Do you know who was a major player at VISION this year? We know Sheri and her staff were on top of things going clear back to March of last year. Our MWACA President, Summer Guerrero, and our MWACA Vice President, Travis Troy, made a hard job look easy. The other volunteers stayed busy all day long for the entire run of the conference. And of course, the instructors and vendors were major assets.
But there was one volunteer that I would like to recognize for all he has done for VISION: Jeff Bly. Jeff has been a huge addition to the program for years. He has been a great expert volunteer: helping out at the registration desk; taking meal tickets; and more. Jeff has been a speaker at the general session when he was serving as executive vice president / VISION co-chair. He has been an instructor at many VISION technical classes.
But where he has shown where his heart is, has been serving as a member of the VISION training committee. Have you ever wondered who chooses which classes will be presented? For years Jeff has been the leader as we go through the list of class submissions and narrow it down to the best choices by instructor and by subject. His deep knowledge of the technical subjects has saved us time and time again from making a poor choice of classes.
So, this year he did even more. For VISION 2023, we had developed a new generation of training class: The General Service Technician Academy (GSTA). The goal was to bring new, inexperienced technicians up to speed on the most common tasks that they would be expected to perform. It was to be a two full day class divided up into modules. The modules were subjects such as shop safety, lift safety, tire mounting and repairing, alignment basics, fundamentals of electricity, performing DVI Inspections, and several more. The class was an unqualified success, but we noted that the fundamentals of electricity didn’t get the same high reviews as the others. We vowed to get a better class for VISION 2024. Here is where Jeff Bly decided to spring into action. He volunteered to write a new electricity class and to present it. He understood the need and he developed a solution to it, even while dealing with a family emergency. The new class got raving reviews, and Jeff Bly demonstrated to me that my respect and gratitude were well deserved.
Thank you, Jeff, for your outstanding service and dedication to the VISION community.
Jerry Holcom
The Godfather of VISION
