Greetings West Region. Wow has the last five years gone by fast. It seems like only yesterday that I fulfilled the Vice Presidents office on the West Region Board during the new Governance change over. I have enjoyed every minute of the two years as President elect and the last two years as your West Region President. It has truly been an Honor. I wish Eric Camin all the success he deserves as your new President. He will continue to be a great asset to the region.
I want to take a moment to thank a few Key people in the region that have made my job a breeze. I would have been in big trouble without the help and guidance from Ed Buch, Region Secretary during all my years on the Board. Ed is now going to take it easy stepping down along with me and letting Sheryl Dodd Hansen take the reins as your new Region secretary. You will be in capable hands as she has been a past Institute secretary. Bob Siegrist continues be the watchdog over region finances as West Region treasurer. Bob has always been there for me and the region with sound advice and keeping the books straight. Bryan Varner has keep me on my toes with sound advice for the region, and Craig Mount has always been available for presidential advice.
I want to acknowledge a few folks that have been instrumental in providing excellent leadership training the last three year for the region leaders. Valarie Harris, Neal Drell, and Craig Mount have stepped up every year to help plan great workshops in both North and Southern California. Helping to guide them was Joy Davis from the institute staff. Joy has been there supporting the Region every year. Eric Camin has had a helping hand in arranging for a great workshop venues in the north. While we are on the subject, looks like the Fall Board meeting and the Leadership workshop may happen together in October in Walnut Creek. Eric is working on finalizing the dates and meeting location, but I hear The Embassy Suites may be the place. The target dates look like October 3 &4, 2014
I got pretty close in fulfilling my promise to visit every chapter last year. Except for Oakland East Bay, Inland empire and Reno, I was able to make chapter meetings or events in every other chapter. I was especially honored to attend two of the region chapters milestones, the 60th anniversaries of the Los Angeles and San Diego chapters. May they go another 60 years.
I will be stepping into a new role in the Region as Awards Committee Chair. I will be looking for two awards committee members to join Neal Drell and Paul Kane as Region award jurors. If you have been itching to get on a region committee and want to help out the awards tem, please let me know.
Regarding the West Region Membership Directory, at the last Region Board Meeting, a decision was made to not continue with the directory. Expenses far out weighed the returns. I want to thank Kathy Greenway for all the work and dedicated effort she put into the directory.
I had an opportunity to spend the day in San Diego with Neal Drell prior to the San Diego chapter anniversary party. Neal took me to next years Tri Region conference venue, the Hilton Hotel in Mission Bay. The Hilton will be a wonderful hotel for the conference. The conference committee has some great activities planned for everyone. Be sure to sign up when registration opens next year.
In closing I want to thank everyone in the West Region for your support over these last five years. It has truly been a pleasure to work with you all. I plan to stay active in the Fresno chapter as a director on the board as well as Region awards chair. I know that there have been officer and committee chair changes for FY 15 so please forward this WR corner to the appropriate Chapter news letter chairs.
Have a great Summer,.
Respectfully submitted,
David A. Willis
Past President, WR CSI