Working Hard For You In Washington (But We Need Your Input)
Working Hard For You In Washington (But We Need Your Input)
The First Word
By Phil Russo, CAE
NAFA Executive Director
NAFA’s Strategic Plan envisions a more robust advocacy and government relations program to better represent and defend the fleet industry. Thankfully, the work we’ve done since the mid-1980’s in this area gives us a strong foundation on which to build this expanded program.
Beginning this month, NAFA’s U.S. Legislative Counsel Patrick O’Connor takes the first steps in expanding NAFA’s government affairs work. Thad Woody recently joined Kent & O’Connor to assist Pat in the many important legislative tasks. Together, Pat and Thad will ensure that NAFA is not only at the table with lawmakers and legislators, but that we are starting the conversations and inviting them to our table.
NAFA’s strength in advocacy has always proven our credibility in providing honest, reliable information to legislators and regulators without being seen as having a political ax to grind or an agenda to push.
You, our fleet manager Members, provide a tremendous knowledge base for NAFA to advance the industry and the profession. It is our plan to leverage that knowledge by building a comprehensive and coordinated effort that directly involves more Members in advocacy and government affairs.
One of the first ways you can get involved is by telling us about yourself and your fleet so that we have a comprehensive database of vital information. You are not being asked to volunteer for anything and you don’t have to sign up to get involved. We just want to know more about you because, often times, NAFA’s first step in any legislative process is to pull reports from our database that make an impact with lawmakers. For instance, when we tell lawmakers our Members buy and sell over a million vehicles every year, it gets their attention.
But the only way we can make those impressions is for you to give us that information – on a confidential basis, of course. NAFA never sells or gives away your confidential information or your email address. We use this information solely for internal purposes, such as our legislative efforts.
I encourage you to update your profile now. It will only take a few minutes to let us know how many vehicles you have and whether they’re leased or owned. Then take a few seconds more to update your fleet characteristics to tell us about the more specific elements of your operations. To update your profile, log into your NAFA account at www.NAFA.org, then click the "My Profile" tab in the top menu of the site. This will take you to the secure website where you can enter your information.
I promise you NAFA will never divulge any of your information. But it is very important that we receive information from every Member so we can truly represent you in Washington.
Thank you!
Phil