ACA International is building on the successes of 2019 as the new year begins, all to help members succeed.
1/7/2020 9:00
By Mark Neeb
Wow, what a whirlwind 2019 was! Dominating the headlines for much of the year were the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed debt collection rulemaking; the Federal Communications Commission’s declaratory ruling relating to robocalls; the TRACED Act robocall legislation signed into law by President Donald Trump and hundreds of bills circulating our state legislatures that could impact our industry. Looking forward into 2020, many of these issues are still at the forefront awaiting resolution. The pace is often so slow it’s hard to detect progress, yet I know better. Your ACA International staff works hard every day to make sure these potential legislative and regulatory changes are being shaped in ways that protect our ability to do business, serve our clients and protect consumers.
The list of ACA’s recent accomplishments didn’t end with our advocacy efforts, however. ACA is on firm financial footing going into 2020 and we continue our progress to expand our affinity programs, led by the Vonage program that is off to a great start. Our education efforts were very strong in 2019 and included livestreaming an entire day’s worth of content for members who couldn’t attend ACA’s Annual Convention in San Diego. Nearly 100 people took advantage of this opportunity.
We also completed necessary updates to several of our educational products (see the article in the January issue of Collector magazine to learn about our two revamped Essentials training products), with more on the way. Our face-to-face meetings were outstanding last year, plus we welcomed a new one to the fold.
LevelUp was launched in September in Minneapolis, and attendees not only experienced a great new leadership experience but also got to spend time with ACA’s Board of Directors and learn more about how members help lead our great association. It was a fantastic event and will surely become a fixture over the years.
I hope you’ve been listening to ACA’s podcast, ACA Cast. We released our first episode just over a year ago and have now had over 6,000 listens. Members have really embraced the opportunity to participate in ACA Cast and staff has a blast coming up with topics.
The vision of ACA is to be the recognized thought leader, indispensable resource and voice of the accounts receivable management industry. As we continue to strive toward this vision statement that our Board of Directors thoughtfully updated late in 2018, I’d be remiss if I didn’t take a moment, on behalf of all ACA staff, to thank you for the opportunity to serve you this past year. It truly is an honor!
Mark Neeb is ACA International's CEO. This column appears in the January issue of Collector magazine.
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