By Brian Hughes and Don Whitney

APCO’s 42nd annual conference was held in New York City in 1976, allowing attendees to celebrate the bicentennial year in a place of major historical significance in America. That year also saw the very first meeting of the Commercial Advisory Committee (CAC), formed to produce an alliance between APCO and manufacturing and service providers of commercial/corporate members.

The original CAC was made up of representatives from nine companies. The first order of business was to evaluate the annual networking event that celebrated the relationship between APCO and the manufacturing community. This event, MANAPCO, was managed by the CAC and grew into a major event at annual conferences for almost 30 years.

Fast forward to 2016 and the CAC—now the Commercial Advisory “Council”—is celebrating 40 years of continuous service to the association. The growth of the CAC has kept pace with the growth of our industry and APCO. In 1976, APCO was in the early stages of developing standards for public safety trunking, which were published as APCO 16. The companies whose employees made up the founding group of the CAC were active and important partners in shaping APCO 16 into a standard that changed the nature of public safety communications.

This partnership continued as future standards, most notably APCO 25, were developed to allow public safety communications to evolve in a way that has been beneficial to all public safety agencies. The association continued to grow and expand its focus, and the CAC has mirrored this expanding focus. The CAC’s nine representatives have grown to a total of 24. Each year, six members are elected as the result of a process which requires all segments of our growing industry to be represented, as well as a geographic balance. This assures that all commercial contributors have a voice in the important advisory role that the CAC plays.

Today, CAC and the other commercial members of APCO are an integral part of the association having representatives on virtually every committee, task force and the Board of Directors. The 40-year celebration at this year’s conference in Orlando will include current and past CAC members wearing special CAC @ 40 ribbons. They will be very happy to share their experiences on the CAC with you. There will also be CAC @ 40 gatherings at the APCO Block Party and the Connect and Celebrate Dinner. Current and past CAC members will be recognized at key APCO events.

The last 40 years have been marked by significant changes in our industry, which even the most clairvoyant person could not have imagined taking place. What changes will we see over the next 40 years? While the true scope of the change is unknown at this time, it is certain that the CAC and the association will continue to maintain a leadership position in the management of this change. Look for the “CAC @ 40” ribbons and shake hands with every current and past CAC member you see and congratulate them for 40 years of service to APCO.