Connections board votes on national trade association

This article is directly from Clean Fax, the source link is at the bottom of the article and it is written by Jeff Cross:

ORLANDO, FL — During the annual Florida Connections Conference and Exhibition event, the Connections Board of Directors met, discussed and voted on the future of the proposed national trade association.

The result was an 11-2 vote in favor of continuing discussion and investigating the possibility of a national association.

Craig Kersemeier, Connections president, said “This is the front side of where we are at. From here, we’ll form a subcommittee to continue working on this.”

After the conclusion of the annual event, a special discussion was held so that any interested parties could ask questions and provide input that will then be turned over to the yet-to-be determined subcommittee.

The main concern by the group, which included many regional association representatives, was that the regional associations might lose their identity if a national organization was launched. That concern will be a major discussion as this project continues, Kersemeier said.

Other discussions included a long list of benefits that a national association could provide.

Some of the major benefits discussed included group health and business insurance rates, collective buying power, discount programs such as for telephone services, advanced training opportunities, local and national lobbying abilities, and many more.

The IICRC angle

Another concern yet to be addressed is with the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC).

Although this potential association, the group was told by Kersemeier, would be separate from the IICRC, there could be some implications involved.

Ruth Travis, president of the IICRC, said that a possibility would be that the regional associations would lose their IICRC Board of Director seats and that the national association would take one board seat in their places.

The details of this will be discussed in future meetings.

Possible growth

Kersemeier said that there are an estimated 2,500 members involved with the 13 trade associations that control the Connections events.

With a possible 60,000 cleaning and restoration companies in North America, the numbers are there to grow a national association.

“Right now, we don’t represent the whole industry,” he said. “We don’t have a loud voice” if we keep working as separate associations.

He feels that by combining the 2,500 members, that voice would be created and many benefits would be available.

And then there is the possibility of growth with a national association, he said, that regional associations struggle with on their own.

Link: http://www.cleanfax.com/news.asp?N_ID=69197