President’s Letter November 2007

It is hard to believe that 2007 is almost over.   We are approaching our last chapter meeting of the year.  This has been a great year to be involved with PMI CVC and all of you.  Leading your Chapter has been a greatly rewarding experience for me.   Here are some of the highlights of the year. 

PMI Global Recognition

Each year PMI acknowledges the best of the best in project management, with PMI Professional Awards at the opening reception of the PMI Global Congress.  This year at the ceremony in Atlanta, PMI CVC was awarded the PMI Professional Development Provider of the Year Award, Component Category for its Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification Workshop program, held twice a year.  Thanks for all hard work of Cliff Vaught, and our Certification committee volunteers and presenters.  This is a phenomenal acknowledgement of your dedication and service to our chapter.  

Chapter Events

This year PMI CVC has offered more events and venues to our members than in any of our previous years. 

Chapter Meetings

We have continued our Southside / Koger Center chapter meeting with the 30-minute pre-meeting session.  This is the first year we have held meetings for the entire year in the West End!  Sally Deering and her fantastic teams of volunteers have truly helped to make these meetings successful.   We have a wonderful legacy we can build on for success in 2008.

We have also continued our Quantico outreach program in conjunction with the Washington DC chapter (WDC), with lunch events, dinner and tools sessions in the Stafford / Quantico area.  This group has been a wonderful success for the Northern Virginia members for both the CVC and the WDC chapters.

Certification Workshops

What can you say, we received the PMI award for our certification workshops!  We’ve held two certification workshops this year, have provided 24 PDUs from this workshop for member PMPs, and have aided our members in their studies toward their PMP credential.  For our Fall workshop, we awarded two scholarships to members for them to attend our workshop.

Professional Development Seminars

This year we held 4 all day seminars for our members for a total of 24 PDUs available.  Marshall Shelton and the Professional Development committee definitely “raised the bar” this year with high caliber workshops and speakers.  We can’t wait to see how he can top it next year!

3^rd Annual Golf Tournament

Our 3^rd annual golf tournament was a resounding success!  We sold out the teams and the sponsorships.  From everywhere we heard it was a fund day and tremendous event.  Luis Naranjo and his team definitely made an impact!

Portfolio Management Office (PMO) Local Interest Group (LIG)

This year we launched a new venue – our PMO LIG meeting.   This offers members interested in PMOs a community with which they can network, exchange ideas, and listen to what others are doing in this area. 

Chapter Operations

As with every corporation, there are ‘behind the scenes’ activities that keep the chapter organized, engaging and solvent. 

Christina Morgan has done a great job this year nailing down the policies and procedures for the chapter.  We can now say, when you volunteer, we should be able to provide you with some guidance, templates, and processes to make your volunteer engagement much easier.

Betty Jane Hughes has taken our chapter to the next level with her proficiency in managing our finances.  We know where we stand in terms of our financial picture, and have great visibility and controllership over our assets. 

Bethany Bryans has taken us to a new realm with our membership.  This year, new members have been given gifts and guest passes for a first chapter meeting to encourage participation and networking.  She has continued to focus on retaining our members and encouraging members to renew.

Jennifer Perrin took a huge leap and stepped in mid-year to tackle our Volunteer program.  She has been diligent in pulling together information about our volunteers and the activities we have going on, to match our chapter opportunities with our member talents and interests.

And, lastly, but certainly, not least, Geoff Rollins and his committee have had a huge task in getting communications on ALL of these efforts out to you.  He has done a great job enhancing the website to ensure you know what we are offering. 

Your Participation

This chapter can only do good works through you.  I would like to thank all of our volunteers this year for their help in making this a great year.  It is through your assistance that we can continue to provide these services to all of our members.  We all appreciate your contributions! 

Passing the Torch

Each year wonderful volunteers step up to the challenge and “throw their hat into the ring” for Officer positions.  This year was no different, several of our members showed their commitment and willingness to give back to the chapter:  Luis Naranjo, Kristen Baker, Greg Hammock, John Lombardi, Goutam Gandhi, Ed Hellerman, Paul Gilbo, and Jennifer Perrin.   Please send you thanks to each of them for volunteering. 

This is our second online election for our Board of Directors. Wow! What a continued success! We had 172 members vote and received an overall positive response to the election process.

And, we do now have the results of our election for 2008 Board open positions:

President-Elect: Luis Naranjo

VP-Certification: Kristen Baker

VP-Marketing: Ed Hellerman

VP-Programs: Paul Gilbo

VP-Volunteerism: Jennifer Perrin

Congratulations to our newly-elected board members! We look forward to your leadership and the things PMI CVC will be able to attain through your service.

Summary

In closing I want to thank the members for their ongoing support, the many volunteers that have support the board objectives, and most importantly, those members who gave of their time and talents to serve as board members during my term as President.   I wish every member personal and professional success in 2008.

Best regards,

Sharon

Sharon Robbins, MBB, PMP

2007 President

PMI Central Virginia Chapter