NationaLease held its Canadian Leadership Summit on November 12-14 at the Four Seasons in Vancouver. The meeting began with a reception on Monday night to welcome the members and suppliers in attendance. Tom Coffey, General Manager of Alliance Leasing, Ltd., a NationaLease Member, and this year’s meeting chair kicked off the meeting on Tuesday morning with an acknowledgement of the meeting committee: Peter MacGillivray, NovaTruck NationaLease; Kevin Hoyt, VEL NationaLease and Shawn Lamoreaux, Location Brossard NationaLease, before leading the group in introductions. He then invited Dean Vicha, President of NationaLease to provide some opening remarks and share some of the initiatives the NationaLease staff has been addressing on behalf of the members. Dean then introduced David Deon, President, Velocity Truck Rental & Leasing, a NationaLease Member, who shared some of their best practices in running a leasing company and how the member companies can utilize these practices in their businesses. Rob Garcia, Sr. Vice President of New Business Development, Supply Management NationaLease followed to discuss Supply Management programs, as well as relevant trends and projections related to those programs. Scott Marzec, Member Programs Manager with NationaLease, then introduced a panel of members who shared practical applications of utilizing the NationaLease programs in their own businesses. David Deon, Velocity Truck Rental & Leasing, a NationaLease Member; Murray Dickenson, VEL NationaLease; and Mike Thibeau, TFI Holdings joined Scott for this practical session. Following lunch, the afternoon session consisted of a Speed Networking event, where every member and supplier had a chance to meet individually. The first day closed with a dinner cruise in the harbour, complete with views of the Vancouver skyline, Stanley Park, and the North Shore Mountains.
The second day began with a recap of the key points covered during a supplier round table discussion from the previous day. Rob Garcia reviewed the key topics mentioned including member accessibility, communication channels, sales opportunities, product promotions, and specific challenges and opportunities in the Canadian market. Joe Gallick, Senior Vice President of Sales, NationaLease then discussed how to package, price, and sell different types of contract maintenance to suit customers’ needs. Brandon Flynt of Diesel Laptops followed with some insights into various diagnostic technologies; which ones are popular, and which ones work best for individual applications. Nicole Coderre, President, Location NRJ NationaLease shared a follow-up on a presentation she gave at last year’s meeting. Her team managed to find a new pool of qualified technicians – in the Philippines! She updated the group on how the process worked and her success in hiring these technicians. The next session discussed surviving and prospering in the current North American political environment. Michael J. Dearden, President, Dearden & Associates, Inc., reviewed the current state of Canada-US relations as well as federal-provincial relations and how they impact our businesses in very practical areas such as equipment standards, environmental regulations, taxation, trade, and emerging technologies.
The afternoon sessions continued with Jane Clark, Vice President of Member Services for NationaLease, who gave an update on what’s happening at the NationaLease home office. She then introduced a panel to discuss how to depreciate a lease. The panel of experts- Darren Currie, President, Calmont NationaLease; Joe Gallick, Senior Vice President of Sales, NationaLease; Kevin Hoyt, Controller, VEL NationaLease; and Shawn Lamoureux, VP Fleet Manager, Location Brossard NationaLease shared how they approach depreciation in their own companies and what to look for as you make these decisions. Grant Bradshaw, Director, Canadian Parts Sales, Volvo followed to address the current landscape for Canadian parts purchasing and some of the influences impacting the market. The meeting sessions concluded with Dick Finnegan, CEO, C-Suite Analytics, who discussed the current epidemic of employee turnover and shared solutions that work to change it.
The 2018 NationaLease Canadian Leadership Summit ended with the Awards Dinner. Jane Clark presented the NationaLease Most Valuable Performance Award. This award is meant to recognize those Canadian Members who have had outstanding performance in areas of business growth, member participation and purchasing within the NationaLease System. This year’s winners were Nova Truck NationaLease and VEL NationaLease. Jane also presented the Canadian Supplier of the Year to the supplier who provided the best service to the members, chosen by member vote. This year’s winner was Freightliner Trucks. Next year’s Canadian Leadership Summit will be held November 4-6 at the Westin Chicago River North as part of NationaLease’s 75th Anniversary celebration.
