Steve Jordan talks to Brian Limperopulos, the new president of IAM.
So, Brian Limperopulos has taken over as president of the International Association of Movers (IAM), the world’s largest moving association. It’s been an appointment that has been proving for a long time, and Brian is well known to most international operators in the industry. But what sort of leader will he be? And what does IAM have lined up on the agenda?
At just 38 years old, Brian is the youngest president IAM has ever had. But Terry Head, president of IAM for almost 22 years until he stepped down in 2018, recognised his potential a long time back. He’d been with the organisation for seven years or so when Terry decided that a long-term succession plan for IAM was required. Chuck White, who had been with IAM since 2005, focussing on the US military business, planned to step into the presidential shoes for several years following Terry. Brian was the obvious choice to take over from him. “Chuck's retirement probably came sooner than we anticipated,” said Terry. “I am grateful we had the foresight to position Brian to be ready to step up and advance the programmes initiated under mine and Chuck's incumbencies.”
The route to IAM
Brian hails from a small town in the Hudson River Valley of New York State called Cornwall. His entire family still lives there, including his sister Kathryn Clough who works for Caprelo. Before joining the moving world, he studied international affairs at George Washington University in Washington, DC. Upon graduation, he’d intended to join the US public sector but the economy wasn’t the greatest and there were no jobs around. “I had a friend who had started working full time at Security Moving & Storage in DC and they had a position available. I wanted to stay in DC with my girlfriend and friends and not go back home. The job was as a move manager for the World Bank account.”
Brian had some good teachers at Security. He credits the influence of Margaret Albright, Bridget Walsh, Phil Wells, and Ray daSilva who helped to teach him the ropes. “I was fortunate that they sent me off to Sydney to take the FIDI EiM course, where Jesse van Sas and Nancy Wigglesworth were my FIDI trainers. Before that, I was considering leaving the industry, but having had that opportunity, and building relationships with them, and the others in my cohort, I decided to stay.”
Then came an opportunity for Brian ...
Photos:
Top - Brian Limperopulos.
Bottom (left to right) - Morgana Somers, Daniel Bradley, William Kohudic, Brian Limperopulos, Julia O’Connor, Chuck White, Verena Goetz, Carl Weaver, Nicola Collett, Matthieu Odijk, Steve Cox, Angela DeConti.
Click here to read the full story in The Mover magazine.