Ruth Alfson, CAFM^®, Becomes NAFA's 34th President At Annual Business Meeting

The Annual Business Meeting at I&E is traditionally the session where NAFA leaders let members and attendees know about all the great things NAFA did the previous year, and offer a glimpse of the Association's future direction. Yesterday morning's meeting was no different!


NAFA is an organization that truly has a grasp of its own destiny, and is playing a key role in the fleet industry. That was the crystal-clear message offered by NAFA Chief Executive Officer Phillip Russo, CAE; NAFA Past President Claude Masters, CAFM^®; and NAFA President Ruth Alfson, CAFM^®.

Masters spoke about the Sustainable Fleet Accreditation Program which was released to the public during the Fleet Excellence Awards last night. "With the hard work and dedication of our partners at CALSTART, and with the incredible leap of faith shown by Charter Members, we're excited to let everyone know that the Sustainable Fleet Standard Program is here," Masters said. "With this, fleets are going to be able to work with clear standards and benchmarks for fleet sustainability; measure their work against these; and be able to improve, save money, and be more efficient, because it's the right thing to do."

Another key initiative on Masters' watch was the Government Affairs Committee, and it was clear he was equally passionate about NAFA's standing within the halls of decision-makers. "What we felt we lacked, however, was presence. It wasn't enough just to have a seat at the table, especially if your seat is way down at the far end where nobody can hear you. We wanted to be right up there where the discussions were going on, where our presence was known and felt, and absolutely, where sometimes our legislative friends wished we weren't there!"

Ruth Alfson followed, accepting formally the position of NAFA's President for 2015-2017, and said definitively that the change in leadership does not signal a diminishing of NAFA's forward momentum. On the contrary, "It would be easy to not fight that fight when it comes to sustainability; to stick with the practices and procedures we’re comfortable with. Instead, we are vocal with our knowledge to our companies and organizations, saying there’s a better way of doing these things," Alfson assured. "These will manifest in a return-on-investment in the future, and we’re moving in that direction because we’ve seen the consequences of ignoring the lessons of the past. NAFA members know we can always do better, and even if there is resistance, we forge ahead to acquire the needed knowledge so that we may meet the challenges head on."

 

With that, Alfson introduced the Board of Trustees and Volunteers for the duration of 2015 (which you can find in this issue of Welcome To I&E). With a fantastic keynote presentation from Shawn Achor capping the morning, I&E 2015 was set on sure footing to be one of the most positive and exciting conferences in years!