New Beginnings!

"And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been".

- Rainer Maria Rilke

Good Day EWI!

Happy New Year to each and every one of you!  I wish you and your member firms great prosperity in 2013!

This has been a momentous week for EWI as I, on behalf of the Personnel Committee's Hiring Task Force and the entire Board of Directors, was able to announce that we have hired a new Executive Director/COO!  In case you missed the news....Wendy Cowley, EWI of Salt Lake City and Past Corporate President, has accepted the position.

So many of you know and love Wendy, but for those members who do not, let me assure you that Wendy is bringing over 25 years of EWI experience to the table, along with a successful 35 year career in management.

We were very adamant when entering this hiring process, that we wanted to first open the search internally within EWI.  We recognized that the one key skill set we would never find with an external candidate was institutional knowledge.  We felt this is critical as EWI is very unique.  The role of the Executive Director is really to manage over 60 separate "companies" if you will, all with their own unique needs, history and expectations.  We have been challenged with past hires in truly helping them understand this diversity and how Chapters are impacted by what decisions are made at the Corporate level.

Like the Board, Wendy is committed to the Carver model of Board Governance and is eager to review all processes with the ultimate goal of easing Chapter operations. She has also been Chair of our Audit and Investment Committee for several years, and as such, has a comprehensive understanding of our financial operations.  She has been a trusted advisor and has always stepped in as the "local" Salt Lake go-to person for board members.

Please join the staff, the board and I in welcoming Wendy when she assumes the role on February 4th, 2013!

Again, a HUGE thank you to Carolyn Woodmansee, Personnel Committee Chair, Ronwyn Anderson, Lisa Stokes, Verla Kelley and Karen Thomspon.  Ladies, you have made these past three months much easier for me from an HR perspective and I cannot thank you enough!

This week I reviewed the financial audit documents from our accounting firm and am excited for our first EWI Annual Report to be delivered to you at the end of this month.  As a charitable organization that is comprised of a membership body it was a key goal for us to deliver an annual report to you this year.  We hope this will become a key recruitment tool for you for the next 12 months!

Gathering with my fellow Board members tomorrow for our monthly "Coffee Chat" session so that we can catch up mid month.  I am leaving for a week of vacation tomorrow afternoon to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, so I will probably not be blogging next week, although one never knows....

Wishing you all a stellar weekend and week ahead,

- K