April Board Meeting Recap: Safety Council, Mentor Program, Scholarship Among New Initiatives
The NAFA Board of Trustees recently approved the formation of a new Safety Advisory Council, launched a mentoring program for NAFA's chapters, and sanctioned the formation of a fleet scholarship program. These major actions, among others, took place at the Board's April 12-13 meeting in Charlotte, immediately following the I&E.
The new Safety Advisory Council will be responsible for keeping this important topic in the forefront of NAFA's efforts in articles, products, seminars, legislative activity, and partnering with other organizations.
Donna Bibbo, CAFM, of NovoNordisk, championed this idea to the Board and eagerly accepted the appointment as the group's first Chairperson. "Fleet safety is a frequent topic when fleet managers get together and in benchmarking requests," Bibbo said. "Fleet managers are always interested in finding out what other fleet managers are doing about safety. Now there is a formalized place, through NAFA, for them to go...and I am very happy to lead the efforts."
The Chapter Mentoring Program is a framework within which local NAFA Members and Affiliates can leverage their strengths to enhance their education and knowledge while securing the next generation of leaders for the association.
"Mentoring new members on the local level, as a chapter activity, will allow greater volunteer participation, as it may be easier to get volunteers to commit locally," said NAFA President Douglas Weichman, CAFM. "The program guidelines are strong enough to ensure good results, but flexible enough to allow each chapter to modify them according to their needs."
Patrick McCarren, NAFA's Deputy Executive Director, will coordinate with Joanne Marsh, NAFA's Director of Marketing and Communications, to disseminate the guidelines to chapter leaders and educate them on their implementation.
The Trustees also announced that NAFA will work in partnership with the NAFA Foundation to establish criteria and award guidelines for the new Willard H. DaSilva Fleet Management Scholarship Fund. The scholarship was established to honor DaSilva, who recently ended his 50-plus year term as NAFA's legal counsel. A formal agreement between NAFA and the NAFA Foundation is expected soon, with details on the scholarship in place by 2012.