attendance is on the rise.  We experience a lot of walk-in traffic on the day of the event which can wreak havoc if we don't have enough food ordered or a large enough space to accommodate everyone.

Beginning with our September luncheon, pricing will change in two ways.

  • We are introducing member and non-member pricing.  Members will continue to pay $25.00, non-member pricing will increase by $5.00 to $30.00.  The best part is that if you join IACAC at the luncheon, you will be eligible to receive the member pricing.
  • With the new website, we have the opportunity to process payments and take RSVP's online.  You will now have two payment options; pay in advance by credit card, or pay at the door with cash, check or credit card as you have in the past ($2 surcharge for day-of credit card payments).
  • If you do not RSVP online in advance of the event, members and non-members alike will pay $30.00.  Out of respect to the venue and for the courtesy of your fellow guests, we need to have a count.

Next month's luncheon - Networking Event - June 10th.

It has been a long time since we just had an opportunity for individuals to connect, so plan to speed-date with your industry peers at a networking luncheon.  We'll explore doing something simpler with the food so folks don't feel tied to a table, but we want airlines, truckers, warehouse operators, service providers all to connect with each other.

Golf Outing - August 12th - Calling all golfers and sponsors.

We are very excited that Jim Wilbrandt of Basic Enterprise is the Chair of our Golf Committee for this year's event.  He has a lot of exciting things planned, and we're looking for sponsors who have a chance to be in front of the group of air cargo professionals in the Chicago area.  2014 IACA Golf Outing Banner

Sponsorship opportunities exist for:

  • Holes
  • Breakfast
  • Lunch
  • Refreshments
  • Carts

If you are interested, contact Jim by email at jim@basicent.com.

President’s Letter, April, 2014

Posted on | by Brian Bartolotta, President

Let me start off by welcoming our new members this month.  March was an exciting month for IACAC. Our March Madness event was a success (check out the gallery here) and I also want to thank everyone that attended.  Special thanks as well to our co-sponsors the Young Freight Forwarders of America for having a great turnout. We also recruited a new member at the event.

Another great event was our luncheon this month. We had Linda Dreiffin from American Airlines speak about the merger and how it will affect the forwarding community.  She also educated us on the new birds they will be flying and their capacity. We were also able to meet the entire sales team for ORD for both AA and US Airways.  I want to thank Linda and her entire group for participating and interacting with our members and making it a great experience.  We are currently working together with AA to possibly start tours of their facility to show new and current members what goes on behind the scenes.

I’m looking forward to getting the air cargo community more involved with all industry professionals and I do want to also take a moment and thank all the airlines that attended this event. We had over seven airlines in attendance including Singapore Airlines and IAG Cargo to name a few. Thank you so much to all the other airlines that attended as well. We as an organization are very grateful and hope to have your continued support in future events.

We will be having a luncheon in May. The speaker will be announced shortly. I hope to see everyone there.

Bridges of Poplar CreekMark your calendars for our annual golf outing which will be held August 12th at Bridges of Poplar Creek in Hoffmann Estates.  There will be an 08:00 shotgun start. Please make sure you register and sponsor a hole. We are looking forward to a record turnout.  Reach out to Jim Wilbrandt if you have any questions.  You will be able to register via our new site, which Position: Global has been doing a great job maintaining.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone at the next luncheon and hope to see many of you register early for the golf outing. Thank you for your support of IACAC and helping to continue to grow our membership and bringing back the voices of the airlines.