Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/255289
From the Chairman February 2014 | Construction Equipment Distribution | www.cedmag.com | 5 President & CEO - BRIAN MCGUIRE Associated Equipment Distributors Oak Brook, Ill. Executive Vice President & COO ROBERT HENDERSON Associated Equipment Distributors Oak Brook, Ill. OFFICERS Chairman - TIM WATTERS Hoffman Equipment Co., Piscataway, N.J. Vice Chairman - DON SHILLING General Equipment & Supplies, Inc. Fargo, N.D. Sr. Vice President - WHIT PERRYMAN Vermeer Equipment of Texas, Inc. Irving, Texas Vice President - RICK VAN EXAN Toromont Industries Ltd. Concord, Ont., Canada Vice President - WES STOWERS Stowers Machinery Corp. Knoxville, Tenn. Vice President of Finance MICHAEL D. BRENNAN Brandeis Machinery & Supply Co., Louisville, Ky. Past Chairman - MIKE QUIRK Wagner Equipment Co. Aurora, Colo. AT-LARGE DIRECTORS TODD BACHMAN Florida Coast Equipment, Inc. Boynton Beach, Fla. RON BARLET Bejac Corp. Placentia, Calif. DENNIS J. HELLER Stephenson Equipment Inc. Harrisburg, Pa. LARRY R. MILLER Kelbe Bros. Equipment Co. Inc. Butler, Wis. MITCH NEVINS Four Seasons Equipment, Inc. Houston, Texas MIKE ROONEY Thompson Tractor Co., Inc. Tarrant, Ala. REGIONAL DIRECTORS RYAN GREENAWALT Midwest Reg. Alta Equipment Co. Wixom, Mich. TODD HYSTAD Western Canada Reg. Vimar Equipment Ltd. Burnaby, B.C. PATRICK W. MCCONNELL, West Reg. Clyde/West, Inc. Portland, Ore. CHRISTOPHER PALMER Northeast Reg. Wood's CRW Corp. Williston, Vt. GILES POULSON Rocky Mountain Reg. Faris Machinery Co. Commerce City, Colo. JAY RODES, Southeast Reg. Wilson Equipment Co. Lexington, Ky. RICK VAN EXAN Eastern Canada Reg. Toromont Industries Ltd. Concord, Ont. GARY D. VAUGHN South Central Reg. OCT Equipment, Inc. Oklahoma City, Okla. By now, many of you have had a chance to meet Brian McGuire, our new CEO, and I trust that you are impressed with him. He comes to AED from the Tooling and Manufacturing Association, where he demonstrated a proven ability to manage a large association and grow membership. These are important skills for our new CEO, as this is exactly what he should be focused on as he assumes leadership of AED. Over the past several years, the No. 1 priority of this association has been advo- cacy in Washington, and recently to include Ottawa, as well. I am enormously proud of our Washington activities – we have a great team led by Christian Klein who always, always, leaves me impressed. In my opinion, the best event you can attend within AED is our Washington Fly-In (April 2-3 this year), and if you haven't attended one, I strongly recommend you give it a try. A problem with advocacy is that results are hard to measure – who can guess whether a congressman changes his vote as a result of our lobbying?! Having said that, we know that AED is well respected in Washington and is perceived as an authority on the issues. We have forged relationships with leaders from both sides of the aisle, and both parties rely on AED for facts and insights on those issues that relate to our industry. But in focusing so much attention on Washington, we have lost sight of other, equally important issues that demand our immediate attention! What are they? Membership! Our membership is down 40 percent since 2007, with declines in all cate- gories every year since 2007, including 2013. Revenue! With declining membership comes declining revenue. While we have managed to avoid significant reductions so far, this will be increasingly difficult to main- tain if our membership continues to erode. Our channel sucks! Why is our channel the laggard of all distribution channels in terms of profitability? And who, if not AED, is going to do anything about it? Dealers are too caught up in the "trenches," manufac- turers are too focused on chasing share, and nobody is focused on our pitiful profitability as an industry. Workforce Development! We have enjoyed great success in this area, and our members' "votes" tell us that this is where we should invest even more resources. By votes, I refer to the dollars that our members donate to The AED Foundation – our members tell us with their pocketbooks that this issue is important to our membership The Annual Meeting! Has anyone else noticed it's shrinking?! The book of attendees used to be too big to fit into your breast pocket without a telltale lump in your jacket. Come on, this is our biggest revenue producer – we have got to get this reversed. Our industry is changing/shrinking! Related to our declining membership, we need to figure out what this industry is going to look like in five years and what role AED is going to play. Where are all the young folks? Our events are starting to resemble bridge night at the country club! Our Young Execs conference has morphed into the Leadership Academy, but we need to work harder to re-engage with the future leaders of this association. While our focus on Washington is great and has produced great results, our leader- ship team needs to be focused on these other issues, as well. We expect our Chicago team to help out as necessary, but let's allow our great team in Washington to "do their thing" while the rest of us get focused on the issues listed here – if we don't, we won't have resources available to fund any of our activi- ties, including advocacy. TIM WATTERS (timwatters@hoffmanequip.com) is president of Hoffman Equipment in Piscataway, N.J. Priority Check! What's important to you is important to us – advocacy and a lot more. BY TIM WATTERS