President’s Message

Written By: Michael Gutter

Now that the school year has ended, summer is upon us, and vacations begin,
it is a wonderful time to stop and reflect. I know we all have had a busy few months, and I hope you are taking a moment to appreciate all that has been accomplished. I can see with great pleasure that, because of the hard work of our Executive Director, the AFCPE staff, the Board, and our Task Force volunteers, AFCPE’s future is as bright as the summer sun … well at least in Florida!

I also want to thank all of you for your submissions to the Symposium. In addition, thank you to our reviewers who are already hard at work, and to the many individuals actively planning a wonderful Symposium for this year. Our theme, Building the Bridge from Research to Practice, promises to be exciting. I believe our speakers will help us understand some of the newest findings and how they can help us in our practice and educational programs. I encourage you to bring a colleague, a student, or an intern to the Symposium.

Exciting News

I am thrilled to announce that the Board recently voted to approve a new multi-year contract with Rebecca Wiggins to continue her outstanding work as the AFCPE Executive Director. Under Rebecca’s leadership, our organization has prospered and continued to not only Set the Standard, but to raise it.

Highlights

I hope you will access your records and check out the newly redesigned database MyAFCPE! Our team has been hard at work adding new features and improving this as a tool to aid you in managing your certification and membership.

In partnership with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), AFCPE and our Master Financial Coach Trainer and AFCPE partner, Saundra Davis of Sage Financial Solutions, are in the early phase of building capacity for the CFPB’s financial coaching initiative. This effort involves training financial coaches who will provide guidance to recently transitioned veterans and vulnerable families across the country. We are also pleased to invite those of you interested in your own professional development in coaching to consider our new Financial Coaching Certification Program!

The Board met in June to continue our work to steer AFCPE’s future. As always, we invite you to share your thoughts or ideas with any one of us. Your input is not only welcome, it is desired.

We have so much to share with you on these and further developments in November! I hope to see all of you in Florida November 18–20, 2015. Florida in November, who can resist?

“The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.”  —Vince Lombardi