President's Message

March 2022

Dear IMA Members:

Welcome to 2022. I hope this finds you all doing well, and emerging from the latest cycle of the pandemic with inspiration, positive minds, hope and renewed energy!

I wanted to give you an update on our most recent Lincoln Trail Regional Council activities. We have held two Chapter Leadership Forums thus far (November 2021 and March 2022) and, although I am certainly biased, I feel like both were very productive and well-received sessions. I am grateful to all of our members who attended these sessions and participated.  As a little background for those of you who might not be aware:

  • The Chapter Leadership Forum was a brilliant, unique idea formulated by our very own Director of Member Engagement, Barbara Uggen-Davis. Barbara has been a key member of the Indianapolis Chapter leadership team for several years now and is continually looking for ways to (a) help our Chapters with development ideas and (b) assist our Council in becoming more of an asset and support to our Chapters.
  • These events have been interactive Zoom panel discussions, with specific panel members leading the discussion but stressing attendee participation.
  • The first session topic was Member Engagement. The panel was led by 3 great folks from the Ohio Regional Council, and they provided some great input on how to engage members in both Council and Chapter events.
  • The second session was a discussion of Six Sigma process improvement and was led by our very own IMA Global Chair Emeritus Ginger White.
  • Both sessions had really good attendance and participation!

I wanted to close by updating you on a key topic we have raised and reported on during the course of this IMA fiscal year… the continuation of the Lincoln Trail Regional Council. As Barbara, Meredith and I discussed and contemplated the future of the Council, we discovered:

  • Our Council (and Chapters) are not alone in facing challenges with member engagement, succession planning, and long-term viability.
  • The Global IMA is well aware of this and has been studying the issue for some time as well.
  • A number of Councils and Chapters have folded in recent years. IMA Global is very committed to address this.
  • As a result, Barbara, Meredith, myself and Ron Luther will be attending a discussion meeting with Wore Giotta and Patricia Stefanczyk from IMA Global March 23rd to hear their ideas for the future of Chapters and Councils, as well as to share our ideas and answer their questions.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to my LTRC email if you have questions or comments. I am eager to learn and to help. I will publish an update for all of our LTRC members as soon as the session with IMA Global is completed, and will keep you posted on additional developments.

Sincerely, Bradford A. Hamilton