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President's Letter

January 2006 - Letter from the President

Letter from the New President

This will be a landmark year for the Central Virginia Chapter. 2006 will mark our first year as “large” chapter. We experienced huge growth in 2005…well over 40%! Currently over 60% of our members are PMPs! We will be celebrating this significant chapter milestone with our 1000th Member Celebration. We may need to change the name though, as I write this letter we’ve passed the 1,200 member mark!

Tremendous growth brings increasing challenges. The board recognized that as our membership grew so would the need for member services. In preparation for this time the Board decided to create a new VP, Volunteerism position. Phil Doty, our new VP, Volunteerism was elected in October and will help us coordinate our efforts.

In mid-November, outgoing and incoming PMI CVC board members attended our annual Board of Directors transition. Together we reviewed our chapter's 2005 achievements, vision, mission, proposed plans and budgets associated with each area during this all-day event. The meeting was very effective in orienting new board members, planning 2006 events, and building a good team environment (much like a project kickoff meeting). We also have a strategic planning session scheduled in first quarter where we will seek to chart the chapter’s course for the next five years.

We have established two broad goals for 2006: a) Expand the footprint of member services and b) Increase volunteer opportunities / participation. Expanding the footprint of member services means increasing both the type of services we provide and expanding the geographic locations that touch our membership. Increasing the volunteer opportunities / participation means enlarging the opportunities for members to participate and realize PDUs to maintain their PMP status. These two goals are two sides of the same coin…We need both equally to succeed in growing our services as a chapter.

The table below contains metrics we’ve established to measure our progress going forward. We will be baselining these values going into 2006 and report them on a quarterly basis going forward. We feel that by establishing these measures we will be able to effectively measure our progress going forward.

In support of these two goals we’re also setting in motion a project to enable electronic voting for our membership The goal of this project will be to expand participation in next year’s Board of Directors Election to our entire chapter membership. Robert Berlin, our Past President, will be leading this effort on behalf of the board. He is actively seeking chapter members to participate in this effort. Please contact him at past.president@pmicvc.org or Phil Doty our VP, Volunteerism at vp.volunteerism@pmicvc.org if you would like to participate in this landmark project for our chapter.

Our January meeting each year is PMI CVC’s time for Volunteer Recognition. I want to thank all our volunteers for their wonderful support this past year. In particular, I want to thank my fellow board members and our many committee members who have stepped up and provided chapter leadership over the past year.

In addition to goals above I’d like to share with you ongoing objectives that we as a board will continue into 2006:

2006 Membership Events

• Conduct monthly Board Meetings
• Participate in the Region 5 Leadership Orientation meeting in January to network with other component officers and share best practices
• Submit an annual report to members
• Submit annual charter renewal documents and annual awards application to PMI HQ
• Submit IRS tax-related filings
• Participate in PMI’s Fall Leadership Meeting
• Promote participation in and hold chapter elections for open board positions

In addition to the membership events our board is also committed to accomplishing the following:

2006 Board Events

• Conduct monthly Board Meetings
• Participate in the Region 5 Leadership Orientation meeting in January to network with other component officers and share best practices
• Submit an annual report to members
• Submit annual charter renewal documents and annual awards application to PMI HQ
• Submit IRS tax-related filings
• Participate in PMI’s Fall Leadership Meeting
• Promote participation in and hold chapter elections for open board positions

PMI CVC and its members benefit from the time volunteers take in attending these administrative-type events and completing activities required by law or by PMI headquarters. These activities provide the momentum to keep the chapter successfully moving forward.

2006 Board of Directors

Please welcome the 2006 PMI CVC Board or Directors. As a Project Manager and a member of PMI, you are our customer. Keeping in mind our chapter mission, the following board members will strive to meet your needs.

We have a very talented and committed Board of Directors. Through the contributions of chapter officers and their committee members, I am certain it is going to be a phenomenal year! I am excited about our chapter's future and the opportunities that have been placed before each of us. I look forward to serving you, the membership, with this talented group of leaders by my side.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

Best regards,
Jim

Jim Hayden, PMP
President, PMI Central Virginia Chapter