New CEO focuses on raising I-CAR's profile

John Van Alstyne, who was appointed to the position after a lengthy candidate selection process last year, has been traveling the country meeting with shop owners and industry representatives in an effort to get a better understanding of I-CAR's position in the industry, and what repairers would like to see from the group moving forward.

Even before accepting the post, Van Alstyne researched I-CAR heavily, going as far as to sit down with local collision shop owners to discuss the industry and how I- CAR was viewed by repairers.

"What I learned from those sessions was that I-CAR is as relevant today as it was when it was founded 30 years ago," Van Alstyne says. "I heard an interest in role-relevant training, as preferred versus training for the sake of training."

The shops he spoke to also were interested in seeing more consumer awareness of the I-CAR certifications. "Other comments I got, which were encouraging to me, were that they felt the [organization] had been on a journey, and had emerged much stronger than they were five or 10 years ago."

Van Alstyne boasts 25 years in the automotive industry, although the bulk of it had little to do with collision repair. He's worked for an electric vehicle OEM (Fisher Coachworks), an aftermarket parts supplier, OEM suppliers, and a consulting services firm (Ricardo Plc). He's also had Six Sigma training, an important credential given the increasing importance of lean business practices in the industry.

"I thought I-CAR was another interesting twist to my automotive background," Van Alstyne says. "I've been in the aftermarket, the parts side, strategic consulting, the OEM side of the business. This was another part of this automotive journey I've been on. But I think the most important thing was the notion of getting involved in the educating and training business."

Since taking the reins, Van Alstyne has met with industry leaders at recent CIC, NABC and SCRS meetings, and he says he has found the industry to be very close-knit, complex, and passionate.

Van Alstyne noted that his predecessor, outgoing president and CEO John Edelen, has stayed on with the organization in a consultative capacity to help with the transition.

One of his goals is to include even more of the industry in I-CAR's programs.

"One key challenge for I-CAR is to serve an even greater portion of the industry that we've been designed to serve," Van Alstyne said. "I-CAR has been around a long time. We're well known in the industry, but we're not reaching everybody in the industry today."

According to Van Alstyne, "a key part of my role is going to be reaching out and … understanding what everybody is looking for from I-CAR, and working with our team to translate that into a successful model we can deliver to the industry."

One important component of I-CAR's strategy moving forward will be the expansion of the Professional Development Program, which was announced last year. Under the program, repairers will have to work through ProLevels 1, 2 and 3, and take at least six hours of annual role-relevant training to achieve platinum certification. The currently defined roles include estimator, steel structural technician, aluminum structural technician, non-structural technician, electrical/mechanical technician, and refinish technician. In order for a shop to achieve a Gold Class Professionals designation, it must have a platinum-certified individual in the refinish, steel, non-structural and estimator roles.

"The amount of effort and thought that went into the development of the Professional Development Program was completely centered on the voice of the customer, and feedback from the industry saying, 'We need a better program out of I-CAR,'" Van Alstyne says.

To that end, he said I-CAR wants to move away from "training for the sake of training," and has removed redundant material from many classes. "We're refreshing the courses, and we have more online offerings and more role-based offerings coming," he said. "We also want to expand the roles available for shops as well as for insurers."

So far, he says response to the new program has been positive. "Unanimously, the response has been that it was absolutely the right thing to do," he says. "I would say that perhaps not everybody is quite clear yet as to what it means to them, and what they need to do as a shop owner or industry professional."

I-CAR is currently working on ways to promote the importance of the role-based classifications among repairers.

As for raising consumer awareness, Van Alstyne says that I-CAR's status as a not- for-profit somewhat hinders its ability create a consumer-awareness campaign. "But I think we can apply some creativity to work with channel partners to perhaps raise the level of I-CAR awareness in the general marketplace," he says. "We'll be exploring that as well."