The Chairman's Corner

By Jesse Chabot

January 2024

As 2023 wound down, I reflected on these past months that I have served as your CMSA chairman, and what a whirlwind ride it has been. From what seemed so far away, we are now ready to jump into our 106th California Moving Association’s convention at the Hilton Waikoloa from April 30 to May 5. This is a massive property where there will be lots of fun for the family. Although this is in Hawaii, and I know many of us will want to have fun,  I think this is also a great chance to meet with business leaders and hopefully get some new news coming out of the Global Household Goods Contract (GHC) and the winning bidder HomeSafe Alliance (HSA), as unlikely as it might be.

I went back and reread senior chairperson Shiree Hammer from California Relocation Services' monthly column. You can almost cut and paste all our concerns from last year to this year, and I’m really worried to say that we will be in the same uncertain times next year going into summer 2025. I’m hoping that the GHC becomes a little more transparent, as unlikely as that sounds, so we can plan for the future, whether investing in becoming part of the GHC, buying trucks, or marketing ourselves in other markets. I believe that diversification will be the key, no matter what happens.

Being the chairman and having the opportunity to travel with our President to different chapters has been a great experience. We just finished the military panel with visits and presentations from Twin Counties chapters to San Diego with our last stop in Lemoore.  The chapter president and the team of each one of those chapters did an amazing job. I would also like to thank Dan Bradley from IAM. I traveled around with him and heard his presentation (3 times). My next chapter visits will be to the LA chapter and the Ventura chapter in February. It has been great meeting new people and seeing some old friends. The stories and lessons I’ve learned have impacted me and my business, so thank you, everyone.

January 2024 - CMSA Communicator