Spring is always a season I look forward to. It’s an especially exciting time for the AAMVA family. We shake off the cold weather and get ready to head into AAMVA conference season. Starting in March with the Workshop & Law Institute, where our frontline managers get to network and learn from their colleagues, to the Leadership Academy, where our future leaders grow and focus on the next steps in their careers, right up to the start of our Regional Conference season in May, spring brings more and more opportunities for us to connect with one another, learn from one another, and delve into how to best serve our customers.

But these are strange days we’re living through, and this spring, rather than coming together, we’re being forced to adapt and work separately from one another. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a game-changer across the board, in our personal lives as well as our professional lives. We’ve had to change tack to respond to this crisis and figure out how best to serve our communities while keeping each other safe and healthy. And while this is usually a season of us traveling from all over North America to meet with our colleagues in person, we’ve had to forgo those conferences and meetings to deal with unprecedented circumstances.

While the pandemic has made it necessary to keep our distance from one another, I am continually heartened by how it has brought us together in so many other ways. I’ve seen administrators checking in with one another, pooling our resources and ideas to discuss how we can all collectively overcome this crisis. That’s what the AAMVA family is to me—people coming together to work toward a common goal: Safe Drivers, Safe Vehicles, Secure Identities, and top of mind these days, Saving Lives.

This isn’t the first time we’ve had to come together in trying times. From the days following 9/11, to dealing with severe weather, hurricanes and floods, we have been and always will be there for each other, ready to be a lending hand or a listening ear, sharing what is working for us, and asking for help in dealing with our challenges.

I don’t know what lies ahead for us—no one does—but I do know that this community will continue to forge strong bonds and unbreakable ties. We will weather this storm, as we have in the past, together.

Whitney Brewster

2019–2020 AAMVA
Chair of the Board