President's Letter
Clearly
my first order of business as your new IARP president is to thank those
members of the 2012-2013 board who have served this association so
earnestly. Kudos to Steve Shedlin
for his leadership, vision, and great sense of humor as president for
the last two years. Under Steve's leadership, IARP took dramatic steps
to transform our association into a more vibrant, contemporary, and
relevant community. We have not only a new look, but also a new
vibrancy as we chart a new course. Steve will continue to serve our new
board of directors for the next year.
I extend special gratitude and thanks to Pat Decoteau
as outgoing treasurer. His unfortunate injury last October cut short
his term. Pat has been an effective steward of the association’s
finances for several years, an engaged board member and great leader for
IARP. Also, as a well-respected educator, Pat has been appointed by the
IARP Board of Directors to the IARP Standards Compliance Review Board
as the educator representative for the next year. Barbara Byers aptly stepped in as the interim treasurer for the remainder of Pat's term, and has earned our appreciation as well.
Let’s also extend our gratitude to the outgoing board members:
- Ann Wallace who served IARP for four years as a director at large and fondly is seen as the board’s great ‘bylaws maven’;
- Susan Riddick-Grisham
as the Life Care Planning IALCP representative to the board for four
years and who always provided thoughtful and creative ideas;
- Norm Hursh and Kathy Trumm,
who as the disability management and case management section
representatives, led those two sections in their merger as the new IARP
Rehabilitation and Disability Case Management Section. They have set
the stage for a strengthened section through their commonalities.
I
also salute outgoing and remaining volunteer leaders at the chapter and
section levels who tirelessly give of their time and energy as part of
the IARP leadership network. And I congratulate those new volunteer
leaders who have stepped forward at a very exciting and pivotal time for
our association.
At
its meeting last week the new IARP Board of Directors continued to
focus on the transformation nature that the new brand brings. IARP’s
leadership embraces “The Course of a Lifetime Starts with IARP”. In
doing so, we intend to further strengthen IARP as an association, meet
our member needs, increase the benefits of the new career opportunities,
boost our retention rate. and attract new members. Your new board will
continue to explore ways to make the Course of a Lifetime your personal
path.
IARP
is financially sound and our membership remains steady. We will
continue to provide wonderful educational programs through our on-demand
webinars, international conferences, and local and regional programs.
We will explore new services and, programming. More members need to be
exposed to our mentor program. We need to expand our affiliation
programs. We encourage more members to participate online in IARP
discussion groups, and more.
I
am inspired and fortunate to have my term as president at this pivotal
and transformational time in IARP’s history. With dedicated,
collaborative and talented teams at all levels of the IARP volunteer
leadership, these are exciting times for us all as members of this truly
special association.
Lynne Tracy, M.A., CRC
IARP President