I would like to thank all of our members for putting their confidence and trust in me to lead as President of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of IFMA in the coming year. It is an honor and privilege to take on this role and my goal for the year is to make the chapter a proud, educated, successful and fun group for all its members. I want you as a member to embrace our chapter, to attend our educational sessions, whether it be attending our CFM workshop to better prepare you for the exam, coming to one of our best practice sessions to learn how other members are tackling issues, or by coming to one of our events where we tour a building and learn about new innovations and technologies being implemented in buildings in your own backyard. Our chapters Mini World Workplace is a great place to meet our Associate members to learn and understand what products and services they can provide to you, they are here to assist and support you and give you that personal touch you can only get from one of your neighbors. Our winter social is also a great place to network with your peers as well as let loose and have some fun, so don’t miss out on this. This year our past president Marcella Garwood, reignited our Golf Outing and what an event that was! With over 100 attendees on a beautiful spring day, they swung their way to a fun day of socializing and networking and at the same time helped raise funds for 2 student scholarships, allowing the selected students to further their facilities management education and an opportunity for to also attend World Workplace in San Diego this year. I want to see you coming away from an event, saying wow that was great, I can’t wait for the next one, and to spread the word to your colleagues. The more involvement we have from our members will allow us to provide new and greater opportunities for all, this year and for coming years.
As part of achieving these goals I would like to graciously thank all our board members for their long hours of volunteer commitment, without them this organization would not exist. Each committee holds its own monthly meetings, discussing topics, planning events and then all our board members, who steer these committees, meet monthly to bring it all together for you. You will often find many of our board and committee members at our events, please take the time to introduce yourself, whether you are a new member, a seasoned professional, a young professional or a student. We want to hear from you and promise to listen! If you want even more involvement we are always looking for new committee members to join and bring fresh and new ideas an assist with making our chapter an even greater chapter. In recognizing the value of our young professionals as our region’s future facility managers and chapter’s future leaders, there is a new board position and committee dedicated to young professionals to focus on this group, to mentor and get them more involved in our chapter. Chris Rios, a former Temple Student and of one of our past scholarships recipients has accepted the role to head up this group. As I write this, other than some guidance from some of or other board members, he is a committee of 1, so if you are a young professional yourself and want to be involved in your own personal as well as the chapters growth I encourage you to contact him.
In reaching this role as President, I would like to thank Steve Sable, our past president, for his leadership and drive in the past year and his dedication to the chapter and allowing me to learn as his Vice President. I would also like to thank Barb Celia as our new Vice President for accepting this position and working with me to run this chapter, her energy, commitment and organizational skills she has brought to the chapter in the past years will help assist me this year in attaining our goals. I would also like to thank Jeff Thomas as role of Treasure in helping to keep us financially on track and fiscally sound. Lastly, would also like to thank Alana Dunoff, who was one of the first people to talk to me and make me feel comfortable when I first joined this chapter over 10 years ago. A few years later she came to me and said, hey Dave, why don’t you help me with the Education committee, I sure could use the assistance. I had no idea what I was getting involved in, but what a rewarding and educational and enlightening experience it has been, and well here I am.
In closing I’d like to use a few quotes from Yoda, ‘Always pass on what you have learned’, and ‘Do or do not, there is no try.’ With that said, through determination and conviction, together with your help, we can succeed to make this chapter the best IFMA Chapter out there, to be respected and appreciated for what we do and achieve for many years to come, a Force to be reckoned with!!!
David Scolari
President Greater Philadelphia Chapter of IFMA
