Employees of PPI, C&S, PPI-TS, and PAP Seasons Greetings to all! This is my yearly wrap-up of the Company’s compliance status for 2021.
2021 turned out to be a challenging year. Covid-19 continued to impact our work and personal lives. Regardless, we have made it through, and although there is a newly identified Covid-19 variant (Omicron) it appears that this variant is less impactful to our health.
In addition, the PAP Compliance Department was very busy dealing with President Biden’s Covid-19 vaccine mandates. This was a particularly noteworthy issue since there is no precedence on dealing with the complexities of implementing the mandates. Luckily, the issue has diminished for our companies, with one Mandate scheduled for review by the U.S. Supreme Court and the other potentially impacting the Mandate not being relevant due to the size of our Company. As it stands, we are in a holding pattern but want to strongly recommend receiving a Covid-19 Vaccine. More to come on this issue.
A few reminders for all is our interest in ensuring transparency with all expenses if you travel for business. Managers are responsible for ensuring that all expenses provide sufficient information, i.e., purpose of expense and persons involved in the expense. All expense reports must be accompanied by a detailed receipt, not the credit card voucher. Managers are reminded that if you are an expense report approver, it is your responsibility to review and question any charges that do not seem correct and ensure that detailed receipts support all expenses.
We continue to develop and refine our international agents, consultants, and representative process, which has yielded success by ensuring our agents, consultants, and representatives are well aligned with our way we do international business and within the bounds of U.S. Law. The leadership of Sale and Marketing has been instrumental in the success of this Compliance Program. Thank you, Buddy Tobin.
We also continue to refine our import and export compliance posture. A new export/import employee has been hired to ensure our daily shipping activities are compliant. Mr. Bill Keebler is a Licensed Customs Broker and is poised to be heavily involved with the international movement of propellers for the upcoming FMS Overhaul contract. Mr. Keebler is also involved in obtaining licenses from the Department of State for international training of foreign militaries. Would you please join me in welcoming Bill Keebler.
An additional and notable change this year (among many) was the promotion of Jared Flynn and Nick Melton into the position of General Manager of PPI and C&S, respectively. I had the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with Mr. Flynn two years ago in the Compliance Department. I can personally attest that Mr. Flynn is a capable and intelligent leader who follows the rules. Nick Melton is a distinguished Marine, and in addition to his strong leadership skills, his integrity is unquestionable. I am very proud to be working with these two fine gentlemen and foresee success with them at the helm.
There are many more things I would like to mention, but these are the highlights.
I expect that 2022 will continue to challenge the Compliance Department; however, we are well poised from Jeff Heikke down to meet these challenges head-on. I would underscore that our most significant strength today is the unity of the Leadership Team. I look forward to working with you all in 2022!
Happy Holidays and wishing you all a Prosperous New Year!
Happy Holidays to all!
George Canovas
