Chairman’s Message
Grounded Together Through Crisis
A
s I have shared with you in previous columns, as this unusual, unprecedented, unrelenting year of 2020 reaches past the summer stretch, AICC has endeavored to keep pace with events. We have adjusted our scheduling, messaging, and access to programming to accommodate the new realities and the needs of membership. On behalf of AICC, I want to thank all members for their ongoing support. To those of you who have given their suggestions and advice to the team, it is helpful, actionable, and appreciated. In a year of firsts, AICC’s board of directors met virtually on June 11 to conduct our Spring Meeting. Given current circumstances, I do not believe it was our last virtual board meeting, but I can certainly hope that way. AICC members are meant to meet and to be together. The closeness and camaraderie of AICC membership is one our strongest value propositions. And, while you can feel it in a virtual conference, it is just not the same. While your board made several decisions during the meeting, there is another first that I want to share with you. The COVID-19 pandemic hit North America about midway through AICC’s 2020 fiscal year. All on-site activities since the beginning of March were canceled. It appears that the first half of AICC’s 2021 fiscal year, July through December, will suffer a similar fate. Normally, AICC’s chair positions rotate at the time of the Annual Meeting, which was canceled along with SuperCorrExpo. We felt that this year, these are not the best of circumstances under which to “toss the keys” to a new chairman and turn over some board positions. As such, we have rolled over the chairs and the entire board of directors for the current 2021 fiscal year. Doing so is consistent with our bylaws, and AICC’s General Counsel David Goch has reviewed this action. The new board is usually endorsed by membership during a general session at the Annual Meeting. We will give the membership the opportunity to be heard on this matter, via a virtual poll, perhaps by the time you read these words. AICC President Mike D’Angelo will share the 2020 financial results with you in the next issue of BoxScore, but I will provide a brief summary here. Financially, AICC was able to pivot on many expenses and mitigate several others as the COVID-19 situation took hold. We will not completely escape the short-term financial hit from the pandemic and the related restrictions, but we are in fairly good shape. AICC is built for the long run. Most encouragingly, membership renewals are coming in at a higher rate than at this time last year. This is the best testimony to the role and importance of your Association to you, your team members, and your operation, especially in a time of crisis. If you have not renewed your membership, please consider doing so shortly. AICC will remain your trusted partner as the remarkable circumstances of this year continue to evolve.
Jay Carman President, StandFast Packaging Group Chairman, AICC
BOXSCORE www.aiccbox.org
3
