President’s Message: New Year, New Outlook

Happy 2016! With this new year comes a new era for GWA. Kellen, a global association management company, begins its tenure serving as GWA’s headquarters and management.

I am excited to introduce our new executive director, Maria
Ungaro. Maria has been at Kellen for almost 20 years with many clients, but most recently as the Executive Director for The Content Council, New York Women in Communications (NYWICI) and the NYWICI Foundation- the largest foundation for women’s communication’s scholarships in the United States.

As part of this new transition, a task force made up of GWA’s leadership met in November to review the critical issues facing the association, determining strategic goals for the year ahead. Just a few moments ago, we reviewed this plan with the Board of Directors and key committee chairs, which will serve as our road map as we head into the new year. With the blessing of GWA leadership, I can share with you our key strategic objectives:

1. Membership: You are lifeblood of the organization. What can we be doing to better serve you?
2. Branding & Communication: You will see we have a fresh new look and brand. What do you think? We are working on a plan to more effectively communicate with our members.
3. Education: Be the recognized education source, thought leader and resource for the industry. What can GWA be doing better to serve your educational and professional development needs?
4. Volunteer Management: Want to get involved? We want it to be fun and easy for you! We are reengaging the committees to get you more involved.
5. Finances: We are already evaluating key programs and developing new ones specifically aimed at better serving our members and trimming expenses for the association.

We want to hear from YOU! Have a suggestion? Want to get involved? Curious to know more? Submit your feedback and questions here.  

Your support is what will help this plan be successful and move GWA into the future. I look forward to working with you and the new GWA team to achieve our goals & objectives in the upcoming year.

As always, thank you for your continued support.

Sincerly,

Kirk R. Brown
GWA President