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MLOA Executive Director Dr. Yvonne LaMar
The Minority Limousine Operators of America (MLOA) has been busy these past few months, as it continues to offer training sessions to those seeking Small Business Administration (SBA) certification while also gearing up for its last in-person meeting of the year.
According to MLOA’s Executive Director Dr. Yvonne LaMar of LimousineQA.com, the association continues to see interest in both its social media marketing seminars and the call-in certification training sessions that she’s been running throughout the year for MLOA members. The current SBA certification program is in its second of three weeks and is taking seven members through the process—an intimate number that LaMar says is ideal for the “very time-consuming” scope of work and gathering of documents that precedes submitting a completed application.
“The goal is, that at the end of these sessions, we’ve reviewed the entire application and each member will be able to submit theirs with some confidence,” LaMar said.
While some members have previously submitted their applications, LaMar has not yet received feedback regarding their success achieving certification—though she isn’t surprised, seeing as “it takes about eight weeks for everything to turn around.” Along with “trying to fit one more certification session in before the Chauffeur Driven Show” and planning more social media marketing calls, LaMar is also working on a survey to find out what other programming association members want.
“The survey is to see if there are other things that members are interested in that just haven’t come up yet,” she said. “Instead of us presenting them with topics, it gives them a chance to tell us what they’d like to do, too. We have experts in the industry who are very willing to help us, and an advisory board and a board of directors who are very knowledgeable and can certainly provide a lot of training, too.”
MLOA is currently expanding its advisory board, which presently includes industry vendors such as Arthur Messina of Create-A-Card and Jeff Brodsly of Chosen Payments.
“We’re trying to reach across the industry to people who have different specialties, whether it’s insurance or sales or credit card processing,” LaMar said. “Right now, we have people like Art Messina and Jeff Brodsly, who are really just active and helpful people in general. It’s great having advisors on different aspects of the business because our members are mostly owners/operators, and it’s helpful to have vendors’ marketing knowledge or their financial knowledge.”
With a membership base stretching across the country, MLOA’s bimonthly meetings are typically conference calls, though its October 13 meeting will be held at the Chauffeur Driven Show in Miami Beach. LaMar said that the association is planning to have a guest speaker at the meeting “representing very large companies who have procurement offices and who will talk to our members about getting access to large contracts.”
MLOA’s next membership conference call is July 22.
Visit
mlooa.org for more information.
[CD0715]
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PRLA Immediate Past President Jim Salinger and his wife Josie peruse the brochure for Chauffeur Driven’s upcoming Miami Show
Essington, Pa. —Nearly 25 members and supporters of the Philadelphia Regional Limousine Association (PRLA) attended the organization’s meeting at The Deck on July 8, which was sponsored by Wolfington Body Company. CD’s Industry & Brand Ambassador Philip Jagiela attended the summertime meeting in Essington, which has been affectionately dubbed the “luau event” for its relaxed atmosphere and change of scenery.
Despite its casual nature, there was still much business to discuss at the meeting. PRLA President Steve Rhoads of Rhoads Limousine spoke about how the association is trying to arrange a review of TNC regulations with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s legal staff, with hopes of orchestrating the review by the end of the month.
Rhoads is also working with Mike Marroccoli of The Capacity Group to bring the STOP Program to PRLA members and their chauffeurs. The program is an online defensive driving course that caters to operators who have no such program in place, and issues a certificate upon successful completion—and can provide savings in insurance premiums, too.
Brian O’Neill spoke on behalf of Wolfington, discussing its products and services, as well as introducing the company’s newest member, Megan Bratton, who will be a part of the Commercial Bus Sales staff. As the meeting sponsor, Wolfington also had four vehicles on display for all attendees to tour.
As TNCs continue to call for changes in commercial transportation insurance, Richard Ackerman of P.A. Post Agency shed some light on the evolving insurance industry and how it’s attempting to provide coverage for TNC operations. Ackerman then provided some insights into keeping an effective safety program in place to maintain annual premiums.
L to R: PRLA Treasurer Chris Haines of Michael’s Classic Limousine, PRLA Vice President Bob Euler of King Limousine, PRLA Director Perry Carmerlengo of Luxury Limousine, PRLA Vendor Member Peter Corelli of Lakeview Custom Coach, CD Industry & Brand Ambassador Philip Jagiela, and PRLA President Steve Rhoads of Rhoads Limousine
Jagiela, who attends regional industry meetings across the country and is also the executive director for livery associations in Colorado, Long Island, and Florida, gave an update on the ground transportation industry from a national perspective. He also spoke about the recently finalized schedule for this October’s Chauffeur Driven Show in Miami and other new event details.
PRLA Vendor Member Peter Corelli of Lakeview Custom Coach, who also serves as the PAC Chair for Limousine Association of New Jersey (LANJ), ended the meeting by highlighting LANJ’s efforts to introduce legislation that would mandate TNCs face the same insurance requirements and driver background checks that traditional transportation companies must abide by. Corelli asked for additional support between the two neighboring associations, as the Senate vote could come within the next few months.
As there is no August meeting for the PRLA, the association will reconvene September 9 in King of Prussia, Pa.
Visit
prlainc.com for more information.
[CD0715]
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Mark Bonanno, CFO of
Advantage Funding
Lake Success, N.Y. — Advantage Funding, one of the largest transportation finance firms in the U.S., named Mark Bonanno as its new CFO. A veteran finance professional with more than 25 years of experience, Bonanno assumes the position previously held by Al Damiani, who was named CEO of the company in December. The company was also recently acquired by the Macquarie Group.
“Mark’s experience will provide significant benefits to us as we assimilate into Macquarie Group Limited and create strategic plans to accelerate Advantage Funding’s growth,” said Damiani. “Mark will be a key member of our management team.”
Prior to his appointment at Advantage Funding, Bonanno served as finance manager in the Corporate Initiatives Group at GE Capital, where he provided strategic and analytical support for projects ranging from process-improvement programs to strategic business plans for new business proposals.
Before that he was CFO for Xerox Capital Services, a joint venture of General Electric Capital and Xerox, where he was responsible for all aspects of accounting, financial operations, and strategic planning. Previously, he served as operational controller for GE Energy Financial Services, where he helped build the finance infrastructure to support the growth of new business.
Visit advantagefund.com for more information.
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