It is a distinct honor to serve as your ARPAS president and to provide you a midyear update of my term. Recently, ARPAS reached a milestone as we reached 1,600 members. This is a tribute to all our membership who have continued to support this robust and dynamic organization that continues to be relevant to our professional needs and provide value to its membership. 

I have had the pleasure to attend and address the ARPAS meetings of the California Chapter and the future Northeast Chapter. The Midwest Chapter is forming, and we are planning and organizing a brief meeting at the Midwest ASAS/ADSA meetings in March. It is encouraging to see how our members are engaged in strengthening our organization. As we saw in the membership survey, members are looking for ARPAS to become more proactive in addressing current issues affecting our industry and increasing the visibility of ARPAS as a certification.

The ARPAS bylaw changes implemented this past year will allow members freedom to join a regional chapter outside of that member’s contiguous geography. It only takes 15 members to start the process of forming a local/regional chapter.

The Executive Committee and ARPAS committees are reviewing the hundreds of written responses that were received from the membership survey conducted earlier this year. Summaries will be presented at the midyear Governing Council conference call. Results will help lay the foundation for the future sustainability and growth of ARPAS. 

President-Elect John Wagner and his Program Committee have been coordinating topics and speakers for the Annual Symposium at the 2011 Joint Annual Meeting in New Orleans. A report can be found below. 

Remember to check out the updated ARPAS website (http://www.arpas.org/) for online CEU submission and a listing of conferences that have been preapproved by ARPAS for CEUs. The Governing Council will hold its annual midyear conference call in January to discuss the ongoing activities of the organization and to begin to look forward to New Orleans in July.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your ARPAS president. Thanks to all of you who are contributing your time to make ARPAS a successful organization. Please feel free to let me know your suggestions and ideas of how ARPAS membership can be more relevant to your job and career. I can be reached at (414) 607-5739 or by e-mail at uswbr@chr-hansen.com.