Interview with 2018 ACPC Supplier Chair, Chris Schroh

I have had the great opportunity to interview Chris Schroh. He will be 2018's Supplier Chair at the ACPC & will be representing his company, AkzoNobel. These industry questions bring news about him and his journey as well as the wonderful Air Carriers Purchasing Conference (ACPC). Chris has been involved with the ACPC for a long time and has a lot to offer. Please check out the website for more consideration ( www.acpc.com )

How long have you been involved in the aerospace industry and what drew you in initially?

"I have been working in the Aerospace Industry for nearly 20 years. I had always been fascinated in Aerospace since I was a child but it wasn’t something that I considered being a part of until I joined the military. When I enlisted in 1995 I was two years out of college and was living in upstate New York where job prospects were nearly non-existent at the time. When I enlisted I was adamant about being a paratrooper and insisted that training be in my enlistment contract. After completing basic training at Ft. Knox, Ky and my advanced Military Intelligence School Training (save the oxy-moron comments please LOL) at Ft Huachuca, AZ, I went to Ft. Benning for jump school. After jump school I was assigned to the 101 st Airborne Division and 3rd Special Forces Group. It seems a bit contrary but it was jumping out of perfectly good aircraft that really got me interested in the Aerospace Industry."

The aerospace/aviation aftermarket is always expanding and changing. You currently work for an OEM at AkzoNobel as MRO specialist. What are some of the challenges that you face working with an industry that is so competitive? Please elaborate on the rewards and joys of your job as well. 

"The biggest challenge is effecting change. AkzoNobel is a terrific company that believes in sustainable solutions for its customers. AkzoNobel has been the #1 ranked chemical company five of the past six years on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. We are extremely proud of this prestigious recognition and every employee is focused to ensure that we earn this honor again this year and every year moving forward. This may sound like an infomercial for AkzoNobel but it underscores our biggest challenge. Everyone is trying to be greener, lighter, more efficient. In other industries those changes can be effected much sooner and much quicker because the risk is not as great. A catastrophic failure on a piece of furniture might, at worst, result in someone ending up being embarrassed on YouTube. A catastrophic failure that happens in the air…well we don’t want to think about that. It is exactly that reason though why our industry is slower to adapt to greener technologies because we take so much care and caution to make sure what goes on the aircraft is going to keep everyone safe. A lot of work goes into developing new technologies and even more work goes into testing them. Then the challenge becomes to make someone else see what your company has done to make air travel safe and green and efficient. Rewards and Joys of the job for me all come from a satisfied customer. My job is not only to sell product but to offer solutions, troubleshoot, make something happen when it looks like nothing can and when I do…having the customer come to me and say thank you."

Are you excited about this years ACPC? You are this year's Supplier Chair. Are you nervous at all? Been practicing your speech and going over things? This must be an incredible opportunity for you to be a part of at this level? What do you have to do to prepare for something like this?

"I am very excited to be the chair for the 2018 ACPC Conference. I am not nervous, at least for a successful conference I’m not. This is the 62 nd year this conference has been held and the people that are involved in putting the show together are simply the best. Not only do they perform their job that allows them to make a living but they also volunteer so many hours to make sure that each and every attendee can get everything they want out of their experience. I hope everyone in this year’s audience as well as those in future years will listen and recognize those folks that give so much to make the conference, as it is every year, the Best in our Industry. I am not nervous about my speech. At least not now…I am sure there will be butterflies at some point but for now I am focused on the planning part and watching my team prepare a wonderful conference for everyone. I haven’t written my speech yet. I want to wait until a few weeks before the conference to do that. We have one more planning meeting in June to finalize details and I think once that is done I will be ready to start that task! As far as being a part of the ACPC…I have been a part of this conference as a volunteer, coordinator, or Board Member since 2001. I can honestly say that it has been the most fulfilling professional experience in my career. I wish that everyone would take the time to be a volunteer at least one year so they can get a taste of the teamwork that I have had the pleasure of experiencing. I believe that once that get that year under their belt they will be bitten by the same bug that got me in 2001."

What are your genuine feelings about LinkedIn and other social media platforms? I know that I contacted you after seeing that you were the Supplier Chair on the ACPC ( www.acpc.com ). We have yet to meet but I am excited to meet you and watch you lead and present this year.

"My genuine feeling about social media is that I am very guarded about it. I think it is way too easy for folks to share entirely too much about their lives. LinkedIn I think is a great tool for business professionals as long as it doesn’t become the mess that other social media platforms have become. People go on these platforms to vent and everyone sees it. It is too easy and there are no do-overs if you make a mistake. We all can make mistakes, the problem is Facebook and SnapChat make you relive them over and over 100 times if it was serious enough."

I have been asking everyone that I interview what their thoughts and/or experiences are concerning entrepreneurs, the self-employed & consultant professionals. I myself, can see this trend becoming more of the norm for future generations. Some people disagree with me respectfully and I value their opinions. What do you predict the future workforce of the world looks like?

"My thoughts on entrepreneurs are that they are truly courageous business people. To create something for themselves and maybe others when there was nothing takes incredible talent, creativity, and guts. My first job in the industry was at VMS Aircraft and I worked for a man named Mehul Sheth. He told me the story about how he had been let go at his job as a trader on Wall Street and went home. His father told him he had a desk so he had a company…and with some hard work and imagination he created his company VMS Aircraft. When I joined the company there were four of us. I was the first employee to stay longer than 2 years…I stayed for 10 and then took an opportunity, one that he encouraged, to go work for an OEM. He built his company into a multi-million dollar aerospace supplier from scratch…I always admired him for that. When I left he employed 15 people. I hope there is room for more people that can do this…create for themselves and for others."

........And so this concludes my interview with Chris Schroh. I plan on connecting with him in person at this years ACPC. I am sure he is welcoming everyone to stop by and say hello. People who get the opportunity to lead and share at conferences are really a great resource to everyone that is looking to get plugged in with the industry. It is important to say hello to strangers when it comes to networking. I hope you enjoyed the interview as much as I did. I am sure Chris and I would like to meet you and hear about your company and journey. You can meet us at the ACPC in Orlando in August. Just go to www.acpc.com for more information.