As we roll into the month of June, I am in disbelief in how quickly the year has gone by. I started off my term as President by refocusing on our mission and vision to make sure that, as we grow, we do not lose sight of what our Chapter is all about. I also talked about how our success is built on the balanced support of the three pillars of our Chapter -1) Professional Members 2) volunteers, and 3) sponsorship funds.
So how did the year go? For our first pillar, the Celebrating the Facility Management Professional (CFMP) campaign was a big success with our Chapter refocus. As stated in our mission, our goal was to make sure we provide quality educational, networking, and leadership opportunities that support the core competencies of the facility management profession. As a chapter, we want to “serve as the ultimate resource and representative for facility management.” Through the year we used this campaign to continually build awareness on our mission and vision from the top down by focusing on how we operate and providing quality monthly and after-hour meetings for educational and networking opportunities. We also held one of our most well-attended CFM classes in years that included members from four different IFMA Chapters. Simply stated, we continued to build the Chapters reputation as the facility managers ultimate resource. Our Chapter survey results were very positive but also provided constructive feedback on the need to increase educational/CEU opportunities. You spoke, we listened, and plans are already underway to do this next year as we will continue our Chapter refocus.
For our second pillar we have the greatest group of volunteers you could ask for. As part of our refocus, there was a significant restructuring of our internal operations and roles and responsibilities of our Board and Committee members. We have a solid team of seasoned veterans to anchor our committees and a great mix of new volunteers who jumped in and did an incredible job. The hard work coming out our annual Planning Retreat will allow us to continue to provide more streamlined processes and better defined roles and responsibilities. This will allow us to collectively focus on the things that will truly have the greatest positive impact on the chapter with our limited volunteer time. We also did an incredible job of ramping up our community outreach efforts. Volunteerism is alive and well in our Chapter.
For our third pillar I am pleased to announce that our Chapter remains financially strong and we will finish the year on budget. We have an incredible base of committed sponsors who provide the core funding for our Chapter operations and events. As you know, we have started our sponsor drive for the upcoming year. A lot of moving parts go into a successful sponsorship campaign, and this is a great indicator of how well we are doing as a Chapter. It shows we continue to provide great overall value to our members and that our sponsors and volunteers are actively engaged within our Chapter. Through the generosity of our sponsors we will be able to continue to provide quality educational and networking opportunities through a variety of programs and nationally recognized speakers.
So as I wrap up my term as President, I am grateful and honored to have been entrusted with leadership of the Chapter over the last year. Our successful year was accomplished through teamwork. Under the leadership of Neville Devlaliwalla, I am confident we will continue to successfully advance our Chapter. Along with the help of Past Presidents, our team will continue to make sure that our Chapter continues to be the ultimate resource for the facility management professional.
