Dear GTC IFMA members,
Is it just me, or does everyone think Spring is arriving slowly this year? As I write this, the weather forecast calls for temperatures in the 50’s all week. Again! I’ll be glad when the weather turns warm. That got me thinking about other things to look forward to this month especially in terms of our GTC IFMA activities.
On April 10th, we’ll meet at PNC Arena for a luncheon meeting featuring Ryan J. Kennedy, PE to speak about Atom Power, a new business founded in Charlotte.
On April 24th, we’ll take to the links for the 20th Annual Mike Bradley IFMA Foundation Golf Tournament at Lochmere Country Club. That’s quite a milestone, as it means our Chapter has contributed well over $100,000 to further the education of deserving students in accredited Facility Management-related programs in the Southeast.
I’m looking forward to the event in the short-term because it’s always a good time and provides a fun venue to meet other members and their guests. In the long-term, I’m looking forward to the day when the Triangle/Triad have their own accredited programs so we can help local students find a career in our profession. Not only because it’s a great career, but because the profession needs successors to the work we perform now.
As I’ve written about before, with the support of IFMA National, we have several GTC IFMA Global Workplace Initiative (GWI) committee members participating in skills development with North Carolina high school students (even at their tender age) in hopes to interest them in a Facility Management career. Now that’s something to look forward to!
PS: Also, on April 24th, we celebrate Administrative Professionals Day. I’d like to say thank you to our support staff, Candi McDowell and Tamara Tinker, for taking care of the day-to-day details of running our Chapter and allowing us to focus on the “big stuff”. They do a great job, and we appreciate everything they do!
Cris Karasek
President 2018-2019
