“The Transportation Intermediaries
Association vision for our members is simple and direct: “We are
here to improve your bottom line,” President & CEO Robert Voltmann
declares. “As a true
3PL that offers the shipper the complete package, everything we do is focused
on the member running a better-owned family business. “TIA
has renamed our annual gathering ‘The Capital Conference,’ emphasizing
the aforementioned mission as the branding of our major event.”
Really Big Show
“Each year our trade show
draws upwards of 1,200 members and is unlike any other.
“More than 80 percent
of the attendees are members, not exhibitors,” Robert Voltmann said.
“The TIA Capital Conference
this past April in Palm Desert, California, featured 120 10x10 booths.
“We have some big display
stands, so less than 120 exhibitors, but our floor space is full and busy.”
“Everybody is selling
software and insurance and the railroads are there, LTL truckers, TMS
Systems, Freight Matching, Truck Stop, and others.”
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Building
Membership
“Although many of our
nearly 1,800 members are involved in air and sea freight, the majority
are truckers, the mode that moves much of U.S. cargo.
“Approximately 400 TIA
members own trucks,” Robert Voltmann said. “Most are non-asset
based. Ninety-plus percent are family-owned businesses and of all the
numbers, eighty percent of these companies have five trucks or less.
“The TIA average member
moves about $7 million in gross revenue annually.
“Almost every shipper
has at least one 3PL as a core carrier. Many have up to six.
“Up to 40 percent of the
motor carrier industry rely on 3PL as their only sales force.
“Our TIA growth strategy
is aggressive and aims to put our new members to 2,500, with a real marketplace
goal of 3,000 to 3,500 by 2025.”
Freight Forwarders
Benefit Offer
“We are working on moving
ahead at increasing our freight forwarder presence amongst the legions
of small- to medium-sized forwarders.
“We are also extending
our branding of TIA as ‘The Shippers Choice.”
Highway From
Politics
“My wife, Ginger, and
I were both involved in state politics in Texas,” Robert Voltmann
revealed.
“Prior to 1978, the only
Republican politician that had ever won statewide was Sen. John Tower,
and Tower happened only because it was a special election and he was running
against a far left liberal politician named Ralph Yarborough.
“As Sam Rayburn—our
late, great Senator who was a master of the U.S. Senate and today has
a building in Washington named in his honor—once said, “elect
them young, keep them long,” so Tower continued to get re-elected.
At College
For Ronald Reagan
“In 1978 I worked on a
campaign for Bill Clemmons, who became Texas Governor as the first Republican
elected statewide in a general election.
“In 1980 I ran the Ronald
Reagan campaign at Baylor University, my college campus.
“We took 76 percent of
the vote, registered 2,500 new voters and then turned ‘em out,”
Robert Voltmann declared.
Texas House
“Later
both myself and my then future wife Ginger worked in the Texas House of
Representatives.
“After we married, my
boss was Edward Emmett of the Texas House of Representatives who endorsed
HW Bush in 1980.
“After the election, as
Judge Emmett prepared to go to Washington, he said to me, ‘come
with us,’ so we did and I served as Chief of Staff to Edward Emmett
as he served as Commissioner on The Interstate Commerce Commission.
“After three years we
moved to the National Industrial Transportation League and served for
the next five years representing shippers.
“When President Bush lost
to Bill Clinton, our move from politics was a natural progression.
“But prior to the Bush/Clinton
November election, in early September the handwriting was on the wall
for me when President Bush puked all over the Japanese Prime Minister
at a State Dinner.
“I went into my boss and
said: ‘You know he is going to lose because the media will never
let that scene go, so what are we going to do?’
“As the top spot at NIT
league was available, I followed my boss from Interstate Commerce to NIT,
where I served a further five years.
“During my service at
NIT League I was one of four people in the room during NIT League’s
efforts during the ‘undercharge crisis;’ a time when truckers
were going bankrupt back billing shippers as the tariff rate and the negotiated
rate unfolded.
“We introduced legislation
ending that practice,” Robert Voltmann said.
“Then NIT League was active
in eliminating tariffs and other regulations in the Trucking Industry
Reform Act.
“Finally, we preempted
State regulation on the U.S. trucking industry and ended the Interstate
Commerce Commission entirely,” Bob Voltmann said.
“The fact is,” Robert
declared, “I have been directly involved in every policy decision
during the past 25 years that put us where we are today in the United
States trucking and rail system.”
“From NIT I learned that
Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) leadership was open and
I landed where I am serving today.”
The Best Laid Plans
“I had planned to be the
leader of TIA for three to five years, prove my chops at running an association,
and then move on to some place bigger,” Bob Voltmann said.
“Instead, what happened
was I was able to turn TIA around and make the association grow.
“When I began at TIA,
we had a budget of $750,000 U.S. annually, with five staff, and TIA was
$100,000 in debt.
“Today, TIA fields a $6
million dollar budget, 1,700 members, and $4 million dollars in the bank.”
“We will be a $10 million
dollar organization within the next five years,” Robert Voltmann
said.
Succession
Assured
“We have been able to
attract and keep an organization of keen, smart, young, energetic, talented
people that are training others, and in the long run will ensure not only
organic growth for TIA, but possibly generate the next management group
from within.”
Welcome Aboard
“Next TIA Capital Ideas
Conference & Exhibition for third-party logistics providers and others
is set for Palm Desert, California, April 18-22, 2018, and is open to
everyone, reprising a once-a-year opportunity to interact with representatives
from throughout North America and abroad.
“Key decision makers with
buying authority attend this conference,” Robert said.
“Our event is different.
“Sure, we feature the
sessions and breakouts and concentrate on bringing solutions to issues
confronting the industry today, but our direction is charted by membership.
“For example, we replaced
the staid ‘keynote speaker’ by having three of our membership
conduct a ‘TIA Talk,’ where everybody gets an inside look
at how our member companies were built and are moving ahead in the digital
age.
“We recognize that people
are busy and have taken time out from the daily business to learn and
share, so we think our members’ stories provide a unique common
interest that draws us all closer together.
“TIA never forgets how
important it is that most of our attendees are owners and senior managers,”
Robert Voltmann said.
More information, including
TIA membership & benefits: www.tianet.org
Geoffrey
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