The purpose of this meeting was to establish a forum where companies, specialized in handling fine art, from all over the world, would meet to discuss mutual business issues. It would be an informal conference, but some rules and regulations were required to ensure that only specialized art moving companies would be invited.

The first Convention was held in October 1977, at the Okura Hotel in Amsterdam, where 80 delegates from 56 companies gathered to meet each other. It was a success and everybody agreed that this Convention should become an annual event!

THE ONLY EMPLOYEE
The Organization grew and so did my family. It was an easy decision for me to reduce my working hours at my company and accept the proposal of the Steering Committee to install the ICEFAT Secretariat at my house, and become the one and only paid ICEFAT Employee !

Today, this situation hasn't changed -except that being Secretary General is my only job now which keeps me busy for an average of 20 hours a week, flexibly spread out over days, evenings and weekends...

What did change were my job responsibilities: taking minutes of Steering Committee meetings and writing letters and telexes to our agents was my "core business", in the beginning. Nowadays, I still take minutes and write letters - by e-mail. But the volume of work has increased dramatically over the years, with the almost monthly teleconferences of the Steering Committee and our Sub-committees - a new phenomenon in ICEFAT in recent years.

The Sub-committees are active in areas such as Membership, Finance, Marketing, Website and the editing of the ICEFAT Newsletter. There is also the financial administration of ICEFAT - and the highlight of the year - the organization of our annual Convention somewhere in the world.

DEMOCRATIC ASSOCIATION
During 27 years of existence, the structure of ICEFAT has changed from an informal group of companies, invited by the Steering Committee to a conference once a year, to a Democratic Association, actively promoting the highest standards of fine art shipping for the benefit of both our Members and Clients.

The Association is still managed by a Steering Committee, consisting of six Members currently from Europe, Canada and the USA. Annual elections are open to all ICEFAT Members to run for a minimum term of 3 years - with a maximum of 3 terms. Last year four candidates campaigned for two vacancies. It is also good to see that a new generation of Members is enthusiastically volunteering to join Sub-committees and work on the further professionalism and promotion of our Organization. For me, it proves that our membership wants to be involved and take responsibility - if they are given the opportunity, and this is very promising for the future of ICEFAT.

STANDARDS OF QUALITY
The promotion of ICEFAT works! Information requests are being sent to our list-serve - our internal communication tool - by Institutions which have found our Organization while surfing on the web. They e-mailed us that they were amazed by the number of responses they received from our Members.

But not only Clients know where to find ICEFAT: The Secretariat receives membership application requests every month and it would be easy to grow into a large, multi-staffed Organization. But that's not what ICEFAT wants. At our last Convention in Lima, Peru, the Membership unanimously agreed that we should maintain our standards of quality - as the first and most important requirement for Membership.

The Membership Sub-committee has established a profile against which each applicant will be judged before being accepted as a Member. Moreover, the applicant must submit recommendations, from ICEFAT Members and Clients, that testify to their working experience with the applicant's company. Our Members understand their responsibility when they decide to support an applying company, because the acceptance of new members will determine the future quality of ICEFAT towards our Clients.

A NEW ICEFAT
What about the future? Well, I must admit that during the last few years of the nineties - when ICEFAT was in a turbulent vacuum between being an informal group of companies and becoming a professional Association - I had a few sleepless nights over how things would work out. But then, we decided to have our year 2000 Convention in Amsterdam at the Okura Hotel, where the foundation of the Association ICEFAT took place and I thought: "This cannot be coincidental… the start of a new ICEFAT, in a new Century, at the place where it all began so long ago. This has to be right!"

And I think it is! ICEFAT is flourishing with 78 committed Members in 35 countries ambitiously striving to offer their Clients the best quality in fine art packing, transportation and museum services. And ICEFAT will grow with the addition of companies that are experienced in the fine art business and who will become important assets to our Organization and our Clients.

And ICEFAT and me? We have a very special relationship. It's like with children - most of the times we are very close, but sometimes I wish it was a bit further away than my home office, where I can't keep myself from looking to see if there are any new messages before I go to sleep. But then, what job could beat the privileges of mine? Having known so many nice people for so many years, and feeling so appreciated by them, and traveling around the world to such interesting and sometimes exotic places!

No, I won't mind doing this for a good many years to come - I'd love to!