By Shannon Nordstrom • ARA President
I pray everyone had a blessed Christmas and a wonderful holiday season. For our family, Christmas is a special holiday, as we come together to celebrate the hope it brings. Each of us in the industry has our own traditions for the holiday season, and surely, I am not alone as we celebrate and bring in a new year.
As I roll into the new year of 2026, this season is quickly in the rear view mirror. It is time to put my foot on the gas for our business and my role as ARA President. The responsibilities continue to evolve for upcoming meetings and travel.
My first big ARA event of the new year—which I am on the way home from as I type—is the ARA Strategic Planning meeting. Every three years, we gather ARA leadership, staff, and invited guests for a day-and-a-half meeting to review and design the association’s strategic “road map” for the next three years. We start by reviewing the current three-year plan and its pillars. As a group, we decide what is still relevant and what has been “completed” or integrated into our systems and processes. Some items that were no longer relevant were discarded, and others were deemed to require greater attention.
The strategic planning exercise is always fulfilling, but it also drains the brain; our assembled group was committed to the process.
We were proud to see the accomplishments of the last three years, such as the tremendous work of the Awareness Committee and staff in launching the new ARA website and the integrated association CRM system. We celebrated the expanded collaboration with industry and government stakeholders. Our advocacy work for the industry is paramount. While your team is dismantling cars and selling parts, ARA is watching out for your best interest now and into the future.
This year, we did not hire a facilitator as we have in past years. Many of us have done these sessions enough times that we wanted to give it a run by ourselves. ARA Senior Director of Association Operations Jessica Andrews was ready and organized so that Executive Director Vince Edivan and I could lead the process. Overall, in our own style, we were able to adjust our plan to create, redefine, and eliminate pillars of our strategic plan. The input from both prior attendees and new ones was equally superb, and together we reached some very strong conclusions.
Among the sessions, there was also time for individual conversations. Conversations over dinner and on short breaks are always good for building new relationships and strengthening established ones. Some of these conversations can be the most lasting and memorable to attendees when you gather a group to strategically focus all together. These conversations, moments, and laughs at dinner and afterwards, I can personally say, have had a huge impact on ideas and decisions that are made by us in business and personally.
The hard work resulting from this meeting is the start of the next steps. Vince, Jessica, and the ARA Team will take our raw data, provide the final organization and structure we can use internally, and create the public-facing documents that summarize our work. We will announce the plan to the ARA membership once that step is complete. I am always very impressed to see the final accounting of our targeted work.
I would like to thank those who gave of their time and expense to be at the meeting. It is quite apparent by their engagement that they have the best interests of I pray everyone had a blessed Christmas and a wonderful holiday season. For our family, Christmas is a special holiday, as we come together to celebrate the hope it brings. Each of us in the industry has our own traditions for the holiday season, and surely, I am not alone as we celebrate and bring in a new year.
As I roll into the new year of 2026, this season is quickly in the rear view mirror. It is time to put my foot on the gas for our business and my role as ARA President. The responsibilities continue to evolve for upcoming meetings and travel.
My first big ARA event of the new year—which I am on the way home from as I type—is the ARA Strategic Planning meeting. Every three years, we gather ARA leadership, staff, and invited guests for a day-and-a-half meeting to review and design the association’s strategic “road map” for the next three years. We start by reviewing the current three-year plan and its pillars. As a group, we decide what is still relevant and what has been “completed” or integrated into our systems and processes. Some items that were no longer relevant were discarded, and others were deemed to require greater attention.
The strategic planning exercise is always fulfilling, but it also drains the brain; our assembled group was committed to the process.
We were proud to see the accomplishments of the last three years, such as the tremendous work of the Awareness Committee and staff in launching the new ARA website and the integrated association CRM system. We celebrated the expanded collaboration with industry and government stakeholders. Our advocacy work for the industry is paramount. While your team is dismantling cars and selling parts, ARA is watching out for your best interest now and into the future.
This year, we did not hire a facilitator as we have in past years. Many of us have done these sessions enough times that we wanted to give it a run by ourselves. ARA Senior Director of Association Operations Jessica Andrews was ready and organized so that Executive Director Vince Edivan and I could lead the process. Overall, in our own style, we were able to adjust our plan to create, redefine, and eliminate pillars of our strategic plan. The input from both prior attendees and new ones was equally superb, and together we reached some very strong conclusions.
Among the sessions, there was also time for individual conversations. Conversations over dinner and on short breaks are always good for building new relationships and strengthening established ones. Some of these conversations can be the most lasting and memorable to attendees when you gather a group to strategically focus all together. These conversations, moments, and laughs at dinner and afterwards, I can personally say, have had a huge impact on ideas and decisions that are made by us in business and personally.
The hard work resulting from this meeting is the start of the next steps. Vince, Jessica, and the ARA Team will take our raw data, provide the final organization and structure we can use internally, and create the public-facing documents that summarize our work. We will announce the plan to the ARA membership once that step is complete. I am always very impressed to see the final accounting of our targeted work.
I would like to thank those who gave of their time and expense to be at the meeting. It is quite apparent by their engagement that they have the best interests of automotive recyclers and the Automotive Recyclers Association in mind.
It was a very productive and memorable time in what turned out to be a “chilly” St. Augustine, Florida. There was a small group that even took things to another level with a 6 a.m. “Ocean Plunge to get energized” for the 2nd day of meetings. The Atlantic Ocean is currently in the lower 60-degree range, so they were surely energized, at a minimum, shocked.
The 2026 side of my presidency is well underway, as I look forward to more next steps. We will resume our regular association Teams meetings, with our wonderful committee chairs leading the way. We will have our biweekly Executive Committee meetings and other scheduled meetings with industry collaborators, including the work on the soon-to-be-unveiled Quality Compliance program, developed in conjunction with URG. There will be unexpected agenda items that will require immediate attention. Also, we look forward to the upcoming regional and country shows that ARA will attend and participate in.
We have a great team, and I am looking forward to it. Amidst all the activity, I will also be engaged in managing our business with our great team, working with them to produce the Under the Hood Show, and, most importantly, keeping my wonderful wife and family at the top of my list. Managing everything is challenging, but with faith, trust in others, and confidence in my abilities, I believe it will work out and be a rewarding experience.
Thank you for supporting ARA! If we already have your support, THANK YOU; if not, please consider joining or, better yet, getting involved in one of our amazing and productive committees. It is greatly appreciated. If you have thoughts or ideas, reach out; the input is invaluable.
Have a great day and be proud to be a professional automotive recycler!
