Not to be repetitive, but to reaffirm, we have identified our MISSION to support a sisterhood among women; achieve equity in the workplace; and create connections without business or industry boundaries, and our VISION to be the leading advocate for women through leadership opportunities, legislative knowledge and career support, and to help all women achieve equity. We discussed that in order to sustain such a rich organization, we needed to be focused on our recruitment, and identified that all women are welcomed and women over 35 years old are more likely to join. Let’s reach out to these women, none of us is getting any younger and VITALIZE’ing BPWWA trumps all at this time.

Part of our vitalization can begin with attending our Washington State Business and Professional Women State Annual Meeting at Hotel Indigo in Everett May 19-20th. We have created an educational fun event for all to enjoy and participate. So mark your calendars now and plan to partake in the festivities. Let’s reconnect with women from across the state.

I believe we are still grappling with what we provide as an organization. Mary Sweet of BPW Eastside very eloquently wrote “If …networking, I would be better off joining …Chamber of Commerce; if pursing opportunities for social and /or service activities, I would join Soroptimists; if active politically,..join League of Women Voters. I’m not sure what niche BPW provides.” All of the locals provide philanthropic activities and networking; some provide a form of mentoring; on the state level legislative issues are presented and addressed; and yet we have struggled to identify what we will brand and market ourselves as. As President, I believe we can be relevant, but we need to listen to the Gen X’ers and younger people we know, and take heed in what they have to say and offer. We identified through our strategizing process with Christine Rose that younger women want to make a difference and how do we assist and how do we present BPW to “outside” world?

The Executive Committee is also asking who is going to carry on this torch. It is evident our emphasis on the local level needs to begin with recruiting members and grooming officers who then can contribute on the state level. (But again, that cannot be our only focus). Such a small pool of members is keen to serve in these much-needed state positions. I am asking for you to consider being a part of the Board of Directors or Executive Team on the state or local level and be creative with job sharing your position. I personally believe that the state should help concentrate funds for recruitment on local level. These recruitment activities need to begin now.

In addition, much discussion has been given to how we have maintained decorum within our meetings in the past with Bylaws and Roberts Rules, but now some of that may be passe and we need to create an environment where members want to attend and participate, whether it is volunteering or learning something educational, and not be bogged down with rules. I am by no means saying “No Rules” or that we should bypass the Board of Directors, but asking do we need to be so structured. In this day and age of technology should we not be able to find a way to vote electronically that is transparent, fair, and accommodating to people’s schedules? Sylvia Valine, Mary Sweet, and Nancy Sorensen met to create the ability for us to move into the 21st Century with changes in our Bylaws. Speaking personally, not as the president of your state organization, issues with the current proposal do exist, and yet, I believe that, by all means, conversations regarding changes should take place to work out the kinks so we can move forward. Please read the article on the report from the Bylaws Change Task Force.