ST. PAUL, MN – AFLA President Lucia Elsie encourages all commercial fleet managers to attend the 2008 annual conference of the Automotive Fleet & Leasing Association (AFLA). This year’s annual conference, “Roadmap to the Future,” will be held at the Camelback Inn in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Sept. 10-12. The following is her message to all potential attendees.

AFLA is a smaller group of seasoned fleet professionals that get the opportunity to learn and discuss fleet strategy with leading economic forecasters, fleet specialists, suppliers, customers, and peers.  

The industry has undergone dramatic changes and corporate fleet professionals need to strategize to get ready for the future. AFLA is a great place to get ahead of the curve — meet and talk to the leaders of the auto manufacturers, leasing companies, industry suppliers, dealerships, remarketers, and corporate fleet professionals. So get out your Roadmap and attend the AFLA conference.

Noon–6 p.m. Registration

12–2 p.m. AFLA Board Meeting

3–4 p.m. New Member Welcome Reception

4:30–4:45 p.m. President’s Welcome

4:45–5:45 p.m. Automotive Industry Trends and the Future of Commercial Fleet: In Sync or Out of Step?

Keynote Presenter: Michael Rogers, New York Times

5:45–9 p.m. Cars of Tomorrow Reception with OEM Concept Vehicles

7:30 a.m.–5 p.m. Registration

7–8:30 a.m. Breakfast

8:45–9 a.m. President’s Update

9–9:45 a.m. Reinventing the Automobile: The Future of Automotive Technology

Presenter: Larry Burns, VP of Research for General Motors

9:45–10:45 a.m. How Will the Automotive Industry Change in the Next 10 Years

Presenter: John McElroy, Automotive Analyst

10:45–11 a.m. Coffee Break

11 a.m.–12 p.m. How High Will Fuel Prices Go?

Presenter: John Kingston of Platts

Noon–1 p.m. Luncheon

1–2 p.m. Motivational Speaker: Bob Arno/The Art of the Steal

2–3 p.m. Balancing Cost vs. Corporate Green Responsibility

Panel discussion that includes fleet managers at companies with major green fleet initiatives.

Panelist: Pete Silva of PepsiCo, Vicki Dahliquist of ValleyCrest, Donna Bibbo of Novo Nordisk, and Dick Malcom of State Farm Insurance.

3–3:15 p.m. Coffee Break

3:15–4:15 p.m. Town Hall Meeting With OEM Fleet Directors Pat Dougherty of Chrysler, Brian McVeigh of GM, Kevin Koswick of Ford, and Scott Heyer of Toyota

4:15–5 p.m. Industry Hall of Fame, All-new award presented by Automotive Fleet magazine

7–8 a.m. Breakfast

8:15–8:30 a.m. Business meeting & election results

8:30–9:15 a.m. Keynote presentation: Developing a Strategic Roadmap - Taking Your Fleet to the Next Level

9:15–10 a.m. Forecast of Economic Conditions That Will Impact Your FleetEllen Hughes-Cromwick, director of corporate economics for Ford Motor Co.

10–10:15 a.m. Coffee Break

10:15–11 a.m. Industry Metrics to Make Your Vehicle Remarketing Program More EffectiveHow good is your remarketing program?

To benchmark the performance of your resale efforts, you need industry metrics. The International Automotive Remarketers Alliance will provide these metrics by sharing data from its industry benchmarking survey.

12–5:30 p.m. Pete Z Golf Scramble

7–7:30 p.m. President’s Reception

7:15 p.m. Golf awards

7:30–10 p.m. Dinner, awards, and closing reception

In addition to its conference, which draws high caliber fleet and non-fleet business leaders, AFLA conducts quarterly remarketing teleconferences, which give up-to-date remarketing and economic information. AFLA also issues monthly white papers on various topics of concern to corporate fleet managers on its Web site, www.aflaonline.com.

I hope to see you at our annual conference and help AFLA celebrate its 40th year anniversary.

Elsie Lucia

President, Automotive Fleet & Leasing Association

Director, Fleet Services

The Estee Lauder Companies

New York City