Gratitude. Letting go. The power of the whole.

Today’s challenges have upended many members’ original operating plans when we kicked off the new year in January 2020: to revise or modernize customer service, replace legacy systems and improve highway safety. Nonetheless, member agencies have overcome the disruptions and continued to advance important projects—some accelerated and others new.

The articles in this issue of MOVE Magazine detail how well AAMVA members have responded to the disruptions and the steps they took to land on their feet despite new twists and turns. In many ways, large and small, AAMVA’s members have pivoted—in some cases very quickly—to regain momentum in serving their customers and the public in a socially distanced demand service environment.   

Yet there is always more to do. The demands on you, our readers, just keep coming.

That is why I share those opening words. They are more than truisms, serving as reminders of actions to ponder and practice regularly to overcome daily stress. By doing so, you help your frame of mind and, in turn, help that of others.   

These words remind me to thank and empower the people I depend on to carry out AAMVA’s mission-focused work—people like Sandy Bloomfield, Senior Executive Assistant to the AAMVA CEO, who does a remarkable job supporting me and serving as secretariat to AAMVA’s Board of Directors. There are so many aspects of this job that I do not have to worry about because Sandy has it covered.

It is the power of AAMVA’s executive team, Anita Simmons, Ian Grossman, Wendy Sibley, Philip Quinlan and Philippe Guiot. Individually, these vice presidents lead core AAMVA functions in member services, organizational and financial health, technological stability and business value. Together, they leverage the power that comes from the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. By working as a team, they achieve results we might not pull off alone.

To these friends and professionals, who I would have thanked at an in-person AAMVA conference, I say thank you. You are the colleagues who, time and again, show how accountability to one another and to AAMVA’s mission creates outcomes that add value to AAMVA members’ missions.

We achieve outcomes thanks to engaged members and a great Board of Directors, whose input, involvement and guidance create meaningful AAMVA initiatives that support our members’ exchange of experiences and ideas, even during a pandemic.

Those are a few of the reasons why I am grateful and why I begin and end the day with gratitude for a wonderful job, great colleagues and supportive family. It’s also why I find that letting go allows others to achieve great things and why the power of the whole never ceases to amaze me.

I know you have similar successes that you attribute to teams you lead, or people you depend upon and are thankful for. Let us know, so we can tell your stories through MOVE Magazine or AAMVAcast.

With thanks,

– Anne Ferro

AAMVA President and CEO