Steve Jordan talks to the new chair and vice chair of the IAM Young Professionals group: the people who have the future of the mobility industry in their hands – for a while at least.
Lennert de Jong from Gosselin in Belgium and Anu Dattani from Universal Relocations in the USA have taken over as chair and vice chair respectively of the IAM’s YP (Young Professionals). Both have been on the YP Board for some time. They are two-year appointments.
The YP, as do all the ‘under 40’ groups around the world, have a major responsibility to their companies and the industry. Unlike any other group, they have the closest affinity with technology, that is now and will increasingly in the future drive all that we do. They also have the greatest ‘skin in the game’: in most cases the greater part of their careers is ahead of them. So I wondered, firstly, how it felt for them both to be in such leading positions in an organisation that very much carries the future of the industry within it.
Lennert said, in the end it was a relief. “We knew back in August, but the appointments are not confirmed until the conference in October. Until then we were working in a weird vacuum.”
Anu also said the waiting process has been stressful. “It’s a role that’s very personal to me. I met most of my mentors and best friends through the YP. It’s a great opportunity to give back something to these people who have given me so much.”
What do Lennert and Anu feel are some if the key initiatives they would like to pursue? Lennert said that he wanted to get the YPs in each country more closely involved in providing country information: the current Country Guides are simple pdf documents. He also wants to encourage people to take greater advantage of public speaking opportunities.
But there were three key things that were top of the list ...
Photo: Lennert de Jong and Anu Dattani.