August 2019 President’s Message

It is now a little over one month into my new role as your MPI President and I can’t believe how fast time is already flying by. I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to be part of such a great group of passionate professionals that represent our industry, and I’m very much looking forward to the year ahead!

Over the last month, the 2019-2020 Board of Directors have been very busy working on some exciting upcoming events and initiatives. We are focusing on elevating our communication to members, putting on quality education events with topics provided by you through our surveys, and we will continue to grow our networking opportunities. Our first event of the year is the Annual Golf Tournament and AGM that takes place on September 10th at Golf Château Cartier. I think everybody will be blown away by what the committee has in place and it will be a great kick-off to our year. Make sure you attend and reconnect with all your fellow MPI members.  

For those that don’t know, last year MPI launched the Canadian Advisory Council[CB1]  to help bring attention and focus to the Canadian Chapters and give them a voice at MPI Global[CB2] . As the second-largest Chapter in Canada we must have representation on these types of international volunteer committees and I want to encourage our members to apply. It’s a great experience and an opportunity to have a voice for our members at a global level. Applications for all the international volunteer committees and advisory councils are open now until October 31, 2019 and you can apply here.

As I sat down to think of everything I hope we can accomplish together, it makes me think about why I joined MPI in the first place and what I am getting out of being an MPI member?  The answer, although simple, was easy; I have created a personal network of industry professionals that I can learn from and share ideas with. Many of whom I now call friends. Diving a bit deeper I realized that this all came through volunteering on different committees. Often new members ask me how they can get the most out of being an MPI Member and my answer is always the same, volunteer! My journey with MPI started with volunteering on the Community Outreach committee, having the opportunity to work on projects that I would not normally have had the chance. This has helped me grow professionally and understand a different side of our industry than what I am used to. I mention this because I want to continue to grow a strong volunteer base in our Chapter and encourage our members to get involved. My advice to new and old members—volunteer, try something you haven’t done before and have a voice in what we do as a Chapter.

I feel honored to be your Chapter President for this upcoming year and look forward to the year ahead!