RV Industry Association Establishes Sustainability Committee

During last week’s RV Industry Association Board of Directors meeting, the Board unanimously approved the creation of a Sustainability Committee. The newly created RV Sustainability Committee will be made up of people from RV Industry Association member companies who have an interest in the success of a sustainable future for the RV industry. The committee will serve as the convening body for sustainability experts in the RV industry to share ideas and best practices as well as an educational resource for companies looking to increase their sustainability practices.

The new committee was announced to attendees of the RV Leadership Conference during the “A Conversation About Sustainability” panel which featured Jil Littlejohn Bostick, Winnebago’s Vice President and Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Kartik Mekala, Lippert’s Director of Sustainability; and Sandy Rynalski, THOR Industries’ Vice President of ESG. The panelist discussed their own professional journeys that led them to head up sustainability at their companies and the sustainability efforts their RV companies are taking. The crowd also participated by discussing big and little ways they are implementing sustainable practices.

This year, the Committee will be focused on the following activities:

• Convening members for in-depth conversations and information sharing around ways to make our industry more environmentally friendly and achieve alignment around future impact on downstream members and suppliers.
• Best practices on marketing the sustainability efforts of the industry. RV end consumers are asking for more sustainable products, and this expectation will continue to grow in the future. This committee will provide a forum to discuss how to market these efforts while avoiding a perception of “green-washing.”
• This committee will manage the development of a survey on sustainability and other corporate responsibility activities of association members. The survey results will be used as a baseline and information gathering tool to help inform further committee activities.

The new Sustainability Committee will be holding a virtual meeting in the coming month and an in-person meeting during RVs Move America Week in DC on Tuesday, June 6.

The group will be made up of sustainability subject matter experts from member companies as well as those looking to learn more about sustainability efforts. If you or someone from your company would like to serve on the committee, please send an email to Monika Geraci, the staff liaison for the committee, at mgeraci@rvia.org.

Members can view the RV Industry Association's Sustainability 101 webinar and the How to Avoid Greenwashing webinar.