Gary Wien, NAFA
Products that save lives don’t stop at the border and neither do their fleets. That’s why many of the largest pharmaceutical and medical solution innovators are sending their fleet managers to NAFA’s International Fleet Academy to learn how to manage fleets around the globe. The conference, which takes place October 21-23 at Loews Ventana Canyon in Tucson, AZ, is designed specifically to meet the needs of those who manage fleets of vehicles outside the United States and Canada.
“For decades, fleet managers have trusted NAFA to provide them with quality fleet management training and education,” said NAFA’s Executive Director Phillip E. Russo, CAE. “As we noticed more and more of our corporate fleet managers being asked to manage fleets outside of North America, we began introducing global fleet educational sessions to our annual conference. This ultimately led to the creation of the International Fleet Academy three years ago, a conference solely dedicated to the unique challenges faced by global fleet managers.”
Some of the pharmaceutical and healthcare corporations who will have fleet managers attend this year’s International Fleet Academy include Amgen, Baxter Healthcare, Boston Scientific, and Merck. During the conference they’ll hear from an all-star lineup of global fleet managers including four with a background in managing a global fleet in the healthcare industry (Joe LaRosa, NAFA’s current International Vice President and Director of Global Fleet Services for Merck & Co.; Joe Carreira, the 2012 International Fleet Manager of the Year and EMEA Fleet Manager for MSD; Lutz Hansen, Purchasing Fleet Management Services for Bayer Business Services GMbH; and NAFA’s former President Gayle Pratt who recently retired from her position as Director, Global Fleet Sourcing for Ecolab). Additional members of the faculty include Giovanni Tortorici, President of the Italian Association of Managers Buyers and Used Cars – A.I.A.G.A.; Steven Saltzgiver, Vice President – Fleet Operations, North America for Coca-Cola; and Kevin Fisher, CAFM, Vice President Strategic Fleet Operations, ARAMARK.
“No other conference comes close to covering all of the material that this covers or goes into as much detail,” added Russo. “If your company has someone managing vehicle fleets outside of North America they need to attend the International Fleet Academy. The education learned can save your company millions of dollars and hundreds of manpower hours!”
In addition to the educational sessions, NAFA’s International Fleet Academy offers exclusive networking opportunities and a cocktail reception and dinner each night. Registration costs are $799 for NAFA members and $1,550 for non-members. Fleet professionals may save $200 off the registration costs by joining NAFA as they register.
Attendees receive several value-added educational items to take back to the office including a ready-to-use executive summary; free subscription to International Fleet World magazine; the newly published NAFA’s Global Fleet Guide; and valuable checklists for policies, RFIs, and RFQs. All total, it’s a resource package valued at $2,500 – well worth the registration costs alone.
For more information visit www.nafafleetacademy.org.
