Association in Action

I hope all of you have been attending TIA’s Virtual Lunch & Learn webinars. Held twice weekly—on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at noon ET—we have been getting exceptionally good attendance from members and non-members alike! The topics have been extremely relevant and current, with attendees able to implement some of the best practices right away into their businesses. Staff has done an outstanding job in putting these events together! If you miss one, you can always go to the TIA website and view them on demand.

We received a lot of feedback from our members in having to cancel the 2020 Capital Ideas Conference & Exhibition in Austin. Our fingers are crossed, and we are optimistic that we can have some type of in-person event in San Antonio in November for TIA’s 2020 3PL Technovations Conference. If not, we will have a great online event coupled with live participation! One of the ideas we have been discussing is having some regional meetings when it is safe to travel again. We used to do more of this in the “earlier days” of TIA and we believe we can “bring the show to you” with some on-site involvement.

The Virtual Wine Event last month in support of TIAPAC was a huge success! For those that did not attend, you missed out! We will be doing that again in the future. Congress has not re-opened completely, so our “Walk on the Hill” will be managed from the TIA office. Chris and Scott have been lining up meetings for September, so you can expect to receive additional information about how to participate with your own Senator and Congressman. If you have any questions, please contact Chris or Scott and they will get you up to speed beyond what is on our web site or what you have seen in our marketing efforts to keep this in front of you.

With the help of Polly Bond at TIA, Executive Committee Board Member Lynn Gravely, and his CEO Chris Todd at NT Logistics, we have successfully transitioned to a new PEO. Previously, we were with Insperity and they did a great job for us. With the help and oversight of our Executive Committee, the PEO Committee is looking to save your Association around $100,000.00 in annual savings—without reducing benefits to Staff.

This is one of the best things about our Association: the willingness of TIA Members to donate their time to help TIA become an even better Association. I see this all the time when we have Program, Education, Finance, Foundation, PAC and Membership calls on a monthly basis.

TIA has always had Staff Meetings on Monday mornings which include the Vice Presidents and Directors. I am encouraging more participation and involvement from our Executive Team. There are four of them on this team.

Polly Bond, Office Manager & Executive Assistant to the CEO
Cindy Amos, Vice President of Meetings & Education
Chris Burroughs, Vice President of Government Affairs
Jessica Mizell, Vice President of Membership.

Going forward, we will have an Executive Team Meeting following the Staff Meeting.

When we had to cancel the conference last month, TIA returned every deposit, registration fee, vendor fee and any pre-paid expenses that you may have incurred in signing up for the conference in April and then postponed to August.

Fortunately, we had insurance to cover the cancellation and have collected on that policy. This would not have been possible without Cindy, Polly, Roberta, Valerie, Chris, Mitch, Norris, Richard, and the Executive Committee. To me, this was no different than collecting on a valid claim for a loss on a carrier’s insurance policy. We were fortunate to have the resources and policy in place to help TIA.

Staff has some exciting programs headed your way and as always, they will keep you updated.

We will continue to strive to provide visibility, transparency, education and policy information to keep you informed.

Stay Safe,
Doug