A Message from the AACPM President-Elect

By Stephen Mastro, CPM
smastro@csum.edu

I want to thank the voting members of the Academy for providing me this opportunity to serve our membership over the next three years as a member of the Board of Directors (BOD) of AACPM. Academy elections are a win-win for the membership because all the persons on the ballot are well qualified to serve. I believe that these talented and dedicated people who were NOT elected can still be of great service to the Academy, and I hope you will join me in encouraging them to serve on committees or to help with any new initiatives that the BOD embarks on under Greg’s leadership in 2008.

Now that the election is completed, I wish to openly communicate with each of you so I can understand your views on the future of the Academy. I am only one of the seven members of your Board of Directors, but I truly wish to bring to the Board the voice of the membership as brought forth by the HOD members. In turn, I hope to be able to bring back to the membership (through the HOD members) the appreciation for the work on important initiatives that the Board as put forth. I stated in my letter to the HOD members, when asking for your vote of support, that “My intent is to begin a dialog with each of you that will last long after the election.” Well, the election is over and it is time to begin the dialog. We must openly share ideas, concerns, and offer assistance to the Academy in moving forward in an effective, strategic manner. We all need to review the mission and goals of the Academy and use them as our guide to reach a consensus on what are the most critical, current objectives into which we should put effort that would best serve our membership.

Below are some observations and ideas I have for beginning the discussion.

1. We need to improve the participation of members from all societies in serving on national committees. Effort should be made to recruit at least one member from each society to serve on a national committee. No Academy member should serve on more than two national committees (so more individuals may serve). This would be done by asking the society presidents to nominate members to serve on the national committees, and the AACPM President appoints new committee members from this list of nominees.
   
   
2. We need to strengthen the mentoring program to the societies. We have new and long term societies that are struggling to stay active locally, as well as to be represented at the annual conference and HOD meeting. We need to provide an avenue for proactive assistance. This could include using the newsletter to have mentors write articles on topics from running meetings using Roberts Rules of Order to effective minute taking for secretaries. We could also establish a list of “topic experts” who could be contacted for guidance. This could be useful to presidents, treasurers, secretaries, and committee chairs for membership, bylaws, ways & means, etc. We are an organization filled with experienced mentors—we need to determine how to best harness this talent to transfer valuable knowledge to those who follow us.
   
   
3. We need to determine how to increase the value of AACPM membership for our members. As membership dues increase, we have to find a way to bring value to the majority of our members who DO NOT attend the annual educational conference. Any ideas you might have to bring real value to membership without increasing the cost of membership would be greatly appreciated. Maybe we can do some of this by using the AACPM web site. We need to evaluate the services we currently offer—to make sure the membership is aware of them and believes they have value.
   
   
4. The Leadership Institute concept must become active and begin to nurture the future leaders of societies and the Academy. Whether this is done at the annual educational conference or by taking institute training to the societies or regional locations remains to be determined.
   
   
5. Once we have determined where we hope to go, we must match our priorities to our fiscal resources. Although fiscal issues should not drive our decisions, it is prudent to live within our fiscal resources to ensure the long term health of the Academy. It is likely that the Board will not be able to fund every good program or idea. If we communicate and receive buy-in to a shared plan of action, the Board will use the Academy resources in a manner with which the HOD will agree.

These are the hot issues I see that define the current state of the Academy—we have the tools, we just need to work together towards common goals. As one of your representatives on the Board, I view this as the start of a three-year responsibility I have to a dialog with our membership. It is now your turn to speak to me. Please share your thoughts with me. E-mail me at smastro@csum.edu or stevemastro@sbcglobal.net and tell me from your point of view what the Academy is doing well, where it could be improved, and your suggestions and offers to help to make the suggested improvements. I promise you that, with your support, I will work hard in an effort to make a positive impact for the membership of AACPM.

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