MARCH CHAPTER HIGHLIGHT: Forty-Niner Chapter, by Remona Aden, Chapter President

What are your plans for the Chapter this year? 

This year we will continue to deliver unique, bold and innovative training events that make continuous learning and professional development fun. We will engage our agency senior leaders and work collaboratively with other professional organizations to leverage training opportunities. On the horizon — we will host a Mini-PDI and work collaboratively with the FM Center of Expertise to introduce topics that focus on problem-solving techniques and promote our “knowledge worker” philosophy. Additionally, we will take our community service efforts to a new level as our Travis AFB member, 2d Lt Rochelle Banuet, volunteers as a dance competitor in the “Dancing with the Stars and Stripes” competition (13 April 2019) to help bring awareness among our military community and support the courageous veterans who have served our country and provide them the resources they need to lead healthy and productive lives. It will be an amazing year!

What event or program has had the best response from your Chapter?

Our “Agency Leadership Appreciation Day” emerged as a “Rock Star” event and was the most exciting, popular, and well-received program of the year. We wanted to say “thank you” and show appreciation for the support our agency leaders provide. Members fully engaged with senior agency leaders and expressed their appreciation for the unwavering support they provide. Senior leaders provided agency overview presentations and crystallized how each of our geographically dispersed agencies is connected and how they all work together to support the overall mission. By encouraging our members to attend professional development Chapter training events, agency leaders empower members to focus on increasing their skill sets, earning continuing professional education credits, and the importance of engaging with financial colleagues to take advantage of best practices and benchmarking opportunities. This contributes to our members’ ability to achieve professional goals and remain active and current on emerging trends within the financial community.

How have you been able to engage and grow your membership?

Our members and Officers are the key ingredients that make our Chapter awesome! Our recipe is simple: Make training fun, develop creative events, and show appreciation for those who help to propel you and achieve your goals. Our goal is to grow our members professionally, continuously “give back” to members (and community) and in the process become “Rock Stars” at delivering 5-Star training, education, and professional development programs. To accomplish this, we introduced several big, bold and exciting initiatives to make training fun! We introduced what we affectionately called the “Year of Firsts,” which meant we developed and hosted events that were never done before in the Chapter. We hosted our first “FM Knowledge” Jeopardy competition; introduced a “Passport” initiative where members received passports and stamps for meetings attended; and we instituted “President Awards” that encouraged VPs to compete to see who could bring in the most members at each meeting.

What is your favorite chapter memory?

Our Chapter members work in concert with local charities and community service organizations to support those who are less fortunate. My favorite memory is when I witnessed the joy and happiness on the faces of the homeless as members of our Chapter delivered bottled water during one of the hottest summer days in Sacramento. As we handed out cold bottled water to our homeless community, we witnessed the love, affection, and sacrifice they had for animals who needed the same care and water. Although they were in desperate need of the water, their first instinct was to provide water to the animals. This filled our hearts with joy to see such an outpouring of love and affection and to know that our members made a significant impact and difference that day to so many who are less fortunate. Giving back to the community and helping those in need is a beautiful thing.