Executive Director’s Message

Who or What Is the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance?

By Collin B. Mooney, MPA, CAE, Executive Director, Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance

If you are reading this article, you may be pondering the same question: who or what is the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA)? In a nutshell, it’s you.

Our member organizations reflect the broad coalition of industry representatives and local, state, provincial, territorial and federal commercial motor vehicle safety officials – we count 13,000 officers among our ranks – needed to make our roadways safer. At the organizational and individual levels, our members are dedicated to transportation safety and to helping the Alliance achieve its goals of uniformity, compatibility and reciprocity of commercial motor vehicle inspections throughout North America.

It was with considerable input and work from you, our members, that the Alliance launched its new strategic plan, approved by the CVSA Board of Directors in June 2022. The strategic plan sets the priorities and future direction of the organization. It also helps us to focus energy and resources, strengthen operations and ensure that leadership, staff, members, industry and other stakeholders are working toward common goals. The goals and objectives outlined in the strategic plan aid in guiding the decisions and actions that shape this organization and give us the metrics we need to assess success and progress.

The new plan reflects the Alliance’s aim to prevent commercial motor vehicle crashes, injuries and fatalities. Our leadership and members believe that collaboration between government and industry improves road safety and saves lives. In this plan, you will find the following guiding principles defined:

Purpose

[We believe] Collaboration between government and industry improves road safety and saves lives.

Mission

[So we] Improve commercial motor vehicle safety and enforcement by providing guidance, education and advocacy for enforcement and industry across North America.

Vision

[In order] To be recognized as the North American leader in commercial motor vehicle safety and enforcement.

Goals

• Prevent commercial motor vehicle crashes, injuries and fatalities throughout North

America.

• Increase the credibility and reputation of

CVSA as the leader on commercial motor vehicle safety and enforcement. • Realize the synergy between commercial motor vehicle enforcement/government agencies and the motor carrier industry.

Values

• Integrity – Providing our members and partners with the basis for trust, accountability, transparency and respect. • Professionalism – Consistently developing the highest level of competence, work ethic, responsiveness, openness to new ideas, efficiency and continuous self-improvement. • Leadership – To inspire, influence, guide and support our members and partners in the pursuit of our mission. • Teamwork – Valuing people working together to achieve common goals and partnerships to achieve uniformity and enhance our effectiveness.

The Alliance’s nonprofit designation as a membership association provides the most efficient – and people-powered – structure for achieving the above. The operation of nonprofit organizations can be rather complex and confusing, so here is a quick synopsis of the central characteristics of a nonprofit.

A nonprofit organization is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective (public or social) benefit, in contrast with an entity that operates as a business aiming to generate a profit for its owners. A nonprofit is subject to the non-distribution constraint: any revenues that exceed expenses must be committed to the organization’s purpose, not distributed to private parties such as owners or shareholders.

Key aspects of nonprofits are accountability, trustworthiness, honesty and openness to every person who has invested time, money and faith into the organization. Nonprofit organizations are accountable to their founders, membership, supporters, volunteers, program recipients and the public community.

Even though the chief staff executive position is tasked with leading the dayto-day administrative activities by hiring professional staff to implement the wishes of the membership, it is vital that everyone recognizes and understands that it is the elected officials of the organization – the CVSA Board of Directors – who work on behalf of the entire membership to set the organizational priorities and direction of the Alliance. Additionally, there are a number of opportunities for members to get involved, such as attending training courses and conferences, providing input that helps shape our work, and joining committees or work groups. I encourage you to participate in any way you are able. After all, there is no Alliance without you.

To view CVSA’s latest strategic plan, visit www.cvsa.org/about-cvsa/strategic-plan. To view a listing of the members of the CVSA Board of Directors, check out www. cvsa.org/about-cvsa/current-leadership. n