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Your Board of
Directors, recognizing a challenging business and economic
climate, has declared 2009 a "Dues Holiday." This means,
current, and new members to the organization, will not be
assessed dues this year.
We know that,
for a lot of our members, expenses have been slashed drastically
this year. NPMA is a community -- we want to continue to
serve that community. That means we do not want to exclude
some who can't afford to continue membership this year.
The Board will
reassess the situation on an ongoing basis and make the
necessary adjustments. In the meantime, members are being
asked to lend a hand and help us to create more resources for
our association, such as online templates, webinar ideas and
other resources we can all benefit from.
Please give me
a call, or email me, with your thoughts.
And, thanks for
being an NPMA member.
Wade Walker
As anticipated
at the beginning of the year, we have had our first of what
could be many staff reductions in this tumultuous economy and
evolution of our industry. David Andrews, our President, is no
longer with BELO and has subsequently resigned from the Board of
Directors. As stated in the bylaws, the board has been charged
with fulfilling his empty seat. We have decided to move all
board members up one position thus making our new board as
follows:
President- Wade
Walker
Vice President-
Mike Riordan
Secretary-
Cynthia Miller
Treasurer-
Steve Bower
Director- Amy
Mueller
Immediate Past President-
Mike Kelly
The new board
will continue to work hard to make the NPMA a valuable resource
to our profession. We will expand our member base to include
anyone that handles any type of purchasing for companies in our
field.
To help grow
our membership we have designed a new dues structure that
includes a multi member discount rate. The new rate of $250
covers two or more employees from a single company. This will
allow more purchasing professionals to see the value of the NPMA
while not having to incur the added expense of the full rate.
Soon, we will
offer a new, more robust website with easier to navigate menus,
an online interactive roster of members, job connect, a member
forum and listserv, and a survey capability. Watch your email
for announcement of the new site and for login information.
As always, we
want to do everything we can to help you grow as a professional
so please let us know what we can do. The board is here for you
and welcomes any comments via phone or email. We will work hard
to help the NPMA evolve along with our continuously changing
business environment.
Wade
Walker
Below are the decisions we have made thus far and the items
currently under evaluation. We welcome your comments and
suggestions on these items.
§
NPMA Committees: We are reinstating the standing committees as provided in the
By-laws. The committees and their chairperson are listed
below. The chairperson will be reaching out for volunteers in
the near future, or if you have a desire to participate on a
committee, please contact the chair.
o
Communications/Newsletter Committee - Responsibilities include the newsletter and website content.
§
Chair - Wade Walker: Contact information;
email
Wade Walker
o
Membership Committee - Responsibilities include new membership and retention of
existing members.
§
Chair – Mike Riordan: Contact information:
email
Mike Riordan
o
Conference/Events
- Responsibilities include planning and execution of the annual
conference and other planned events. (See additional information
below regarding the 2009 conference.)
§
Chair - Wade Walker: Contact information:
email
Wade Walker
o
Scholarship and Awards Committee – Responsibilities include awarding the annual NPMA scholarships
to two high school seniors and other awards.
§
Chair – Cynthia Miller: Contact Information:
email Cynthia Miller.
o
Election/Nominating Committee
- This committee will meet at least every other year to nominate
and manage the board of directors nomination and election
process, or when needed to replace a board member that resigns
prior to the end of their elected term.
§
Chair – Immediate Past President: Mike Kelly Contact
Information:
email Mike Kelly
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