FEDA NEWS & VIEWS


THE CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE


Making Tough Decisions in Tough Times


Outgoing Chairman Michael Keck reflects on FEDA evolution during a period of global disruption.


I learned a long time ago that the last person who can panic is the person who is in charge. We’ve all smothered the urge to lose our minds at one time or another in the last couple of years. As leaders, we learn to look past the problem, find


the people who can fix it and start thinking about what’s next.


When I joined the FEDA Board


of Directors a few years ago I could not have imagined the challenges ahead. I thought it would be a one- term experience, a chance to network beyond my familiar buying group and gain a wider perspective of the industry while just watching from the edge. Our CEO, Tracy Mulqueen, had other plans. A year into my tenure, she asked me to become vice chair. I was reluctant. I had no idea what a vice chairman did but surely it was more than just going to meetings and rubbing elbows. “Well, you don’t do anything,” Tracy


chairman, company and industry leaders are inclined to take your calls or invite you to events. Doors opened and so did the collaborative dialogue. I was humbled by the willingness of manufacturers and others in the channel to have frank on-the-record and off-the-record conversations about the pain they were going through as supply chains dried up.


assured me. That, I am perfectly qualified for. Of course, I’ve since learned that Tracy has this uncanny ability to nudge people in the direction she wishes them to go. I should have seen it coming when in 2020 she asked me to take over for outgoing chairman Mason Greene. By then, I was witness to the difference the board was making and understood the exciting strategic plan Tracy and the FEDA staff had laid out for the association. I knew I wanted to be a part of it, even if it meant tapping deeper into that calm we’d all been projecting since the pandemic started a few months before. It was a difficult time to take over as chairman of a national association, but the title also positioned me to learn so much more about the industry just as it was changing at a faster pace than ever before. When you are


“I don’t believe this disruption is over, but whatever comes next will be something we’ve seen before. What’s more, we’ve proven our ability to adapt.”


That kind of collaboration and information sharing helped us all brace for the uncertainty of the COVID-19 recovery, but FEDA had already been laying the groundwork to face the challenges that were coming. Before anyone even knew what coronavirus was, FEDA was reorienting the annual conference to be more driven by industry education and it took the first steps toward introducing data governance standards for foodservice equipment and supplies products. Those kinds of initiatives put the association into a stabilizing position to help members through two years of the largest disruption to daily life and business the world has ever seen.


None of that happened because of any one individual. My fellow board members and the FEDA team deserve all the credit


for making and following through with the tough decisions required in those challenging times. Because of their contributions and the work of incoming chairman Dave Stafford, we have a bright future ahead. I don’t believe this disruption is over, but whatever comes next will be something we’ve seen before. What’s more, we’ve proven our ability to adapt.


Serving as chairman of FEDA has been a highlight


of my career, and I’m thrilled that I’ll continue hanging around the board for another two years in the role of past chairman. Finally, I can get back to doing nothing.


Michael Keck is the president of Concept Services and chairman of FEDA’s Board of Directors.


4 FEDA News & Views


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