Oklahoma’s favorite son Will Rogers once wrote, “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
NPEA has always been a platform for collaboration and change. A place where you can get better by learning from others. There is nothing I value more as a member than the opportunity to draw inspiration from you. My goal has always been to bring at least one idea back from every conference to introduce at my system. It can be as simple as a gee-whiz moment that sparks a quick improvement, or an epiphany that inspires a major multi-year initiative. The one constant with all of these ideas has been your generosity and willingness to share the lessons you learned along the way.
This year, we are excited to bring the 37th NPEA annual conference to Nashville, TN. Mark your calendars for October 14-18, 2017, and join us in Music City. We recently returned from our winter meeting, putting together an agenda and speakers focused on how we can continue to propel our communications, customer service and benefits delivery processes forward to meet our members’ needs.
Since stealing ideas is encouraged at NPEA, let me take another nugget from ol’ Will. He said, “A man only learns in two ways: one by reading and the other by association with smarter people.”
As the new president of NPEA, I can attest to the benefit of working with people much smarter than myself. I am excited to welcome longtime member Tony Pierce to the board and former board member Aimee Rives as our new administrator. Both have hit the ground running in their new roles. It is an honor to serve you and to work with these amazing people who devote so much of themselves and their significant talents to the success of our organization.
Our goal is to operate in a completely open and transparent fashion. I encourage you to reach out to any of us at any time if you have suggestions on how we can improve or make your membership experience more valuable. You will find our contact information by clicking on the name of any board member here. We welcome your thoughts and ideas.
Stay tuned for more information on the 2017 conference. We look forward to seeing you in Nashville!
