PRESIDENT'S PERSPECTIVE

By: Tad R. Voder, CVLE

Captain Coffee's message of moving beyond simple survival drove home the importance of faith in himself, his fellow prisoners, his country, and his God. The determination derived from these faiths gave him the mental toughness not only to survive the phys­ical and mental torture and depriva­tion, but to actually turn the experi­ence into a life-enhancing positive series of events, which he credits with making him the successful, fulfilled person that he is today.

My initial emotional reaction to his address was that due to Captain Cof­fee's and his fellow POW's bravery and incredible long-term stoicism, my name and the names of many other young people of that generation were NOT engraved on the walls of the Viet­nam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. Mine were not the only tear-filled eves as we thanked Captain Coffee for his bravery and his powerful message! Captain Coffee's message has stayed in my mind during the weeks follow­ing the Conference. I have been think­ing about the parallels that his message has for each of us as individuals, as owners and managers of our business­es, as an industry, as NVLA members, and as citizens of free countries. We have all survived the terrible attack on America and the values we hold dear. The next step is to move beyond sur­vival in our personal outlooks and atti­tudes, in our business planning, in our economic recovery, in our healing of the wounds of change in the NVLA, and in our preserving of the precious freedoms and heritage of our two beloved countries, the United States and Canada.

To that end, NVLA has assembled a team of Executive Board Officers, Chapter Chairpersons, Management Partner Staff, and Committee Chair­persons who are truly the most talent­ed and dedicated people that any Pres­ident or organization could hope for. They will be spearheading NVLA's efforts to move beyond survival and to grow into the most effective organiza­tion that the leasing industry has to offer. You will be hearing more from them over the course of the year. Many of you have volunteered to work on committees to improve NVLA's pro­grams, including the 2003 Annual Conference, Member Services, Mem­bership Expansion, Education, and Legislative Issues. Perhaps some of you are waiting to be asked. NVLA wants your expertise and needs your help. Let us know what you can do and how you can assist us.

As with Captain Coffee and his fel­low POWs, we must establish a method and habit of meaningful two-way com­munication. Fortunately, we don't have to rely on a "tap code" as the prisoners did. We have telephones, faxes, e-mails, LifeLine and Vehicle Leasing Today to use as tools for complete communication of information, needs and opinions. As with all tools, they must be initiated by individuals in order to be useful. Please take the time to let the NVLA team know your thoughts, ideas, needs and concerns. Conversely, the team will work hard to be better at communicating what we are doing for members.

Take advantage of all of the educa­tional opportunities that are available, and currently being enhanced. Above all, let's all make a commitment to give each other mutual support by focusing on the priorities we can agree on as common goals.

Together, I know we can become more prosperous as individual member companies and as an organization as we move "Beyond Survival" during the coming year, and into the new millennium.