Terry Head has delivered his final State of IAM address as president of the organisation.

He began by paying tribute to his staff of just 11 people who, he said, does the work of 20 or 30.  He also welcomed the organisation’s latest recruit, Dan Bradley, who has taken over from Chuck White as Chuck himself moves into the presidential role (read Steve Jordan's interview with Chuck here).  Terry is only the third president in IAM’s 56-year history.

Terry said that IAM was in a strong position both financially and in terms of membership.  It has an annual revenue in excess of $5 million with 2,480 members in six categories spread over 170 countries.  Three quarters of the IAM membership is outside the USA. IAM has around 120 new members each year. He said that the supplier membership outside the USA was growing too.

The Young Professionals group was established in 2000 and now has 380 members.  Terry said that it is a proving ground for the industry’s future leaders and encouraged members to get their young people involved.

The Logistics Network now has 95 members, all of which are involved in the wider logistics industry as their primary function.

Other initiatives include IAM Mobile that is available all year round and includes country guides and the IAM directory.  Terry encouraged members to make full use of the facility throughout the year, not just during the conference. IAM Connected is another resource that allows members to keep in touch and work together.  “If you are not using IAM Connected you are missing out on a great opportunity,” he said.

IAM Looking Back, the organisation’s history project, is ongoing.  Old records have been digitised and around 15,000 photos uploaded to Facebook. Some of the photos still need identifying so Terry asked members to take a look and see if they can put any names to faces. 

The Receivables Protection Program (RPP) has resolved 545 invoices amounting to around $200,000 recovered that might otherwise have been lost when companies ceased trading.  In addition, the programme has helped resolved a similar value of invoices that were disputed.

The International Shippers Association, a non-profit cooperative buying group set up in 1999, has returned dividends to members of $275,000 this year. Since the organisation was formed it has achieved savings of $1.8 million.

Terry said that IAM has spent a lot of time becoming compliant under the new GDPR regulations that help protect customers’ personal data. He said that the industry was particularly vulnerable and IAM will continue to update its policies and procedures as new regulations emerge.

New projects include working with FIDI to adopt its Professional Cooperative Guidelines (PCG).  “So, we have a standard now that is available to all of us in the industry regardless of which association you work with,” said Terry. “We will be able to build training programmes on it and use it to settle disputes. We are not telling you how to do business, we are giving you a template from which you can set up your own policies and procedures.”  IAM has also developed a new ISO-based standard for digital inventories that can be adopted by all software suppliers to provide greater continuity throughout the supply line.

The IAMX Mobility Exchange was launched last year and has been a great success.  It is a database of individuals and companies that are involved with the industry as a whole.  Terry said that it is searchable and, importantly, it’s validated so all those taking part must prove their claims regarding their facilities, accreditations and Standards.

IAM Learning is the organisation’s newest initiative that was born from its members’ needs survey that identified a need for better training in the industry.  Terry explained that it is an online resource that is easy to access and affordable.  It is aimed at increasing professionalism in the industry at all levels.

Terry left IAM Here2Help until the end of his presentation but it was clear that this is an initiative about which he feels strongly.  The initiative aims to use the facilities of IAM members and IAM Logistics to provide help to those in need as a result of natural disasters and humanitarian crises.  “We have members in 170 countries.  We have warehouses, manpower and trucks that are always needed when responding to natural disasters. That is what we see IAM Here2Help doing.”

IAM Here2Help is now a registered charity so can take donations and get involved in fund raising to provide the seed money to get the programme going.  Terry explained that this was not only the right thing to do from a humanitarian point of view, it also made good business sense.  He said that the USA and other countries spent billions of dollars every year on disaster relief and much of that was for transport and warehousing services. “We will appoint a Board of Directors and will be reaching out to the organisations including governments and NGOs we will work with,” he said.  He encouraged members to get involved in any way they could.

As an example of what could be done Terry asked Walt Peniuk from Premier Van Lines International in Canada onto the stage.  Walt had cycled, walked and ran the 912km from his home in Canada to the conference in Washington, DC to raise funds for IAM Here2Help. It took him just seven days and the weather wasn’t kind.

To explain where IAM was going to be in 2019 Terry invited Chuck White to the stage as he will be the president at that time.  Chuck said that he was very excited to be the fourth IAM president and about the venue for next year: Chicago, a city that IAM has not used before.  The convention will be held at the Hyatt Regency.  Chuck also said that they were looking at New York City, Seattle and Toronto as potential venues for future conferences.

In closing Terry said there wouldn’t be any tearful goodbyes as he stepped down as president. He promised to be in Chicago next year, but in the bar not on the stage.

Adam Lowy, Move for Hunger, joined Terry Head on stage at the IAM convention to talk about his organisation that is dedicated to helping relieve hunger throughout the world by collecting and redistributing unwanted food items when people move house.  The moving industry, particularly in the USA, has worked with Adam for many years and last year contributed around 650,000 lbs of food to the Move for Hunger cause. 

In his address Adam thanked all those companies that had been involved in organising events collecting and distributing food and helping with disaster relief.  He also thanked all those who took part in the IAM fun run at the conference that was held in 80°C heat and raised over $10,000.  Adam said around 30% of all the food produced globally ends up in landfill and his organisation had been able to collect and distribute over 11,000,000lbs of food to those in need since it was formed nine years ago.

Adam gave particular recognition to his 2018 Mover of the Year, Crown Relocations, that had raised funds and collected 213,000 lbs of food items through its offices in the USA and Canada.

In his acknowledgement to Adam, Terry Head said that many young people talk about changing the world, Adam actually was changing the world.

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