At a virtual ceremony last week, a full complement of invited guests, which included our sponsors, previous inductees, international guests and a whole raft of identities from across the collision repair industry, “dialled-in” to acknowledge and congratulate the three inductees for the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Following a brief introduction of the program where we recognised the support of our sponsors, we broadcast a slideshow history of the event, with appropriate backing music, Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” and The Script’s “Hall of Fame”, which was extremely well received based on the live feedback during the presentation.
This event is of course to recognise the contributions of the inductees for 2020 and add them to the 43 existing inductees who have shaped, built, disrupted, influenced and developed the collision repair industry since the second half of the 20th century. This year there were 10 worthy nominations from around the country, although 3 in particular attracted the attention of the voting by the sponsors and existing inductees.
Steven Brett of Axalta Coating Systems announced that the first inductee was Brad Franklin, Technical Training Manager, Sherwin Williams. Steven outlined Brad’s extensive contribution to the industry, particularly through his involvement with WorldSkills – in addition to his day jobs over the past 20 years. Murray Howell, made the presentation at the Sherwin Williams office on the NSW Central Coast.
Stuart Charity, CEO of AAAA, announced that the second inductee was Jim Vais, founder of Capital S.M.A.R.T. Stuart highlighted Jim’s enormous contribution to the industry over the past 30 years, particularly mentioning how Jim has changed the way we do things through disruption of the status quo. Rob Bartlett facilitated the presentation at Jim’s home with his family, as Melbourne is still in lockdown.
Jason Trewin, Director I-CAR Australia announced that the third inductee was Jeff Williams, Specific Prestige. Jason spoke of Jeff’s dedication to working for the greater good of the industry through his involvement with MTASA, the Body Repair Division and as past Chair of AMBRA. Paul Back, MTASA, made the presentation at their head office in Adelaide, with many of Jeff’s peers and his partner in life and partner in business, Kristy Bennett.
Whilst there is no substitute for a face-to-face event, in “The Year of the COVID” we had to rely on the virtual world and the specific challenges that this presents, particularly in arranging the presentation of the award in three different locations. As much as the event ran relatively seamlessly, we would much rather be addressing a room full of “real people”. So, already looking forward to 2021.
We congratulate Brad, Jim and Jeff on being recognised by their peers for a lifetime of achievement and contribution to the industry. Of course, this initiative is only made possible by the support of our sponsors, who you will find on our website, together with the updated Lifetime Achievement Award Honour Roll.
The full report with all the pics will be in the upcoming November issue of the National Collision Repairer.
Visit us at: https://3.27.116.212/lifetime-awards/.
