OBAC looks for leadership after president resigns

WELLAND, Ont. (April 14, 2003) — In an e-mail letter to board members, Dave Marson, the president and a founding member of the Owner-Operators’ Business Association of Canada, has submitted his resignation because of what he says are differences of opinion over long-term association strategies.

“After careful consideration I am officially offering my resignation from the Owner-Operators’ Business Association of Canada,” he wrote in the e-mail. “I am the last founding member to offer my resignation. This association is not serving the interests of the Canadian Owner/Operators and/or drivers.”

When contacted by Today’s Trucking, Marson reiterated the reasoning behind his decision, citing what he claims are instances where some board members “made decisions behind (his) back.” Marson also disagreed with a recent OBAC plan to offer a free one-year membership to active members of the Com-Car Owner-Operators Association, which disbanded in January. At the time, OBAC interim-executive director Leo Van Tuyl called the decision to extend benefits as a “tribute” to Art Joosse, Com-Car’s long-time president and driving force who died of cancer in April 2000.

“We should have used OOIDA (Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association) in the U.S. as a benchmark for success. But I had trouble even convincing some board members of that,” Marson said. “On one hand they’ll wave the flag of Com-Car and immortalize Art Joosse, which I don’t think is ever any good for owner-operators, but an association like OOIDA was not respected by OBAC.”

OBAC board director Paul Knibbs, says the association is not against modeling itself after some aspects of OOIDA, but it must still grow in order to achieve similar status of the U.S. organization. “When you get a diverse group like this, you’re bound to have differences of opinion, that happens in any walk of life.” He also said that the decision to extend benefits to Com-Car was approved by the rest of the board, and suggested that Marson was the lone dissenting voice on that issue.

Although he values the passion and time Marson put into the job, Knibbs is looking forward to a new president who is able to steer the group back to its official agenda. OBAC is looking to reconcile several issues that have distracted the association from its core duties, including the disappearance of the group’s chartered accountant Tony Leckie, as well as some financial documents, and missing funds.

“Despite all the good efforts of the board, including Mr. Marson, these difficulties have always stood in the way of moving forward. Having said that, there’s a core group that is insistent upon pursing it. Quite frankly, my opinion is with the right people it will survive,” says Knibbs, who also suggested the new president’s role would need to be more clearly defined. “We as a board had expected Dave to lead us through these problems as they cropped up, unfortunately Dave did not exhibit part of the leadership we expected … One problem is with an owner-operator like Dave who makes a living off his truck, it becomes very difficult to manage from the road. I would say Dave’s resignation is for the better, from the point of view that I feel he would have been more effective as a director rather than a president. Whoever leads this organization needs to have more available time to do the leadership things that a president needs to do.”

Knibbs also says that upon hearing of Marson’s resignation, Don Robertson, another founding member who stepped down recently, has indicated he would now be willing to rejoin OBAC. Knibbs discounted some suggestions that Robertson left the association because of a disagreement with OBAC’s direction or policies.

As a parting shot, Marson told Today’s Trucking that now that he’s gone, he does not wish OBAC any luck in future endeavors. “Not under the present regime, I really don’t,” he said.

Knibbs suggested that Marson’s attitude hints of “sour grapes.” “That’s unfortunate, but there’s a core group of directors here that are great people, and will see this thing through one way or the other,” he said.