President’s Message

Written By: Jinhee Kim

You may think of the AFCPE Board of Directors when there are nominations and elections of Board members. But, what does the elected Board do in the role of serving our organization?

Some of the obvious, visible ways you may see board members is at the annual symposium when we hold the annual business meeting or through this President’s message in our quarterly newsletter. Beyond these visible activities, the Board’s activities and roles may be less obvious.

The primary role of the Board is to provide fiduciary oversight of the organization and its executive director and to develop the strategic direction of the organization. The Board is responsible for the overall governance of the organization on behalf of all AFCPE members. Within the AFCPE bylaws, the Board sets vision, direction, and priorities, and monitors staff performance.

The Board actively participates in the planning and decision making for AFCPE. We also review budgets—guarding and managing resources effectively. The Board upholds the standards of AFCPE and promotes the organization. Lastly, we provide a conduit to reflect the needs of all AFCPE members.

We meet quarterly at a minimum to review and discuss the work of the staff and task forces. Throughout the year, we communicate via emails to keep up with the work of AFCPE. We currently have the following active task forces: Nomination, Member Services, Symposium, Finance, Investment, Awards, Communications, Newsletter, Research, Career Development, and Strategic Planning.

My daughter reminds me of my age every week if not more often, forcing me to think about where I stand and where I am headed. AFCPE is 33 years old this year. According to Confucius, at the age of 30, you take a leap and launch yourself into the world after you have spent time establishing your foundation. We have built the AFCPE and AFC^® certification tirelessly and fearlessly, and I think we are very ready to take that leap!

What’s next? The Board will have a strategic planning meeting this June that will help us set the direction and priorities in the next few years and decide where to invest our resources for many more years to come. We welcome your ideas. The Board represents you for the development of AFCPE, but we can only fulfill that role with your help. We need your opinions, feedback, ideas, and support.

Lastly, I would like to remind you about our 2016 Symposium and to submit your ideas to share for a practitioners’ forum, research paper, student paper, or poster. We would like to learn what you do and what you think. This year, we continue to highlight the unique opportunity that AFCPE symposium offers by integrating research and practices.