Welcome everyone. It looks like we have a fantastic upcoming year planned for you. There are some great PDMs and a couple of plant tours to look forward to. We are also continuing our tradition of joint meetings with several other professional associations. There are a couple of items I would like to focus on this year as I start my Presidency.

First, if you are not certified, please consider doing so. Not only will certification make your job less stressful and ultimately easier (as always comes with increased knowledge), but many companies are realizing how valuable certification is and are now requiring it.

The second item I would like to focus on is Board participation. Those of us who serve on the board know that the way to get the most out of our organization or any organization for that matter is to volunteer. We promise not to work you to death and it looks good on a resume. So contact myself or any other board member if you have a little free time. We have changed the board meeting time to immediately following the PDM so we are all only giving up an evening a month.

So as I said in the opening, we have a great year ahead, please try and attend all the PDMs and the plant tours. They are a great way to further your education. Also, you need to check out the APICS International Conference and Exposition, October 16-18 in Kansas City. Three days of cutting-edge, world class instruction by some of the top leaders in their respective fields. More information can be found at apics.org.