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President's Message

Dear NEAFCS members,

As we are buying and wrapping gifts, cooking, cleaning, writing year-end reports, paying county and city taxes (just writing about all the tasks has suddenly made me a little tired!), it is also a time to review the 2007 NEAFCS year and look ahead to 2008.

Our new management company - Madeleine Crouch & Co with Dave Beebe as Executive Director - began their contract on January 1 (although they were already working with us on the transition last December). If you were an affiliate president, vice-president or treasurer, a subcommittee chair or served on the national board, you received a survey recently that requested your feedback on interactions you may have had with the management company this first year. I would like to publicly share that we have reviewed the results of that survey and the feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive! Your management company and the entire staff at our national office are dedicated to serving the members and to the recognition that together we have achieved some significant accomplishments this year - and are setting our sights even higher on what we can accomplish together in the coming year.

NEAFCS opened 2007 with excellent participation at the JCEP Regional Meetings in January and February. In 2008, we have combined the meetings-one in Orlando for the Eastern and Southern Regions and one in San Diego for the Central and Western Regions. The 2007 PILD conference was in April. I fully intend to be in attendance at the 2008 PILD conference (with the troublesome gall bladder gone now, hopefully everything else will hold together).

St. Paul was the site of our 2007 Annual Session. The national board and your Vice President for Professional Development, along with committee members heard your feedback and crafted the 2007 Annual Session using many of your good suggestions, such as providing a more balanced program of concurrent sessions to cover all facets of FCS. An ad-hoc committee on Annual Session, chaired by Past-President, Carol Schlitt, is looking closely at your responses to the survey about Annual Session-with the objective of providing an even more satisfying event.

Another significant milestone this year was taking the NEAFCS website's inherent functionality to a new level and increasing our ability to interact on-line and to use electronic communications to provide information more quickly. Looking ahead to 2008, the board has funded improvements to the ease-of-navigation, along with harnessing other web functions to automate and streamline important tasks for our members and affiliate officers. Keep your eyes open for a new "look" and functional upgrades.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Robin Kuleck for her dedication to the financial stewardship of our association during her tenure as national Treasurer of NEAFCS. Robin, in partnership with our management company and the independent accounting firm Sutton, Frost & Cary, has just completed the successful audit of the 2006 financial statements. There are only two very minor areas of recommendation by the auditors, which are being implemented immediately. NEAFCS is operating at the highest degree of fiduciary compliance with all federal regulations. Robin, thank you for your exceptional service to NEAFCS, it is greatly appreciated!

It is also my pleasure to welcome Debra Cotterill to the executive board, as she assumes the role of national Treasurer for her 2008-2009 term of office.

Galaxy III is coming! Please hold September 15-19 on your 2008 calendar. Galaxy III is not only our 2008 Annual Session, it is so much more. If someone asks, registration to the conference would be a thoughtful gift for a hard-working, focused, forward thinking professional. We will be sharing more information in upcoming editions of eNEAFCS. Remember: presentation proposals for Galaxy III are due January 15, 2008. There are many presentation slots available and I encourage our members to apply for them! Visit the NEAFCS homepage for useful guidance and links to the application form.

I want to take this end-of-year opportunity to thank YOU for all the work you do; not only for your University but also for NEAFCS. As your President, I feel fortunate to have competent, efficient and effective members across the country that are willing to share their time and expertise to benefit the mission and vision of our association.

Have a wonderful holiday, take care and remember the daisies!

Until next month,

Kathy

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