From the Immediate Past President, 2007 Less than four years after being chartered, the chapter’s membership has grown to nearly 200 and the PMP roster now approaches 175. Thank you for honoring me by electing me your chapter president for 2007. When Chris Mercer and I were involved in chartering the chapter back in 2002 and 2003, the best numbers available from PMI said there were less than 20 PMP’s in the Southwest Virginia region. You are to be congratulated! Less than four years after being chartered, the chapter’s membership has grown to nearly 200 and the PMP roster now approaches 175. That’s nearly 1,000% growth! Ironically, your board of directors has never specifically pursued growth. We remain committed to the original mission, which is “To foster a community of project management excellence in Southwest Virginia.” We see our constituency--our primary stakeholders--as the people and organizations of Southwest Virginia. The Project Management Institute is the vehicle through which we are united in our mission to serve the region. If we deliver value, some of the people and organizations in our region will choose to join PMI and our chapter, or sponsor our meetings and events. To reach our members regularly, we publish this monthly newsletter. But like most chapters, we only see about 20% of our membership at monthly meetings. In 2007, the board will consider and take steps to enhance the chapter’s service to more of its members and more of its region. We will look into a secured “community” section on our website where chapter members can exchange job leads, best practices, advice, Q&A, war stories, photos, templates, articles, and contacts. We will work on having more meetings outside of Roanoke. We will investigate the possibility of having regular meetings in Lynchburg or Blacksburg in addition to the Roanoke meetings. And we will look for ways to enhance our outreach to more of the region’s organizations and people. In addition, an article in the January 15 Roanoke Times entitled “Southwest Va. says it’s time to come home” says we have a new problem in our area. We now have 1,700 unfilled job openings for skilled workers including software developers, engineers, IT consultants, technical managers, CNC operators, and project managers! I’m looking forward to a great year! David Williamson, PMP |
|||||||||
