Chapter News

March 2005

National Elections Information - by Marlys Norby

The National and Regional Vote is as follows. Of note, Len Vincent (NOVA chapter and board advisor) is the only person running in the National President-Elect position. I’ve met Len and I’m very excited about his participation, and Karen is a good friend to many of us in the Tyson’s Chapter leadership.

The elections started on February 22 and continued through February 25 for national and regional officers. The Presidents of all of the chapters (about 130) are placing their votes through 25 FEB. Some of the positions only have one choice. For our region, the Mid-Atlantic Region, there are many people weighing in to represent the region, as the Region Vice President. This is a two*year position, although how this position is fulfilled and established as a role seems to be up to the people serving. From the summit held on February 5, 2005, it was established that the current people serving in the positions are figuring out ‘how to serve’ and Chapter Presidents were looking for guidance on how to call upon the resources. With time, this function and role will hopefully become clear.

The officer selection process should result in fine representation. When it’s announced we’ll post the leadership on the website.

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Summit Meeting - 2/05/05

The Mid-Atlantic Region was represented well. This all day meeting allowed us to make contact and share our challenges and successes with other chapters. We were provided presentations from regional leaders, the next President, Karen Reuters, and Neal Couture was the daytime host, with Wendy Murrah being the go to person for just about everything at National, many changes are taking place. Much interaction and feedback was provided by our members.

Highlights of the content. The headquarters office is too expensive as ‘rental’ space, and regions are being explored to move the HQ location. Additionally, Karen Reuters described committees established evaluating successful approaches to create and sustain chapters for members. Three ideas of the concept of membership were presented, owner, manager, and of course member. These make sense in the role of chapter leadership to make decisions. As owners, we want to use our money wisely and not violate accounting or ethics practices. As managers we want to get resources, programs and people in the roles that are best suited for them. As members, we want the information and tools to perform in our jobs and develop as people and have the association bring us the best of the best. Not too much to ask.

The standard for chapter financial reporting (taxes, income and expenses) and management was provided, which helped our chapter tremendously. Long-range and short range program planning was discussed with leadership development a successful approach. We are one of the few chapters that uses a President-Elect position to allow for the growth and maturity to establish the role as President. Interpersonal skills were discussed on how to actually evaluate and place the right person for the position that suits them at the time based on chapter resources AT THE TIME. Additionally there were other meetings discussing awards and the processing and nomination information. All of these were attended by our officers to bring us the depth we have currently to keep building success in our chapter endeavors.