Wisconsin Society of Certified Public Managers®

By Mark Evans, CPM, 2008-2009 President

Wisconsin: Looking Back: 2009 & Looking Forward: 2010

This past year seemed to be incredibly fast for many of us here in Wisconsin! Budget constrictions and ever-growing demands for service volume and quality are the hallmarks of our time. We are grateful that our ongoing society membership and national affiliation with other CPMs through AACPM helps us grow, sustains our ongoing quest for critical skills, and gives us the support of other leaders and friends. As a society, WSCPM has had many key highlights in 2009 and we want to share some of these with you.

We held our annual Society meeting in October in Green Bay, home of the Green Bay Packers and the historic gateway from Great Lakes to the interior of the continent. We reviewed our year’s progress, planned our 2010 budget, approved our first official society SOP and an update to our by-laws, and elected our new officers for the 2010-2011 biennium:

President: Lutfi Shahrani
President-Elect: Kathy Skiera
Secretary: Rick Higgins
Treasurer: Jim Olson
Past-President: Mark Evans
Member-At-Large, Communications: Cathy Williquette
Member-At-Large, Finance: Amy Banicki

We produced four Society newsletters in February, May, August, and October. They’re posted along with our meeting minutes and other reports on our society website at www.wscpm.org.

Along with Susan Paddock and Robbi Dreifuerst of the Wisconsin CPM program, we helped celebrate CPM graduation classes in February and December. We also treated the December class to lunch at the Great Dane in Madison before their graduation. As WSCPM President, Mark Evans spoke at each graduation, congratulating each class and encouraging their future participation in our state society and with the national AACPM.

Feb.09 CPM class & Susan Paddock: Janeville, WI

Dianne Hughe served as the 2009 WSCPM representative on the Wisconsin CPM Policy Board, assisting in instructional planning and course development of Wisconsin’s CPM Program.

Dec.09 CPM class & WSCPM members joining them in celebration, in the State Capitol

Amy Banicki, who earned her CPM in 2006 and who works for the Unemployment Insurance Division within the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, was promoted to Statewide Adjudication Manager in January 2009, overseeing the four adjudication centers in Wisconsin. Mark Evans appointed her society Historian at the Annual Meeting in October 2008 and she served in this capacity through 2009.

In January 2009, Cathy Williquette,(pictured) the Brown County Register of Deeds, our At-Large Board Member for Communications and former WSCPM President (1998 & 1999), was chosen by the Wisconsin Newspaper Association (WNA) (see: http://www.wnanews.com), to receive the 2008 "Badger Award" for openness in government. This honor is in recognition of Cathy’s long-standing dedication as a public official to an informed citizenry. We are all extremely proud of Cathy’s recognition for this award!

Five members, including Mark Evans, Lutfi Shahrani and Rick Higgins, attended the Annual National AACPM Professional Development Conference in Orlando, Florida. Mark Evans, Lufti Shahrani, and Kathy Skiera represented Wisconsin in the AACPM House of Delegates and continue as delegates from September 2009 to October 2010. Dianne Hughes serves as the society’s alternate delegate. Ron Buchholz also attended the AACPM conference. Mark won the Utah state basket; Dianne and, in absentia, Kathy Ludke, won additional drawing prizes.

Sarah Klavas (pictured with Mark Evans), Brand Manager and Director with the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, won the Wisconsin Askew Award for 2009 announced at the Annual l AACPM Professional Development Conference in Florida. Sarah’s was recognized for developing new tourism marketing approaches for the state. Mark Evans accepted the Askew on her behalf in Orlando and presented the award to Kathy in the Wisconsin Capitol Assembly Chamber in December 2009.

We initiated a WSCPM social breakfast in December 2008 and held three additional breakfasts in 2009.

We have continued  maintenance and development of our website www.wscpm.org which has received over 6,000 hits since its inception in early 2004. In addition to being a Society resource for upcoming events and past meeting minutes/newsletters, the site also has links to many other online resources for public managers. (We have temporarily left up our page and associated links to the 2007 National AACPM Conference, hoping it could continue to be a resource for others planning future conferences, but we will likely take down this information in 2010.)  (We have maintained our registration of www.wscpm.org and www.wscpm.com.)

Cathy Williquette, Jim Olson and Jim Thompson (pictured) worked as a subcommittee, through 2009, updating our society bylaws and creating the final draft of an SOP. Following reviews at meetings and on-line discussions with other society members, they presented both documents at our annual meeting in October 2009. Both were approved. We thank each of them for their service to WSCPM.

At our February 2009 Board meeting, we demonstrated the use of the Internet-based, live video collaboration tool, Elluminate, and anticipate trying additional uses of this tool and other technologies, within 2010 board meetings and training sessions.

Our society closing book balance for 2009 is over $16,500 (pending close-out in January 2010), with a 2010-projected budget of $9,255 (pending any revisions to be presented at the February 2010 board meeting). Our society financial status is strong. Our 2009 membership was strong, with 176 total members (an increase of 12 from 2008); 50 Certified, 123 Associate, and 3 Honorary.

Under the new leadership of Lutfi Shahrani, we are planning an exciting 2010, including training and social events and will continue to incorporate the use of on-line collaboration tools to share ideas and interact more with society members from other states and with members of the 2010 AACPM Board. Meanwhile, keep an eye on us by visiting www.wscpm.org.

© Copyright 2009, American Academy of Certified Public Managers®