A few thoughts from Jon Flora
CEO, NACM Business Credit Services

If you walk around our NACM BCS office, you will see some really cool framed photographs from the earlier days of our association. Two characteristics are notable from the 75 year-old black-and-white images:

  1. The people shown are mostly men. Well dressed in three-piece suits, the profession (like most of that time) was dominated by menfolk. And, they wore hats!
  2. There are a lot of them! The framed images are huge in order to fit in everyone.

How the world has changed. Today, our profession has significantly less people than back in the 1920’s…and even the early 2000’s. And, what’s more, most of our NACM membership is made up of women.

Along with that are the obvious changes in technology, changes in societal norms and also in demographics, and the economy; these have all had an impact on America’s workforce.

Now in 2018, we are choosing to focus some of our educational programming on the women leading today’s credit profession. At our Hawaii Winter Credit Forum in March, Hiq Lee, President of Experian Business Information Services (BIS), will be our keynote speaker, addressing leadership and work-life balance. At our Annual Seminar in Seattle this May, Thea Dudley, Vice President of Finance for SRS Distribution, will address advocating for yourself, and your credit department.

These two are both smart business people. They are leaders focused on change and are guiding their companies to new heights. Each has faced interesting challenges along their career path and are eager to share their journey. We’re fortunate to have them join us for our professional events. Be sure to register for both conferences.

We are also celebrating the results of our first collaborative webinar with our industry colleagues from California and Arizona. More than 75 of our members attended (and we might add, the most ever for one of our online events) joining another 120+ from the other associations. This result exceeded our expectations, and based on survey results, we are pleased you found it so valuable.

The March webinar program will be on Effective Customer Visits and is co-facilitated by another woman-leader in the Credit-Collections Industry.  Join us on March 6th. The webinar is FREE for members.

This is the point in the season when winter gets a little looonnnggg and tiresome.  So I hope our programs are giving you something to anticipate!  Keep going! Spring is just around the corner.

Have a great month and thanks for being part of NACM Business Credit Services.