ARA Regional Directors A

RA welcomed several new Regional Directors during the October 22, 2014 Board of Directors Meeting. Regional Directors are elected by the ARA members in their Region and ensure that the mem- bership-at-large is represented, serving as a link between the members, the ARA Board of Directors, and staff. They are spokespersons for Association member benefits and programs, and play important roles in furthering the operations and goals identified in ARA’s Strategic Plan. ARA members are encouraged to reach out to their Regional Director with questions about ARA member benefits, Association activities, and to share feed- back about issues impacting the industry. Region 1: Chad Counselman Region 2: John Bessler Region 3: Scott Robertson Region 4: Bret Givens Region 5: Greg Bender Region 6: Terry Stenglein Region 7: Paul Davis Region 8: Vacant

Region 9: Hotrod Banks Region 10: Martin Bright Region 11: Jeff Lanoue Region 12: Allan Ripplinger Region 13: Allen Prebble Region 14: Lawrie Beacham

New Opportunities for ARA A

s part of ARA’s ongoing effort to address any instance of misrepresen- tation of the recycled auto parts that ARA members businesses sell, a key step has been to secure better relationships with the automakers themselves.

Face-to-face meetings last year with com- panies such as General Motors, Chrysler, American Honda, Toyota, and Nissan have resulted in two valuable opportunities for ARA in 2015. ARA was invited to speak about the current state of the profession- al automotive recycling industry at the 2015 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Government/Industry meeting scheduled in Washington, DC in January. Automakers have expressed interest in learning the types of parts that are typical-

ly removed for resale and what is current- ly being done by the professional auto- motive recycling industry to comply with state and federal regulations.

Another exciting outcome was an invi- tation for ARA to present at the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) Corporate Responsibility Summit in April. AIAG was founded by Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors as a not-for- profit organization. Membership has grown to include companies such as Toyota, Honda and Nissan, and many of their part suppliers and services providers. ARA’s presentation, “Data Transparency as the Key for Sustainability in Automotive ELVs,” will provide an overview of the important link between automakers and their role in the sustainable practice of har- vesting parts for reutilization.

ARA will continue to reach out to auto- motive manufacturers and pursue more comprehensive dialogue in areas of mutu- al collaboration and ways to open a num- ber of additional doors for the increased utilization of recycled parts. ■

SAVE THE DATE CHARLOTTE NC • OCT. 7-10 2015 January-February 2015 | Automotive Recycling 11