Most Influenctial Women in the Industry

LAS VEGAS--Sponsors of one of NACE week’s most attractive and appealing programs--MIW--are heading off in a new direction.

MIW stands for Most Influential Women in the Industry and for the past 11 years, the AkzoNobel Coatings, Inc., has been recognizing the leading women in the industry at an evening event designed to highlight the contributions of the nominees who were annually selected.

In all, there is a total of 60 women who have gained this honor, not the least among them three from the independent automotive crash parts aftermarket.

This year, however, in an effort to complement the advancement of waterborne technology and promote the unique contributions which the collision repair industry is taking to generate a sustainable future, AkzoNobel announces plans to create the industry’s first “FIT” Sustainability award.

“FIT” is an acronym for the three key measurement criteria of the award; Focus, Innovation and Talent. Awards will be announced annually in conjunction with the AkzoNobel Most Influential Women in the Collision Repair Industry Program.

Under this new initiative recognition will go to enterprises that are aggressively pursing and delivering sustainable environmentally focused business solutions to the collision repair industry. These solutions are defined as those which meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future.

In announcing the creation of the award, AB Ghosh; general manager of AkzoNobel Car Refinishes Americas said, “Ten years ago AkzoNobel was the first in our industry to elevate the societal issue of the advancement of women in the collision repair industry.
“The Most Influential Women in the Collision Repair Industry (MIW) has become an institutional pillar. FIT will follow in the tradition of MIW.”

“It will create an umbrella under which MIW and three additional awards will be covered. Added Ghosh, “Our hope is that that the FIT awards will be as successful in promoting the reduction of the carbon footprint of our industry as MIW has been in advancing the contributions of a valuable talent and resource pool.”

Don’t look for AkzoNobel to make known its recipients of either honor until the early months of 2010; it’s reported that a special event will be held in Atlanta, Ga., in early April to mark the occasion.

During the past 10 years, three women within the crash parts replacement aftermarket have been honored by AkzoNobel.
They are Karen Fierst, the first selected, in 2003. She is the principal of KerenOr Consultants in Silver Spring, Md.

Her selection was followed up by Eileen Sottile, then of Keystone and now the vice president of Government Relations for LKQ Corporation (2006); and Dolores Richardson of Montreal-based AtPac Automotive, the current president of the Automotive Body Parts Association. Dolores was selected in 2007.

AkzoNobel’s decision to postpone the selection of key women for NACE 09 is understandable. Unfortunately, the industry landscape has changed in the past year from those idyllic days in which Marcy Tieger, a speaker at the 2008 installation ceremonies, held out a hopeful and optimistic perspective of what lies ahead.

With the industry being buffeted by hard economic times--guesttimates are that body shop business is down by as much as 10 percent from a year ago--many key suppliers to the industry really have had no choice but to cut back on expenses.
According to Frederica Carter, a key administrator of the MIW program, there will still be a designated class of new leaders. These women, however, will be honored at a different event than has been the custom at NACE.

During the NACE installation ceremonies, AkzoNobel pulled out all stops because besides having a wonderfully well attended reception in a stylish facility (Wynn’s and the Red Rock Casino, among others) the inductees were all highlighted by a three minutes video presentation of their respective achievements in both the workplace and their community.

Last year’s ceremonies were held at the DaVinci Ballroom in the Bellagio Resort & Casino, a venue most befitting the 10th anniversary celebration.

Tim Loden, AkzoNobel’s Director of Marketing, separately commented to ABPA Exec Stan Rodman on the 2008 event afterwards, “When we started this nine years ago (1999), we did not know where it would lead us.

“We didn’t even know if we had any long range plans.   But each year it kept growing and the company has received tremendous mileage from its recognizing those women who by any measure can be considered outstanding in their field.”

Then, what no one didn’t or couldn’t say is that in this day and age of rough marketplace economics, every company has to be looking at their advertising and promotional budgets and wondering, “what can we cut?, where can we save?”

From an outsider’s perspective, this is one of those events which had become a main staple of the business-social diet which constitutes NACE. In a male bastion such as collision repair, AkzoNobel broke ground 10 years ago and when it comes to the heavy lifting, economically, they have been bearing the entire load. 

For that, they are to be commended and not just by the distaff side of the industry.  Now, however, it appears that the economic climate coupled to new marketplace objectives has forced them into taking a new tack to their program.

The honor is the same, but of necessity, the setting will be different.

Editor’s Note: Car Refinishes is one of the world’s leading suppliers of paints and services for the car repair, commercial vehicles and automotive plastics markets. It sells coatings for car body refinishing, or recoating, to customers including bodyshops, distributors, fleet owners, automotive suppliers and major bus and truck producers. Brands include Sikkens®, Lesonal®, Dynacoat®, Wanda®, and Autocoat® BT. Operating in more than 60 countries, Car Refinishes has specialists around the world who understand local markets and can serve local needs. Its state-of-the-art customer services, color and technology solutions include offering technical and logistical support and the delivery of training programs. Internet: www.carrefinishes.com.