Would you have settled for a 12 percent return on your investments for calendar-year 2008?

Considering that the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted to depths most economists couldn't fathom in 2008, I would guess that your answer would be a resounding "Yes."

Well, a 12 percent growth rate was exactly what the Industrial Asset Management Council experienced this past year, climbing in membership from 449 to 504 in 12 short months.

At a time when industrial companies, economic development organizations and service provider organizations were, by and large, tightening their belts and otherwise putting the lid on new spending, IAMC demonstrated its strength and value in the marketplace by reaching record highs in membership, dues revenue, Professional Forum revenue and total revenue.

Ron Starner, executive director of IAMC

In fact, by almost any measure, 2008 was a banner year of success for IAMC. Consider these facts and figures:

• The Spring 2008 Professional Forum in Scottsdale, Arizona attracted 334 registered attendees, the second highest turnout in IAMC history and only slightly trailing the record of 340 set in Amelia Island the previous spring.
• IAMC's Active member growth rate of 22 percent in 2008 exceeded the industry average by a wide margin and continued to show solid gains among Fortune 500 firms.
• The Fall 2008 Professional Forum in Oklahoma City tied with Charleston, South Carolina (Spring 2005), as the highest rated Forum overall in IAMC history, with 86 points out of a possible 100.
• The official web site of the association — IAMC.org — set new records in unique visitors and total visits in 2008, culminating in November (the most recent month available for measurement) with a record 7,266 unique visitors and a record 11,798 visits.
• The web site got even better in 2008 with the addition of many new user-friendly features and new navigational tools that enhance the visitor's experience. Among them are a robust Demographics & Statistical Sources section and a searchable index.
• During a mid-year Active Member Survey, 84 percent of respondents said they were either satisfied or extremely satisfied with IAMC overall.
• The IAMC Future Sites Committee turned in yet another outstanding performance by recommending future host sites for Forums in Albuquerque, Austin and Philadelphia — choices that also gained the approval of the IAMC Board of Directors.

Beyond the numbers and the accomplishments, one could sense a qualitative difference in IAMC in 2008 — a year that saw the association tap and develop a new generation of leaders that will guide the association through 2009 and beyond.

Rick Little

With an Executive Committee of Chair Rick Little, Vice Chair Jim Winter, Treasurer Susan Reber and Secretary Doyle Shea, IAMC is poised to carry on the exemplary legacy of the previous leadership and set new standards of achievement.

The baton of leadership has also been passed at the committee level, as the Leadership Development Program of IAMC continues to train and equip new torch-bearers for the organization.

If you are not one of them, perhaps one day you will aspire to join the ranks of these servant leaders. If you do, you will undoubtedly learn the lesson already absorbed by 2008's leadership guard: the more you give to IAMC, the more you get out of it.

That's the real return of 2008.