President’s Message- Serge Micheli, February 21, 2013

Serge Micheli, CAE, CEM
Serge Micheli, CAE, CEM

Dear Members,

It is with great pleasure that I have this opportunity to address my fellow members as we prepare for a new year ahead.

On my journey back from the CSAE National Conference in Ottawa, I embraced the wonderful news that was shared when CSAE announced that our Trillium Chapter won the Chapter of the Year Award. At the closing luncheon during the National Conference, all of our fellow CSAE members stood up and applauded the Trillium Chapter for this special recognition. This award was bestowed upon the Trillium Chapter in recognition of the tireless hours of dedication and excellence provided by our committed volunteer members, our sponsors and our Executive Director in making Trillium the strongest chapter!

I can definitely attest to this as a fellow volunteer. It is amazing to see all of the passion and dedication that our members bring to this chapter! At the first meeting of your Trillium Chapter Board, we discussed the various director portfolios to ensure that all of the pillar committees are well organized to move forward with the chapter programs and services. I am thrilled with the instant engagement and leadership of each of our CSAE Trillium board members as they, without hesitation, took on new roles and portfolios. Each director, as a chair or vice chair of a pillar committee, reached out to his or her respective committees, and all committee members immediately engaged and started going to work to organize the pillars’ responsibilities for 2012 and 2013.

As a member, if you are interested in becoming engaged as a volunteer to help with chapter programs and services, don’t hesitate to contact me in person at a Trillium Event or by phone or email. Volunteering with CSAE Trillium is a great way of making a difference and building new relationships in the association community.

This issue of Forum E-Magazine is a perfect example of the leadership of our volunteer members on the Communications Committee. The theme focuses on “What Keeps an Association Executive Up at Night.” Please take the time to read through all of the articles within this Forum E-Magazine issue. It is even more important in today’s business climate that we have all of the tools and knowledge to help our associations excel. The feature article includes interviews and information from some of the panelists from the Leadership Day held on Nov. 21 at the Old Mill Inn. This was a valuable leadership day filled with knowledge and experience shared with the Trillium members in attendance. The PDX Committee did an amazing job organizing this special, educational day.

I appreciate that the new business climate brings many challenges, but I also believe that these new challenges bring forward new opportunities. Let’s embrace these challenges and opportunities together as we lead the association community forward as a strong Trillium Chapter of association executives and business members.

“Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail!” Charles Kettering

I am looking forward to seeing everyone at the third Annual Winter Summit. If you haven’t registered yet to join us in Niagara Falls for this summit, please do so today. You will receive an excellent return on your investment of professional development dollars. The full program can be found on the Chapter website.

Serge Micheli, CAE, CEM

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