Members of the collision industry had the opportunity to gain insight from thought leaders, explore forward-thinking content, participate in conversations and network with colleagues at the International Bodyshop Industry Symposium (IBIS) USA 2024. The event was held March 19-21 in Anaheim, CA.
Stay tuned to Autobody News for Stacey Phillips Ronak's full analysis of the event.
Jason Moseley, left, CEO of IBIS Worldwide, and Dave Smith, right, IBIS USA moderator.
Established in 2001, IBIS has emerged as a global conference and networking platform in the collision industry. In addition to the USA conference, events are planned this year in the Middle East in February, Greece in May, Latin America in June, Malaysia in June, Australia in July, Iberia in September, France in November and China in December.
Jason Moseley, CEO of IBIS Worldwide, shared this year’s conference theme, “Transforming Tomorrow Together,” and introduced IBIS’s current ambassadors. They include Claudia Morgillo, training manager and coach for Collision Career Institute and The Limitless Entrepreneur; David Luehr, founder of The Limitless Entrepreneur and owner of Elite Body Shop Solutions; Jeff Peevy, vice president of industry relations at I-CAR; Mario Dimovski, director of circular and repair innovation for The Boyd Group; and Tanya Sweetland, OEM partnerships & standard of quality for Caliber Collision.
During the first day of the event, a panel focused on the collaboration of the industry's talent acquisition programs. It was moderated by Dave Smith, formerly of Caliber Collision and Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Panelists included Dara Goroff, vice president of planning and industry talent programming at I-CAR; Erick Bickett, director at the Collision Career Institute (CCI); Jennifer Maher, CEO of the TechForce Foundation; Brandon Eckenrode, executive director of the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF); and Molly Mahoney, national marketing and engagement director at Collision Engineering. Participants discussed issues surrounding finding, training and retaining technicians and stressed the importance of working together.
An afternoon panel discussion was held that included representatives from six collision industry brands who shared insight on how they are handling industry issues in their businesses.
The panel was moderated by James Crawley, co-founder of JCM Advisors. Panelists included Melanie Allan, vice president of Craftsman Collision; Jason Scharton, senior manager, global expertise delivery at 3M Collision; Sabrina Thring, brand president at Driven Brands Inc.; Jay Hayward, senior vice president of operations for CSN Collision; Matt Ebert, founder and CEO at Crash Champions; and Jason Hope, vice president of corporate development and strategy at Boyd Group/Gerber Collision & Glass.
On the second day of the event, Chris Wallace, collision & global brand protection manager at Ford Motor Company, shared insight about Ford’s collision repair philosophy, which is based on quality, safe collision repairs using OEM repair procedures and OE parts.
Following Wallace’s presentation, collision industry representatives shared thoughts on the importance of stakeholders working together for the ultimate success of the industry. They included Wallace; Odum Wu, president of First Frontier Solutions; Farzam Afshar, founder of VeriFacts Automotive, an OEC Company; Craig Edmonds, president of asTech, Driven by Repairify; Sweetland; and Matt Boland, vice president of global refinish technology/product platform for Axalta. Kyle Al-Rifai, CEO and founder of Swift Recon Automotive Industries, participated virtually.
For more information about IBIS Worldwide, visit the website.
Stacey Phillips Ronak