I am excited to join the Parking Today team as CEO & Publisher after purchasing Parking Today Media from John Van Horn.
For almost 30 years, Parking Today has been the central hub of information for the parking industry. I distinctly remember reading Parking Today in the lobby while I waited to interview for what would become my first job in parking at Texas Tech University. Little did I know that my part-time college job would lead to my almost 25-year career in this wonderful industry.
I am very excited about the opportunity to build upon the amazing legacy John and his team have built at Parking Today. While John will get a well-earned break from the company’s day-to-day leadership, he will still be involved as an advisor and Editor Emeritus for Parking Today.
Well-managed and available parking is vital to the smooth running of our modern society. Like any other utility, it works best when no one notices it. But parking doesn’t work without the dedicated members of our industry who do the hard work daily. At Parking Today, we will strive to celebrate, advocate, and empower all of the people, organizations, and companies that make this industry great.
Moving forward, the Parking Today team will build on Parking Today’s incredible foundation with new energy and a spirit of innovation, working hard to serve the entire parking industry. In order to do this, we will be improving our existing platforms, programs, and services while rolling out new tools, solutions, and experiences for parking professionals.
Over the next year, we will expand our content offerings into a true multi-channel platform that spans physical print, interactive web content, breaking news, video, and audio. We want to have parking-related content available in all of your favorite formats. More importantly, we will be working hard to expand the number, type, and variety of voices featured across our range of content channels. We want to hear stories, news, research, and opinions from everyone across the industry. If you have an article or story concept and would like to be included in Parking Today, please let us know. Even if you don’t want to write it yourself, we have multiple ways to help you tell your story.
Next year will be the first year of our new and improved PIE conference. Especially in the post-COVID world, I believe in-person events must provide unique opportunities and interactions unavailable virtually. PIE 2025 will offer unique in-person experiences, sessions, and networking for attendees and exhibitors. We will expand the focus on parking innovation with the second year of Accelerate! The Parking Pitch Competition, educational sessions, panels, and opportunities to connect with innovators across the industry. Finally, PIE will continue to be the best way for those new to the industry or attending their first parking show to connect with the larger parking community. Overall it will be a bigger, better conference. We welcome your input if you have an idea for a session, forum, activity, or just something to improve the conference. This industry is doing amazing things, and we want to feature those doing it.
While we will not forget what got us here, the next chapter of Parking Today will be one of innovation. We will try new ideas, feature new voices, develop new experiences, and build new products. Some things will work, some of them won’t. We will make mistakes and learn lessons. Change is never easy, but we have to continue to move forward to keep up with an industry that doesn’t stop.
Please contact me directly with any feedback, concerns, ideas, or suggestions, both now and in the future. We are here to listen and work with you to continue to improve the parking industry.
Kevin Uhlenhaker
