I would like to start off by thanking Past-President Lori LaVerriere for her dedicated service as President this past organizational year. Her leadership and commitment to advancing the goals of the organization have not gone unnoticed. I wish Lori the best in her next phase of service as Past President.
Looking ahead to my year of service as President, I would like the organization to focus on what’s next. By that, I mean focusing on what it will take for managers to be successful in this constantly evolving world of public service.
To set the tone early, at the conference this year, we had several sessions regarding new ideas such as emotional intelligence, strategic economic development, how to deal with declining civility and how to handle free speech in the workplace.
One area I am particularly excited to see re-energized this year is our focus on the next generation of talent. My career began with an unpaid summer internship in the City of DeLand Human Resources Department, which led me on my professional journey to where I am today. With that being said, I hope to strengthen our profession’s support of student chapters and internship programs to create pathways to success for the incoming talent that we will need to take the wheel as a growing number of managers hang up their boots and retire. I want to ensure that others have the same opportunity I did all those years ago.
Adding onto this next-generation effort, I would like to draw attention to the Next Gen Pipeline Task Force. Tracy Miller has agreed to lead this effort. If you are passionate about this topic (no matter what stage of your career you are in), please get in touch with Carol Russell at crussell@flcities.com and let her know you’d like to join Tracy in this endeavor.
I am confident that all of the committees will continue to produce excellent work in the upcoming year. If you haven’t done so already, I ask that everyone consider joining or serving on a committee. As I mentioned, many of the benefits we receive from FCCMA come from the work done by the committees.
As with most people who know me, I am more of an “actions over words” kind of person, and I hope that shows this year with FCCMA. I am looking forward connecting with everyone at the monthly webinars, the fall symposium, the winter institute and, of course, the next annual conference. I’m excited for us to have another fantastic year!
Mike
