Change is never easy, but it is inevitable. At some point in time people move on and new people come on board, it is a natural progression. Soon that will happen in my role as the Executive Director at SAAR.
 
My goal was to make a difference, not just for the repair shops but also for SGI. As much as I was one to rock the boat as a shop owner, I have always thought that we could accomplish more by working together rather than banging heads to make positive change. In some ways I think we have succeeded. In other ways I feel that we are facing more challenges with the complexity and cost of repairs than ever before.
 
For now, I need to update you on our candidate search.
 
For me, the job of Executive Director is not for the paycheck, I am doing this job because I care about the repair industry and its relationship with all stakeholders, including SGI. I am not a fundraiser or a marketing genius, I am simply a guy that has, for the most part, enjoyed my time managing and owning bodyshops since 1982. Hopefully, my experience has helped some of you in your business journey.
 
The challenge we find ourselves in today is that the current remuneration that SAAR can afford to pay is about two thirds to half of what most employment prospects are looking for. So unless somebody knows of a soon to be retiring owner or shop manager that is passionate about making a difference and willing to take over, we are going to have to rethink how we manage our organization.
 
Currently SAAR represents about 140 body shop members, 12 PDR members and about 40 supplier members that provide the bulk of our funding. We recently switched our membership invoicing from QuickBooks to EventCamp, where we are having some challenges getting everyone to re-new their memberships for 2026 because folks are looking for an invoice. If you have not already done so it would be much appreciated if you would log into EventCamp and re-new at your earliest convenience.
 
So what to do about this?
 
We do have a connection to the Glass Dealers Association of Saskatchewan, and we will be receiving some funds from them, not sure how much just yet.
 
If you know of shops that are not members of SAAR perhaps you can encourage them to join and support our efforts.
 
The Industry and Education support that we provide could use some help. Currently we support Sask Distance Learning, Peacock High School Auto Body Program, both campuses of Sask Polytechnic, Swervin Mervin Indy Cars, Saskatoon Industry & Education, Regina & District Industry & Education, Skills Canada and Skills Saskatchewan. We currently have about $40,000 budgeted for this but could easily double that amount.

To address this commitment I have set up an EventCamp banner at https://eventcamp.ca/event/industry-education-sponsorship/access where stakeholders of the repair industry can support our industry & education efforts with a monthly subscription that starts at $25 and maxes out at $100. If every current SAAR member gave only $25 a month it would give us over $50,000 yearly to support our Industry & Education initiatives. This would free up funds for wages.
 
The end goal is to have enough of a financial carrot to attract a highly skilled Executive Director that can build on the foundation that I and my predecessors have built to date. I hope you will consider supporting this initiative or come up with ideas to help us meet our financial commitments.