ECG — 2025-01-27
News from ECG
Every year, the alumni and students of the ECG Academy meet to keep the strong network alive. “The conference offers a unique opportunity to stay informed on the latest trends and insights of the vehicle logistics industry”, says Laura Buitrago, Toyota Motor Europe, one alumnus who wouldn’t want to miss the meeting.
The next alumni meeting is scheduled for Barcelona on 20-21 February. All former students from the ECG Academy are invited to meet, network, and connect. A networking dinner will be held the evening before the meeting.
The current Academy students will join, as will the ECG board members who will host the meeting as part of their ongoing commitment to this renowned educational course.
The ECG Academy Advisory Group (EAAG), which has put together a great agenda for the event, and other alumni from many different courses over the past twenty years will also attend.
One challenge has been to get more alumni to attend the meeting. A few have left the industry.
The meeting's purpose is to give alumni the opportunity to network and exchange views on the industry. The agenda is divided into two parts: the first covers more general topics, where people outside the industry can learn from management. The second part is more strictly related to the FVL industry. This year, the discussion will focus on the impact of the new Chinese manufacturers on the sector.
“The annual Alumni meeting was born as an idea to keep tight connections among members. The formula of the event has been almost the same along the time – a mix of theory and updates and social networking", explains Filippo Rizzi Arani, Grimaldi, and chairman of the EAAG.
“We always benefited from the a proactive involvement of Senior managers of OEMs and of Logistics companies, and this drove the event to become a really good platform for business as well”, Filippo Rizzi Arani continues.
He also highlights the importance of improving awareness of ECG potential among young managers.
“ECG is a tool in its members' hands. The Alumni meeting reproduces the big potential inside ECG events and is also directly connected to deep ECG subgroup activities and targets. All participants are always welcomed and invited to contribute new ideas for the event itself and to share more and more of a younger point of view about the association’s target in the future.”
Kris Schildermans at Volvo Cars attended the ECG Academy in 2022-2023. “I feel this is a great opportunity to meet my peers again and share ideas. During the academy course that I joined, I met a lot of fantastic people from the FVL industry. The network that I built up during the course is immense. The course as such was great, but the network connections are simply fantastic. Therefore, I see the Alumni meeting as a moment to catch up and meet again with the “friends”.
Kris Schildermans continues. “There is also an opportunity to learn during the speakers session about new things happening in the industry. To keep yourself updated on what´s happening in the industry, there is no better way than to speak to people in person. I see this as an investment for myself and the company I work for.”
Laura Buitrago at Toyota Motor Europe is an alumnus and one of the speakers at the event.
“At the event Alumni have the opportunity not only to re-connect with peers from the Academy but to expand the network and foster further valuable connections with like-minded professionals to exchange ideas that drive growth and innovations”.
Andreea Maria Serbu, Senior Manager External Affairs ECG, is an alumnus herself.
“The ECG Academy is a very specific training, when you attend five week-long modules over 8 months and create a very strong network that you cannot get anywhere else. In these alumni meetings, you get an opportunity to keep the network alive and at the same time have an opportunity to expand your network with new contacts and learn from the educational presentations”.
Among the speakers at the event are Wolfgang Göbel, President of ECG, Filippo Rizzi Arani, chairman of EAAG, Andreea Maria Serbu, ECG, Laura Buitrago, Logistics Planner at Toyota Motor Europe, as well as Namrita Chow, ECG Business Analyst.
The registration is open to all alumni who don´t want to miss out on valuable insights.
This meeting is kindly supported by Suardiaz Group.