Board member and future Treasurer Marcel Jörg brings a moving pedigree and a personal love of finance to the FIDI Board. As his Board tenure begins, he speaks to FIDI Focus Editor Dominic Weaver about his background, the new international netting project and the challenges ahead in his new role
Marcel Jörg, of Gosselin, has been elected as the most recent addition to the FIDI Board, joining as Board member and future Treasurer of the organisation. Following in the footsteps of his father, Ernst, who served on the Board, including a term as President, Jörg is the first person from Gosselin to become a member of the Board (although the company’s Jessica Deutschmann is past FIDI 39 Club President).
‘As my father was a Board member and President, I am very familiar with what it means to be part of FIDI,’ he says. ‘I was very engaged for 18 years as a FIDI Academy trainer and, as President of FIDI Switzerland, I have taken part in Delegates Meetings for the past eight years.’
Trained in economics and with an early career in accountancy, finance and treasury management in the US, Jörg brings qualification and experience to his position, but also a love for financial affairs.
His first employer, a US technology company, ran an EMEA division from Switzerland – and, he says, ‘gave me a lot of insight; I loved it’ – before he was sent to the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters to take care of financials after a merger.
Jörg says that, as an only child, ‘it was the obvious thing to join the family business’ after his father established Packimpex in 1977. ‘I was on a career path in the US where my father was getting worried that I would never come back, so, when I was 27, I joined the moving business and have stayed in it ever since.’
His passion, however, has always been for the commercial, rather than the moving, side of the company. ‘I’m not a mover,’ Jörg says. ‘I don’t come from the survey and move coordination front, nor the freight-forwarding side. I never had the strongest drive to be in these areas, but I saw the business aspect as very interesting. I have always been on the administrative, strategic and leadership side of the business.’
When Packimpex sold its moving arm to Gosselin, retaining only its destination service provider (DSP) services, Jörg moved with this part of the business. His aim was to make the purchasing company’s moving division a success, ‘which it wasn’t at the time I joined’. ‘That was a challenging and ambitious mission,’ he says, ‘and I liked it so much that, after seven years, I’m still leading that division at Gosselin, within which are eight FIDI Affiliates.’ Jörg believes ‘the timing is right’ for his appointment to the FIDI Board. With the spotlight on the value for money that mobility industry associations provide for their membership, he is keen to ensure that FIDI continues to give its Affiliates the best possible returns for their fees.
‘The treasurer has a role to play in making sure we have the right balance – that we provide services at the right cost and that we are lean and efficient internally, so Affiliates get maximum benefit at the best price possible,’ Jörg says.
FIDI’s new netting system will be part of its evolving value proposition, and Jörg, who will have a central role to play in its rollout, has first-hand experience of the advantages of using such a system.
‘Netting adds a lot of value to members, although it can be complex to understand if you’ve never been exposed to it,’ he says. ‘Packimpex used to be a member of Harmony, where we had the benefit of netting with most of our partners at the time. When our moving and storage division was sold [to Gosselin], we no longer had this, and our accountants – but also the management team – really missed having it.’
Accordingly, Jörg expects FIDI’s membership, and FIDI itself, to feel major benefits from the increased efficiencies and ease of trading that netting will bring.
‘It really is a service that adds value,’ he says, ‘and it will drive companies towards becoming a FIDI member, because they will be less afraid of doing business internationally.’
Contract terms and timely payment have been in the spotlight recently, and Jörg believes there has been an improvement in businesses extending payment time to suppliers, thanks to better discipline from Affiliates. However, he says this long-standing problem is likely to remain for some time.
On top of his financial duties for the FIDI Board, Jörg is keen to get involved in matters of sustainability. ‘There is a lot of talk about ESG [environmental, social and governance] and sustainability, and FIDI has the opportunity to define what a sustainable moving company looks like,’ he says.
In addition, Jörg believes there may be a chance for the organisation to build on the growing sustainability elements in FAIM, to develop a dedicated benchmark and logo for Affiliates that meet specific criteria in this area. ‘Rather than a simple pass or fail, we could have a rating system for sustainability,’ says Jörg, who would like to see FIDI give even more guidance to Affiliates on developing their ESG credentials.
‘We could dig deeper into what companies do, and guide them towards what is possible and what is best practice. There is a lot of talk about it, but I feel there is more we can do to encourage businesses to become greener.’
He adds that there is a potential role for FIDI in addressing the current ‘lack of connectivity’ when it comes to technology.
‘There is a pain point when it comes to data exchange in the supply chain, between customers, RMCs, and FIDI Affiliates,’ he says, ‘This might be a “data warehouse”, where companies put their data in for others to access.’
While this would be a challenging project – and one that may even fall outside of FIDI’s remit – Jörg says there is a place for FIDI’s leadership in conversations about connecting the industry and moving forward generally sluggish digitalisation faster. The same goes for recruitment, he says, where movers need help to prepare for the future, focusing more on employing people and bringing in skills from outside the industry, to ensure its longevity.
‘We need to make sure we don’t just go after those who know what moving is, but also go after the next generation of talent and ensure the industry is prepared to give them what they expect,’ says Jörg. ‘Training and attracting new talent, and bringing to the industry those with different skill sets or values, would make it more sustainable in the long run.’
For now, though – at the start of what will, hopefully, be a full eight-year tenure as Board member/Treasurer – Jörg says he will take time to understand better the priorities of the FIDI Board and how best to address them.
‘I don’t know yet what all the current pain points and big discussions are on the FIDI Board,’ he says. ‘As a new member, it’s not for me to say what the priorities should be now. I will be there to listen and find out and learn, and then, eventually, take some ownership in certain projects.
‘If I can contribute to FIDI growing in terms of membership, and being in as strong a position – or even better – in eight years’ time, then I will consider that a job well done.’
