President's Message & Press release

PRESIDENT MARK KWANDRANS DECEMBER 2013 

I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know that although my term as President of the Chapter is scheduled to end on 6/30/14, I will be completing my term early at the end of December, 2013. Beginning 1/1/14, JoAnn Boehm will transition from President-Elect to Chapter President.

I recently applied for a new PMI volunteer role, and at the Leadership Meeting in October, the PMI Board of Directors approved my application. Beginning January 1, 2014, I will join the PMI Ethics Review Committee. This seven-person committee investigates and resolves all ethics complaints against PMI members and credential holders. PMI’s ethics procedures are designed to ensure full compliance with generally accepted standards of integrity and fair dealing. At the same time, they protect covered individuals from malicious or groundless accusations. The Ethics Review Committee reports directly to the PMI Board of Directors, and I am excited to begin this new phase of my volunteer activities.

In the past 3.5 years, the leadership team has grown the chapter, introduced exciting new programs, and created strong relationships with community organizations. Since I took office in 2010, the Chapter has accomplished quite a bit:

We won the 2011 Chapter of the Year
Our PM4NP program won the 2011 Community Advancement through Project Management Award
We delivered presentations at three national Leadership Institute Meetings
We conducted a Professional Development Day with Stephen Covey as Keynote Speaker
We grew from 400 members to nearly 600 members
We developed and executed a 3-year Technology Roadmap
We implemented a robust program of member communication
We introduced an Agile Certification review class
We held two strategic planning sessions with the Boards of other Chapters
We strengthened our financial standing
We implemented new software packages for email, document management, event registration, photo storage, and financial administration (and we upgraded our website)
We revised the structure of the Board to better serve the membership

All of these accomplishments were the result of the work done by your volunteer leaders, and I am proud to have been among them. I have enjoyed my tenure but am looking forward to a new role. I have been a volunteer for the Chapter since 2003 and once I become acclimated to my new responsibilities, I hope to resume volunteering for PMI Buffalo in some other capacity (additionally, I will continue as the Chapter’s Past-President throughout 2014).

Thank you to my fellow Board members for working together to make ours an award-winning chapter. Thank you to all our Directors and volunteers for giving up their time and talent to improve our chapter and serve our members. Lastly, thank you to all our members for supporting your chapter in its mission.