As the new chairman of the Automotive Service Association (ASA), I bring you greetings from the left coast. I am very honored and somewhat humbled to serve in this position. It seems like only yesterday that I first served on this association's board of directors - it was in fact in 1991 that Steve Louden, chairman at the time, appointed me to fill a vacancy as the affiliate director.

During these years, I have had the opportunity to serve with some of the automotive industry's finest leaders. ASA Past Chairman Bob Anderson is one who has set a leadership example that will be hard to follow. I know that Bob has spent countless hours away from his business and on the phone for your association. Each of our previous chairmen have led this association forward and my intention is to try to do the same.

Our association's Strategic Long-Range Plan is the road map we must follow to get to our goal. You might ask, "What is the goal of ASA?" I can tell you that the reason ASA exists is to serve its members. I am grateful for the dedicated staff in Bedford, Texas, that is there to help you, the member. With the help of ASA's board members and the ASA staff, we will move forward.

We have been very fortunate to have a visionary, Bud Merwin, as president these past years. The International Autobody Congress and Exposition (NACE) is just one of the visions Bud has brought into the industry. Walter Trapp has been Bud's understudy these last few years as ASA's executive vice president and I believe, as the future will reveal, he is the right man to follow as president of our great association.

Chuck Groves and the staff at the Automotive Management Institute (AMI) are dedicated to help every ASA member learn management skills that will help to keep us in business into the next century. As members we owe it to ourselves to take advantage of the many opportunities offered by AMI. I would like to see this year as the one that has full classes and waiting lists.

Another goal is to see record attendance levels at the Congress of Automotive Repair and Service (CARS), NACE and ASA's Annual Convention. What better gives you the opportunity to know what is happening in your industry than attendance at these events? I never really got involved much with our association until I attended my first national event. Make it a goal this year to support these events and maybe you will also want to become more involved.

ASA is somewhat like a finely tuned race car. Someone has to drive, but without a crew to fuel and maintain it, the car goes nowhere. We as shop owners won't always agree on every issue, but like racing a car, our team must be united on how we run our race. The crew chief - or in our case, the board of directors - has to make the final decisions.

The future is just around that next bend. With only two turns to go in this century, we are still in the lead. Our crew has been united and we are moving ahead, and each of you is invited to be on our team as together we progress into that future.

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