President’s Corner
By: Kristopher S. Shoemaker,
CHAE, CHTP, CGFO
Well gang, I cannot believe that my presidency is about over. On Thursday, September 22nd we will be installing the new officers and directors.
During my acceptance speech I mentioned that we had a busy schedule and agenda for the year. We certainly have accomplished a lot over the last year. We grew our membership to 180 members while achieving a 89% retention rate. We helped the hurricane victims in Central Florida and opened the Student Chapter. We also donated our time and efforts for the local community via the Cattle Baron’s Ball, JDRF Walk-a-Thons, Bacchus Bash and our 3rd Annual Charity Golf Tournament. We upgraded the educational aspects of our meetings to include two mini-educationals and had new and interesting topics at our monthly meetings. The remaining task to accomplish is to be awarded Chapter of The Year for 2005.
We would not have been able to accomplish as much as we did without your support and the support of the current officers and directors.
I would like to thank all of the officers and directors for their support of the chapter. They donate a lot of their time to the chapter to make this the best chapter in HFTP. We are looked upon as the “role model” of how a chapter should be run.
It is with heavy heart that we say goodbye to two board members, as they have decided to step off the board. Michelle Murphy and Greg Wilhelm, you will be missed.
I want to take this time to say a special thank you to Greg “Bull Dog” Wilhelm for being on the Board for the last seven years. Greg has been the Chairman of the Membership Committee and without the efforts of Greg and his committee, we would not have been able to achieve our membership goals.
Congratulations to the new Officers; Michael Dryden, President; Chad Curtis, Vice-President; Mark Roland, Treasurer; and Susan Ferguson, Secretary. We look forward to your leadership of the chapter as we continue our journey toward excellence.
Welcome aboard to our new Directors; Tim Hogan, German Plazas, German Uzcategui and Diana Youngblood. We will be looking to you to take a leadership role in the Chapter.
I want to thank Todd Rhoads, Rob Connors and The Peabody Orlando for being our host on August 30th. The facility, meal and service were superb.
The Installation of Officers and Directors will be held at the Caribe Royale Resort Suites on Thursday, September 22nd. Please RSVP for the dinner to Kris Shoemaker 407-685-9827 or Kristopher.Shoemaker@ocfl.net
by Noon on Monday, September 19th.
Mark your calendars for October 26 – 29 for the Annual Convention in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Check out the web site www.hftp.org for more information.
It has been a pleasure serving you as President and look forward to assisting the new officers and directors as they lead the chapter to new heights.
In closing, remember, yesterday is gone, that is why they call it “the past”; tomorrow is promised to no one; and today is a gift, that’s why they call it “the present”.
Live for today …
Kristopher S. Shoemaker
CHAE, CHTP, CGFO
HFTP Mid-Florida Chapter President