ECG Academy Alumni Meeting 2022

The 9th annual Alumni meeting took place in Barcelona on 10-11 February 2022 and it was a success. Very well attended by more than 80 participants who joined both in person and online. The last physical Alumni meeting before the COVID pandemic was held in 2020 in Barcelona and in 2021 in an online format. It was a pleasure to see a lot of our Alumni coming together once again, both face-to-face and online.

The event began on 10 February with a walking dinner where participants were able to network ahead of the meeting. On 11 February a very informative meeting was organised with an agenda full of excellent speakers on various topics including current shortages in the industry.

ECG President, Wolfgang Göbel, who attended remotely, welcomed all the participants and gave an overview of ECG’s priorities for 2022 highlighting the importance of the association in times when the finished vehicle logistics sector is hit by many challenges.

Filippo Rizzi Ariani, chair of the ECG Academy Advisory Group (EAAG) presented the activities of the group and led the election process of its members for 2022-2024. The composition of the EAAG stays almost the same with only one member, Aleks Csar, formerly of Milšped Group, standing down and Tom Antonissen, an EU Affairs Adviser and alumnus of Course 6 of the ECG Academy newly elected to the group. ECG thanks Aleks Csar for his contribution to the EAAG during the past years and wishes the newly elected group a successful term.

The meeting continued with Professor Dr. Langenhan, Dean of the ECG Academy, giving a thought provoking presentation on Supply Chain Resilience and the session ended with the elevator pitches of the ECG Academy Course 15 who presented their innovation ideas to the audience.

The second part of the meeting was opened by Hilke Steffens, Senior Trainer at KPMG, who delivered a highly relevant keynote on Agile Change Management and opened the floor for the panel discussion on the topic. This panel was moderated by Tom Antonissen who led the discussion on change management during times of shortages. Excellent speakers from the industry exchanged views on how to cope with unexpected changes, how to prepare for future challenges and much more. Lluis Paris, Head of Automotive at Port of Barcelona brought in the ports and terminals vision, Patrick Gueth Head of Sales and Key Account Management at BLG Automobile Logistics GmbH & Co. KG explained the rail operator insights while joined by Christian Fuss, Managing Director at ProAct Europe stepping in with how technology can support companies in such situations. Mike Sturgeon, Executive Director at ECG also joined the panel representing the views of the association.

Presentations and pictures of the event are now available on our website.

This meeting is organised every year in February for all the alumni of the ECG Academy. It enables our alumni to keep their networks alive as well as to take part in a very interesting event with a variety of speakers from the industry. In 2023 the Alumni meeting will celebrate its 10^th Anniversary. The date will be announced on ECG’s website in the coming months.

For any questions please contact Andreea Serbu.