DBA International: Nice to Have You in our Corner

Dave Rudd

DBA International Leadership: You are my Heroes!

As I have become more involved in industry lobbying, I’ve learned that our trade associations provide critical support and education to our businesses, industry and even political representatives. The industry members who volunteer their time to serve in various association leadership positions are heroes as they help us improve our businesses. DBA International’s leaders are certainly no exception.

IAT SmartDial has been a DBA International Affiliate Member for many years, and I frequently attend the annual conference. Many exhibitors are not able to attend conference business meetings, but I usually attend as a company “extra,” so I can. These meetings have opened my eyes to the problems our industry faces AND what the various associations are doing to fight for their members.

At this year’s DBA conference business meeting, I started taking notes on DBA’s accomplishments in 2011, and I was truly impressed by their efforts. Here are just a few of the highlights:

• Organized major lobbying efforts against proposed legislation that would be harmful to the debt buying industry in several states, including Florida, New York and Massachusetts.
• Met with the Attorneys General of each State to educate them on DBA International, the benefits of debt buying and the importance to the industry.
• Held several educational meetings with the FTC and CFPB.
• Held Washington D.C. lobbying fly-ins and other events to help educate political leaders.
• Published a white paper about the industry and debt buying to help educate political leaders, industry advocates and the press.

I was glad to hear that DBA membership grew significantly in 2011 and that the association’s financial outlook continues to improve. It takes a lot of resources to promote the industry. We need trade associations like DBA to help keep us educated and to represent us in the political arena. There is still so much more to do! Make sure you help our trade associations fight in our behalf.

To our current DBA fighters: Keep up the good work! We’re glad you’re in our corner!

Dave Rudd is DialerFan, a champion of the collection industry, focused on improving collection capabilities through technology and political action. He energetically participates in lobbying efforts for the industry through donations, writing letters, making phone calls, participating in seminars and attending events in Washington D.C., including the most recent ACA International Fly-In.

Well acquainted with debt collection, Dave spent two years debt collecting before joining IAT in 1990. He has held a variety of positions at IAT, a provider of collection-specific dialing technology, including President/CEO and most recently Senior VP of Finance & Administration.