ABI Golf Tournament Next Week - Monday Memo 8/19/24
August 19, 2024
2024 ABI Executive Open a Week from Today
One of the most popular of events hosted by the association each year is the annual ABI Executive Open. The 2024 Open will be held a week from today at Glen Oaks Country Club in West Des Moines.
The event is a way for members to connect with each other in a fun way and I have been told frequently that a lot of business is conducted at the outing every year. Whether you come for golf or not, join your ABI colleagues for the reception that afternoon. There is still time to register. Click here to do so: Summary - Executive Open (cvent.com). See you next week.
Board to Meet September 11 in Des Moines; Naig, Whitver to Speak
As you know, ABI Chair Chad Reece (Winnebago Industries, Forest City) and you and your fellow members of the association’s Board of Directors will convene September 11th for the first meeting of the fiscal year. This is an important meeting and the board will be asked to consider and act on several issues.
The board will meet at the Wakonda Club in Des Moines. The agenda is a full one, with several issues to be considered. Be on the lookout for a board packet link to arrive in your email in-basket around September 4th. The agenda will include action on the association’s 2025 policy recommendations, program reports, and other important issues. A key topic will be the latest news regarding the search for a new ABI president.
Two more highlights are appearances by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig and Iowa Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver. Both Secretary Naig and Senator Whitver have been true friends of ABI and we appreciate their leadership very much.
Many of you have already registered for the board meeting. If you have not already done so, you can register by simply replying to this memorandum. Your participation in this meeting is important and on behalf of Chad and our other officers, thank you in advance for attending.
New Board Members to Attend First Meeting
This September meeting of the ABI Board of Directors will mark the first for newly-elected directors. It will be great to welcome the new board members next month.
Joining the board this year are Kathy Evert (Signarama, Ankeny), Brad Henningsen (Henningsen Construction, Atlantic), Ed McGreen (Kreg Tool Company, Ankeny), Bethany Pautsch (Tyson Foods, Storm Lake), Chad Rubner (Express Logistics, Urbandale), and Andrew St. John (CIPCO, Des Moines). The honorary Leadership Iowa board representative this year is Chris LaFerla (Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce, Council Bluffs). Congratulations again to these incoming leaders.
ABI Tax Committee Meets Tomorrow
At 11:30 tomorrow morning, ABI member company executive Ryan Loecher (EFCO, Des Moines), will convene the 2024 meeting of the ABI Tax Committee. That meeting will mark the final meeting in the series of five policy meetings held this month.
Literally hundreds of ABI members from all across Iowa and beyond are participating in the 2024 series of meetings. The process next shifts to the ABI Legislative Committee and then will conclude with the meeting of the ABI Board of Directors on September 11. On behalf of ABI Vice Chair Kellan Longenecker (General Mills, Carlisle), who this year leads this process for ABI, thank you for your participation in this important work.
Manufacturing Conference, with Legends in Manufacturing Awards Luncheon, October 2nd
As reported last week, two popular ABI events return this fall, again wrapped into one event. ABI’s Iowa Manufacturing Conference now includes the Legends in Manufacturing Awards event in a luncheon format. The conference will be held at the FFA Enrichment Center on the campus of Des Moines Area Community College on October 2nd. Please click here for more information and to register now: Summary - Iowa Manufacturing Conference & Legends In Manufacturing Awards (cvent.com). If you are an Iowa manufacturer, you will want to attend this event!
Next Week: PM2.5 Webinar
A week from tomorrow (Tuesday August 27th), ABI and CIRAS will host a Zoom meeting related to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new PM2.5 requirements. Your environmental engineering team will want to participate to receive the latest updates and compliance strategies. The discussion will also include an update on Iowa DNR’s recently released modeling guidance documents and what that could mean for your company. Register here for this Zoom webinar: https://www.iowaabi.org/events/detail/455-pm2-5-naaqs-compliance-strategies-and-case-studies/.
Crain, Schneider, O’Connor Represent ABI at National Conferences
I was remiss last week in not sharing news about ABI team members who were representing the association at two separate national conferences last week. ABI Executive Vice President Nicole Crain and ABI Marketing and Communications Director Kelsey O’Connor attended the annual conference of the Association of State Chamber Professionals held at The Greenbrier in West Virginia. ABI Vice President Strategic Initiatives and Member Engagement Meg Schneider attended the annual convention of the American Society of Association Executives in Cleveland. In each case, team members came back energized and with new ideas to help serve ABI members better.
Olivia Jones Completes ABI Internship
In the Monday Memo of May 20th, I told you of Olivia Jones, ABI’s summer intern. Olivia is a bright, engaging young woman and she did terrific work for ABI. We thank Olivia for her service and wish her the very best as she returns to Iowa State University for her senior year. Thank you and good luck, Olivia!
Free Business Planning Documentary Next Week in Waukee
For at least the past 15 years, ABI has been providing information and resources related to business/ownership transitions. This is a key issue for ABI members, for our state, and the nation. A new resource is coming to Iowa to provide further assistance with this issue.
The SCOPE Institute is a nonprofit educational entity that is producing events across the country to provide information to business owners related to business transitions. In that regard, SCOPE is hosting the screening of a documentary film, accompanied by a panel discussion, related to this issue. It will be held at The Palms IMAX Theater in Waukee from 6:00 to 8:00 on the evening of August 27th. The event is free of charge, but you must pre-register at Des Moines - August 2024 | The2024event.
Receive Timely Member and Legislative News
Each Friday morning, the ABI Voice of Iowa Business e-newsletter is sent to you. This has the most up-to-date information about what is happening with ABI, the ABI Foundation, and the advocacy work being done by the ABI public policy team. If you do not receive this email each week, please reply to this memorandum and let me know. You will be added at once.
If you do receive it, what are we missing? Are we giving you too much or not enough information? We know you are busy and we have worked to streamline our communications, but we want to ensure we are doing what YOU, our customers, want us to do. Please let us hear from you and thank you.
Francis Zrostlik Again Honored by City of Garner
You may recall that last year at this time, the City of Garner declared a day to honor one of its favorite sons, former ABI (it was called the Iowa Manufacturers Association then) Board Member the late Francis Zrostlik. Francis, of course, was the father of former ABI Chair and current company president Dave Zrostlik (Stellar Industries, Garner). Francis created TWO great ABI member companies, Iowa Mold Tooling and Stellar Industries.
We learned this year that this special day was celebrated again on August 14th, the day of what would have been Francis’ 90th birthday. What a terrific thing for the City of Garner to do. Congratulations to Dave and the Zrostlik family!
Bruntz, Phelan Celebrate Friday
Two ABI leaders are celebrating birthdays this week. Former ABI Chair John Bruntz (The Boulder Company, Des Moines) and former longtime ABI Board Member/Officer Rich Phelan (LyondellBasell, Clinton, Ret.) both celebrate their birthday Friday. Happy birthday to John and Rich!
Nate Weaton’s “Five”
You all know that ABI recently held the 2024 edition of the association’s annual Executive Forum. It was great event, with terrific speakers and tours.
While attendees were enthusiastic about their comments regarding the 2024 event, many people recalled to me the dinner speaker at last year’s Forum. That person was ABI Board Member Nate Weaton (Weaton Companies, Fairfield) who spoke at former ABI Chair Toby Shine’s (Shine Bros. Corp., Spencer) fabulous Okoboji Classic Cars facility. Toby’s hospitality, as always, was wonderful and deeply appreciated. The evening ended with incredibly compelling remarks by Nate and he moved everyone in the room. In fact, this year’s Forum brought MANY comments from attendees who appreciated Nate’s comments and because of that, I include these words from last year about what Nate called “The Five.”
As I noted last year, let me tell you this paragraph does not come close to doing justice to Nate’s address or to the deeply moving personal stories he shared. All we can say is thank you, Nate. Here are The Five:
- Show me your 5: surround yourself with great people; build your influence network over time
- Be where your feet are: always be in the moment
- The EGO line in the sand: take two steps back – that is where confidence and humility have the best balance
- Mindset matters: be the victor not the victim
- Love is powerful: don’t be afraid of the word – don’t just tell someone you love them, SHOW them that you love them
The Business of ABI
Editor's Note: I have been including this item at the end of August for the past several of years, because I am told that it is useful for newly-elected board members to see. In case that is accurate, here it is once again.
As those of you have been reading these memos for years know, from time to time, I include an item called "the Business of ABI," in which I discuss a data point, or a metric, or some other issue related to how ABI itself runs its business. I haven't done that for a while and because so many of the association's new board members asked about ABI's operating business, I thought I would share some comments about that this week. Here are some things I know:
First, I never forget that ABI really IS a business. We have customers, we just happen to call them members. If we aren't providing value to you, we aren't doing our job and there is no reason for you to invest in ABI. The good news is that, thanks to you, ABI does provide value.
Second, I know there are three reasons for ABI's success. The first is because of terrific support from businesses literally in every corner of this state. ABI is Iowa's oldest and largest statewide business organization and that support makes possible everything we do. The second reason for success is great leadership from the ABI Board of Directors. That is not simple rhetoric; your leadership has resulted in tangible and measurable improvements in ABI. The third factor in ABI's success is due to great work by a staff focused on implementing the vision you set for us each year.
Finally, I have been asked about my focus at ABI when I started 19 years ago. I was excited then to get to work for and with some terrific people. I am still excited about that today and each day I commute to Des Moines thinking about what can be done THIS day to make ABI better.
Many of you already know the story; it seemed to me back in 2005 there were so many things that needed addressing, I had to find a way to focus. So, I came up with a plan called "It's as simple as ABC." "A" stood for accountability in decision-making and results. It seemed like that had been lacking and we needed to instill it from the top (the board of directors) down (the staff).
"B" stood for balance sheet. ABI's balance sheet was a mess. We were spending more than we were bringing in and there was no focus on our cash position or on program metrics. "C" stood for communication. There was not a lot of communication between board members, between the board and the staff, or between staff.
The data shows that all of these areas have been addressed. And again, that is due to great leadership from you and hard work on the part of the board and members and staff. I am eager for ABI's new board members to have the opportunity to see this first-hand and to work with you who have been on the board for some years.
The strength of ABI is its members. If ABI can continue to build an association as great as those members, another 121 years of success is in the bag. THANK YOU for your support of ABI.