Search this site

March 2009 - President's Letter

Letter from the President

Layoffs, stimulus package, balanced budget, fiscal responsibility – I could be talking about the global economy, or not.  I am referring to our very own PMI Central Virginia Chapter and the issues facing us individually, our chapter, and our professional community.

First, the Good News – the PMI CVC Board of Directors approved a Balanced Operating Budget for 2009.  Yes, I said balanced budget.  Fiscal responsibility and fiscal conservatism were the key words as we reviewed our projected operating expenses and revenue.  Our operating budget covers our standing chapter commitments and events, such as programs, membership, and website.

Second, the Better News – our very own stimulus package.  The Board also agreed to consider an 'Investment' budget.  Several of our standing committees are exploring opportunities to provide additional benefits to our members, such as alternate meeting formats, enhanced job opportunity/networking offerings, and a new members only portion of our web site.  We believe we can increase the benefits available to our members by investing a modest portion of our cash reserves.  Each opportunity will be assessed for potential long term benefits and financial risk.

Third, the Best News – the 2008 Fiscal Year ended with a net income of over $40,000.  A portion of this revenue must be set aside as cash reserves to protect our chapter from economic hardship.  Using a portion of this income affords us the opportunity and the responsibility to expand chapter services for the members, thus the investments mentioned above.  How did the chapter achieve this net income?  The 2008 Officers and volunteers were extremely successful in keeping our expenses low and optimizing our income opportunities.  The Certification Committee expanded the workshop offering and had the largest attendance ever for our Certification Workshop, 35 attendees.  The Professional Development Committee offered 5 seminars in 2008.  By partnering with vendors they were able to offer reasonably priced seminars, while transferring the financial risk to the vendors.  Thanks to the creativeness of our volunteers we were able to expand our benefits, while being fiscally responsible.

I cannot ignore the Bad News.  Many of our members are or will be out of work this year.  We need to support each other as much as possible.  Network at meetings.  Get to know your fellow members.  If you hear of job opportunities, stand up at our meetings and tell others.  If you do not have a professional certification, consider pursuing it this spring   The Certification Committee offers scholarships for our PMP / CAPM Preparation Workshop.  Visit the PVI CVC Certifiation web site for details.

Do you have ideas on how your chapter can better serve you?  Talk to a Board member, email me at President@pmicvc.org.  This is your chapter, run by you as volunteers.  Volunteer to help the chapter implement ideas to benefit all of us.

Thank you for being a PMI CVC member. 

Debbie

Deborah Corbet-Cooper
president@pmicvc.org
2009 Chapter President, PMI CVC