Message from President and Founder of RLA

What a time we had in Las Vegas at our 5th Annual RLA Conference & Expo!

On Sunday I don’t think there wasn’t one moment during the football party that some group wasn’t yelling for their team. The whole afternoon was tremendous. Everyone was on their feet! And the video screens were any direction you looked. Planet Hollywood really helped us have a great party! There was food and drink anywhere you went. And of course the company was great! It was fun to see all the excitement.

Then on Monday all that participated in the Golf tournament came back winners, other than having to purchase sock-hats to stay warm! We raised $4,000 for “Gifts in Kind International”. What a good cause, their mission as a 501(c)(3) organization, is to link donor resources to enhance, empower, and restore communities and people in need. Thanks everyone for helping us make this successful.

For the Conference and Expo:

• 7 Workshops session with the most knowledge presenters on Reverse Logistics
• Industry Committee reports on real life issues
• Exhibit hall full of clients and exhibitors
• Presentations, case studies and panel discussion that really when beyond the basics. They were current and filled with leading edge issues.

And to top all that, our RLA Sales team tells me that they have already sold 60% of the booth space for 2009!!!

What an unbelievable party Flextronics threw for everyone on Tuesday night. There was enough food there to feed an army. Can you believe that Paul Bruce (VP global Services, Flextronics) was hiding out with the band? I couldn’t get over the bands that rocked us all night long!

So after each of our events, we sit down as a RLA team and ask if we are on track with our mission and what else should we be doing, what should we do to improve? We ask for input from our Advisory Board, we survey each of you for your thoughts and then we take time some time to think about what to do better in the future. It is apparent that Reverse Logistics Professionals are being asked to take on more roles and assignments inside of the reverse supply chain. Just look at the chart below to see how Joe Warren of Canon has been tasked each year to take on more responsibilities.

How will you keep up with the changes needs of RL this coming year? Where will you turn when you don’t have an immediate answer? We hope that you will turn to the colleagues that you meet at our events that we hold around the world. These professionals are the only ones that are currently on the front lines of RL issues with peer review debate. We hope that you will continue to work support RLA through your participation and by becoming a member of the Reverse Logistics Association.

Gailen Vick
President,
ReverseLogisticsAssociation.org
RLAShows.com