Joel Anderson accepting the IWLA Jock Menzies 2014 Distinguished Service Award during the IWLA Convention in Phoenix, Ariz.

The International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA) recently awarded the first-ever Jock Menzies IWLA Distinguished Service & Leadership Award to former IWLA President & CEO Joel D. Anderson. Anderson received the award during the association’s annual business meeting March 25, 2014, in Phoenix, Ariz.

The 2014 IWLA Jock Menzies Distinguished Service Award is one of the warehousing industry’s highest honors. It recognizes outstanding leadership and service to the warehouse-based third-party logistics industry and to IWLA, the industry’s trade association.

“In seven years of service to IWLA, Joel Anderson dedicated himself to making IWLA a powerful force in Washington and the organization a leader in providing education and resources to the warehouse logistics industry. Joel built an influential network of business professionals,” says IWLA Chairman of the Board Tom Herche, president of United Warehouses, based in Seattle, Wash.

Anderson received the award in front of hundreds of warehouse and third-party logistics professionals from across North America as they gathered in Phoenix, Ariz., for three days of networking and professional development during the IWLA Convention & Expo.

“My experience at IWLA was a rewarding one that gave me an overwhelming sense of professional accomplishment as well as personal gratitude to the members who I look to as friends. I will cherish this moment of recognition as a reminder of my final and most rewarding career experience,” Anderson says.

Past IWLA chairmen from Anderson’s tenure were invited to the stage to honor him as well. “Joel cares about people and is passionate about the IWLA and the success of our members. Members appreciate his leadership because he understands what is critical to their success and fights for their causes,” immediate past IWLA Chairman Paul Verst said as he presented the award to Anderson. “Joel can retire knowing he has left us in a much better position than when he arrived.”

The award, first bestowed in 1996, was dedicated in 2014 to T. “Jock” Menzies III, co-founder and former president of the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN), who passed away in 2013. The 2014 IWLA Jock Menzies Distinguished Service & Leadership Award pays tribute to this visionary humanitarian whose achievements ensured logistics networks and warehousing were key components in natural disaster relief. Menzies turned his 40 years of logistical knowledge into a humanitarian effort after witnessing the aftermath of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.

“We felt a strong connection between the Distinguished Service Award and our dear friend and colleague, who passed away suddenly in August of 2013,” says Herche.  “The award represents exemplary individuals who invest their time and efforts to advancing the industry and to making difference where it matters most.”