Transition Year
Some of you may not realize it, but members of the board of directors and committee chairs serve for an average term of 6 years, which means many do more than that, which translates into the strength and continuity of the momentum we've achieved as a chapter. Longevity and the ability to achieve multi-year goals are part of our strategic plan, begun many years ago and carried forth to today.
This year marks a big transition, with several committee chairpersons and board members moving to new roles, on, off, and sideways on the board. We welcome new board members Joe Flynn and Ed Sullivan, and say thanks and farewell to others. These new leaders welcome your comments, assistance, involvement, and support, as they "carry the torch" forward.
Business
Since the last newsletter the board of directors has been as busy as the 1,000+ of you who attended Boston Chapter Awards of Excellence, Golf Outing, Schmooze Cruise and "Reduce your Energy Consumption." We have been hard at work on the calendar of events for this year, including the A&D Crawl to kick off the fall program season, followed by "LEED in Action," presented by our green committee the end of September. The end of October held a tour of the Mandarin Hotel. If you want to get to know what Boston chapter folks are really like, Dallas World Workplace '08 was a great way to find out; join us in 2009 in Orlando! See the chapter website www.ifmaboston.org for details and to register for any and all of these programs and events. Book early! Several programs and events have been selling out lately.
In addition to all of this (most of which are included in your membership), we rang in the holiday season at the Holiday Gala (December 4th) benefiting the Spark Center. The Northeast Buildings and Facilities Management Show (NEBFM09) has been such a success that the organizers have moved it to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC) on June 10th-11th, 2009 (mark your calendar.) Also stay on the lookout for many excellent seminars that will be brought to the area with discount rates for members, including the popular CFM Exam Review and The Business of FM starting after the holidays through the spring.
All these wonderful programs stem from years of intensive strategic planning. A few weeks ago, 24 chapter leaders spent a day on step one of our strategic plan: Brainstorming the issues that face our members and looking at the future of the chapter. In short, we concluded that the economy was very much on our members' minds, both personally and professionally, as was sustainability and the changing workplace, both by-products of a troubled economy. The leadership will now take the results of this session back to the committee level to brainstorm how the chapter can help our members deal with these issues, both at a professional and personal level. We will reconvene this fall to take step three, formation of the chapters vision for the next few years. You can track our progress at www.ifmaboston.org, or better yet, participate!

Kate Thibeault is the 2008 president of IFMA Boston.