SALT LAKE CITY – Nearly 2,000 Logisticians descended on Salt Lake City for the opening of the 2022 Logistics Officer Association Symposium, March 15. The symposium marks LOA’s 40th anniversary and will continue at the Salt Palace Convention Center through Friday, March 18.
“These are the highest registration numbers we’ve seen in 20 years,” said Jason Kalin, LOA President. “We could not be more excited to honor 40 years of premier professional development at this year’s event.”
The symposium kicked off with a full day of LOA University course offerings strategically developed to deepen understanding of Agile Combat Employment, Conducting Logistics While Under Attack, Supply Chain Risk Management, and Theory of Constraints.
The LOAU course structure received a major overhaul this year led by the organization’s Chief Learning Officer Jerry Ottinger.
Previous iterations of LOAU featured various shorter sessions for attendees to prioritize throughout the day. This year, Ottinger intentionally altered the format to facilitate fewer, yet more in-depth sessions tailored to the logistics community’s most relevant topics.
“We wanted to go deep instead of just broad this year,” said Ottinger. “The purpose of these longer blocks is to really get after the common problems Airmen are experiencing day-to-day instead of just scratching the surface.”
Rather than attendees moving from room to room, this year’s instructors did the rotating, saving valuable learning time and enabling each group to experience all of the available courses.
Capt. Sean McCanna, a three-time LOA Symposium attendee who serves as Director of Operations for the 801st Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida, appreciated the revamped LOAU format.
“The new format made it easier to get into the minutia, and ask questions that mattered to us, and engage with our peers,” said McCanna.
The opening day of the symposium concluded with a tour of Hill Air Force Base’s Ogden Air Logistics Complex and a networking reception in the exhibit hall sponsored by Linquest, Connected Alliances, and Infor.
Those who are not able to attend this year’s symposium in person may continue to register for virtual attendance throughout the week: logisticsymposium.org/Register
Wednesday’s events begin at 8 a.m. Mountain time with opening remarks on the mainstage from Kalin, followed by keynote addresses from Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall, Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Engineering and Force Protection Lt. Gen. Warren Berry, and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne Bass.