The incoming, new head of the Canadian Plastics Industry Association will explore ways of making the agency invaluable to members.
Serge Lavoie, 51, recently chosen to head CPIA, said any association today ``needs a palette of services compelling to members.'' Companies in these times have other options to get financing deals and other services that once were core to an association's mandate, he said in a telephone interview. A typical association no longer is a ``one-stop shop for services.''
Lavoie, a longtime association manager, said Canadian associations especially need to provide value to members. Since many member companies are multinational, they might believe membership in U.S. or other associations meet their needs.
``Canadian organizations need to make themselves useful,'' he said from his Toronto office of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association, where he is finishing a four-year stint as executive director. CPIA's creation five years ago from the merger of three Canadian plastics associations ``was a step in the right direction and now we need to see what we do next.''
Lavoie has held various management positions with Canadian associations for the past 23 years. Although he is new to the plastics industry, he has led associations in other manufacturing and retail industries, including health-care products and book publishing. He feels his experience in dealing with government departments will help him guide CPIA through regulatory and legislative issues.
Lavoie will begin working with CPIA at its Mississauga headquarters in mid-February and will work with current CPIA President and CEO Pierre Dubois until Dubois retires April 1.
