March/April 1992
ReMA's soon-to-be-elected new president outlines the goals and strategies he'll be striving for over the next two years.
BY ELISE R. BROWNE
Elise R. Browne is editor of Scrap Processing and Recycling.
If Arnold Gachman's mother had had her way, he would have become a doctor or a lawyer—or anything but a scrap processor. But try as she might have to discourage him from going into the family business, Gachman found the scrap industry so "fascinating" that, today, he's not only president of Gachman Metals & Recycling (Fort Worth, Texas), but is also about to become the top leader of the national trade association representing scrap processors and recyclers. On March 14, Gachman completes his two-year term as first vice president of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) (Washington, D.C.) and moves into the presidential seat.
Taking on big responsibilities is nothing new to 49-year-old Gachman. As the only family member of his generation to take any interest in a career with Gachman Metals, he moved into authority positions within the firm at a young age. He began to work for the company "seriously" the summer following his high-school graduation, became general manager when he was 27, and was named president five years later.
Overseeing employees who were sometimes older and more experienced than him wasn't easy, Gachman says, but it taught him some key lessons about leadership: "Know your limitations and don't be embarrassed to ask for help."
Calling All Members
Gachman hasn't forgotten these principles. In fact, they're the same precepts that he says will be essential to getting through the next two years, as he carries out his term as the association's president.
"I'm looking at a job that's 10 times bigger than the one I saw eight years ago," he says, referring to the quantity and type of obligations involved in the ReMA presidency today in comparison to those of the president of the Institute of Scrap Iron and Steel (ISIS) in 1984, the year he was elected secretary of ISIS. (ISIS merged with the National Association of Recycling Industries [NARI] in 1987 to form ISRI.) He attributes the contrast, in part, to increasing industry concerns over the years and, in part, to the fact that, while ISIS and NARI represented specific segments of the industry, ReMA is made up of the spectrum of scrap processors and recyclers.
Thus, although he will certain draw on his own business background (which includes new steel distribution division on top of processing a variety of ferrous and nonferrous scrap and a "dabbling" of nonmetallics) to meet the extensive tasks ahead, he recognizes he's not an expert in all commodities and recycling processes encompassed by ReMA and is seeking help from his fellow members who offer different perspectives. "A front-line soldier is only as good as those backing him up," Gachman asserts, supporting his point by recognizing the efforts of one member after another in a discussion of some of the association's accomplishments.
Fortunately, the association's recently approved strategic plan creates an association structure that promotes leadership troop-building and expertise-sharing by increasing the size and broadening the scope of the national board of directors, on top of a number of other far-reaching organizational changes. Gachman's biggest priority as ReMA president, therefore, is to implement the strategic plan, in the process identifying available human resources and defining responsibilities.
Gachman also hopes to increase overall member participation, and, again, it's an aim that will be furthered by execution of the strategic plan. New regional board positions and more commodity-based directors established by the plan, he explains, offer additional communication channels that can help members of all types and from all parts of the country better relate each others' needs and to the association. "I want members to realize we're not some ivory tower in Washington," he explains.
Member involvement at all levels is vital to ReMA's and the industry's future, he asserts, because "we're only as good as our smallest member." And though ReMA provides all members a variety of tools designed to make them better members and help them endure the challenges facing the industry, Gachman notes, "we can teach them, but we can't do it all for them."
So what will it take to inspire members to work toward their companies'—and the industry's—survival? The soon-to-be ReMA president responds by likening scrap recyclers to crime victims. "When you've been a victim of crime, first you feel fear, then you get angry, and then you take action," he says. "Not enough members realize they've been victims and can do something about it." A brief pause later, he adds, "It's amazing what one person can do if he sets his mind to it."
Taking a Stand
As evidence of his belief in the power of the individual, Gachman points to the successes of the grass-roots environmental movement, and takes the comparison one step further, emphasizing the need for the association to address its concerns from a grass-roots perspective too. "We can't do it all from Washington," he explains, "we have to start at the local level."
ISRI is strengthening its support in this area, he notes, through a new staff position, director of state and local policy, who will draft model legislation and regulations for use at the state and local levels, assist ReMA chapters with their lobbying efforts, and present association positions before public policy groups that influence state legislation.
This assistance, Gachman notes, will add to the long list of valuable services ReMA already supplies. One of the services he points to as an example, the group storm water runoff permit program, if accepted by the Environmental Protection Agency, could save its X,XXX participants the equivalent of five to 10 years of their association membership dues payments compared to individual compliance strategies, he says. And the soon-to-be finalized environmental operating manual, he adds, offers members guidance on enhancing their facilities, on top of serving as a model for realistic environmental regulation.
That last point—securing appropriate regulation of the industry—has been a primary ReMA objective for the last two years, and Gachman plans to continue to concentrate on that goal by striving for government recognition of the difference between scrap and waste. Obtaining this distinction is also essential to the association's efforts to alleviate scrap processors and recyclers' potential Superfund liability, he points out, since it would confirm what ReMA has been arguing for quite some time: that scrap is shipped for recovery, not treatment or disposal—key phrases in Superfund law.
Bringing the Pieces Together
While environmental issues tend to be on the front burner of the association's concerns, Gachman emphasizes that such issues won't be the only focus of his presidency, and that, "although the organization doesn't have an unlimited pocketbook, we've got to be prepared to deal with any big issue we encounter." For example, he notes in reeling off a list of assignments "important to the health of the industry," ReMA will proceed with efforts such as lobbying against flow-control and tag-and-hold requirements, working for increased scrap plant safety, providing solid public relations tools, and keeping members informed of commodity market information through roundtables.
He also hopes to increase member use of these services, again, referring to the need to involve even the smallest members. For instance, he says, "everyone should attend a national convention at least once."
Gachman should know. He went to his first industry convention at the age of 18 months and has attended close to 50 ISIS, NARI, or ReMA conventions since then. [ARNIE: 50 WAS MY GUESS—PLEASE CHANGE IT IF YOU THINK I'M OFF.] The NARI involvement may surprise those who knew Gachman as an officer of ISIS , but he points out a long-standing relationship with both of ReMA's predecessor organizations: Not only was his company was a founding member of NARI and ISIS, but Gachman held leadership positions with both associations.
And now he's about to tackle the ultimate industry leadership challenge. The timing of it—coinciding with a deficit budget and a recession that's troubling the industry—will likely make it particularly demanding, but, he notes, "Nobody said it was going to be easy." In fact, he says, "when times are good, I'm scared. ... I work best under adversity." •
ReMA's soon-to-be-elected new president outlines the goals and strategies he'll be striving for over the next two years.