The Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association (CIECA) announced the newly elected officers of its 2021 Board of Trustees and also the recipients of the 2020 CIECA Awards during its virtual board meeting on Jan. 12.

The 2021 CIECA Board of Trustees officers are:

• Past chair: Kim DeVallance Caron, Enterprise Holdings
• Chair: Jeff Schroder, Car-Part.com
• Vice chair: Phil Martinez, Mitchell International
• Treasurer: Greg Best, California Casualty Management Company
• Secretary: Ashley Denison, Caliber Collision

Detailed bios of the officers can be found on the CIECA website. These officers will serve on CIECA’s executive committee, which oversees business matters throughout the year and plans the agenda for CIECA’s board meetings.

“The CIECA Standards provide a great foundation for integration within the collision industry, and our new initiative to develop CIECA API Standards will further simplify integrations efforts,” said Jeff Schroder. “As a member of CIECA for the past 17 years, I look forward to helping the organization build standards that take advantage of new technology opportunities and benefit all segments of the industry.”

Ashley Denison, CIECA’s new secretary, is the chief information officer for Caliber Collision. In this role, she is responsible for Caliber’s business IT strategy, implementation and operations.

Denison has been a member of CIECA’s Board of Trustees for three years.

“Data is the foundation on how the industry is run,” she said. “Standards create an easy way to communicate data quickly and ensure that it means the same across the senders and receivers.”

Denison said she is excited to be a part of the ever-changing landscape of the collision industry.

“CIECA has the ability to help drive innovation and integration throughout the industry by creating standards that will foster collaboration.”

Driaan du Toit, vice president of RMS Solera US, is filling the board role for Audatex, a Solera Company. du Toit is in charge of the claims vertical for Solera’s auto claims platform and solutions being utilized by the company’s claims products across the U.S.

“I am excited to be part of the board because of the important role that CIECA plays to create and implement standards for the collision industry,” said du Toit. “I believe this is critically important to allow for equal competition and participation of all participants throughout the value chain.”

du Toit said CIECA will also play an important role to help shape the industry through the next phase of innovation and change.

2020 CIECA Awards

During the meeting, Kim DeVallance Caron, CIECA’s new past chair and director of product discovery for Enterprise Holdings, announced the recipients of the 2020 CIECA awards, which recognize outstanding dedication and contribution to the organization.

Outstanding Contribution: Andy Bober, software engineer at Entegral

“Andy spent a lot of his personal time converting the CIECA messages to JSON and did an amazing job getting GitHub configured and ready for the 2020R1,” said DeVallance Caron.

Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Dedication: Charley Quirt, former technical project coordinator for CIECA

“We greatly appreciate everything you have done for CIECA members and the industry,” said DeVallance Caron. “Without Charley, CIECA wouldn’t have accomplished half of what it has.”

Chairperson’s Award: Phil Martinez, senior technical consultant at Mitchell International and vice chair of CIECA

DeVallance Caron said Martinez has been an active participant in many CIECA committees over the years.

“His ongoing participation and support of CIECA are greatly appreciated,” she said. “This is why he was chosen for the 2020 Chairperson’s Award, and I want to personally thank Phil on behalf of the Board of Trustees for all of his efforts.”

Electronic Commerce Company of the Year: Mitchell International, accepted by Debbie Day, Mitchell’s EVP, general manager of Auto Physical Damage

“The Board of Trustees has chosen Mitchell International to receive the award for its support and commitment to use the CIECA Standards,” said DeVallance Caron, “A special thank you to Mitchell employees Phil Martinez and Dan Webster for their hard work and dedication.”

For more information about CIECA, committee involvement and membership details, visit cieca.com or email CIECA Executive Director Paul Barry at [email protected].