Tag Archives: Board of Directors

A Letter from Our President

· · Leave a comment

By: Chris May, CFA, President, CFA Society Minnesota

“What are you going to do as the president for CFA Society Minnesota?” – This is the question that I have received most often over the past several months as I have prepared to take on this two-year responsibility. In a way this question makes complete sense. On the other hand, it demonstrates a misunderstanding of the situation. CFA Society Minnesota has already had the benefit of having more than 60 individuals volunteer to serve as board members over the past 10 years. Additionally, for every individual board member, there are many more folks who have volunteered over the years in a multitude of other capacities. And that is just in the past ten years. Imagine all the countless people who have been involved since the society was founded in 1952. It is a result of the cumulative efforts of all of these individuals over the years that has led us to where we are today. So many incredible things have been accomplished (Intellisight Conference – eight years, Compensation Survey – six years, Mentoring Program – five years), mistakes were made, friendships were created, and fun was had.

In January 2019 the CFAMN Board of Directors ratified an updated strategic plan. This built on the plan that preceded it and was the result of work done by the entire board, support from CFA Institute (our global parent organization), and feedback from our members. I offer all this up to put today into context. When I am asked about my term as president, it is all of this effort that I think about. In short, the work has been done. The plan has been drafted. Things are underway. I feel a responsibility to see that plan executed. Our plan is simple to understand but complex to execute. We are going to focus on three things:

1) Delivering Member Value
2) Enhancing the Brand of CFAMN and the CFA Charter
3) Building and Maintaining Operational Infrastructure

There are many components to each objective that create the complexity of execution. However, it is our goal that all of our actions will support one or more of the strategic objectives.
 
There is another item that is important to the board that is not captured in the strategic objectives. In our Mission Statement the word ‘fellowship’ is included. Thus, we believe that it is important that CFAMN provides opportunities for our members to connect and develop relationships.

With that in mind, I recognize that I do not have a relationship with the vast majority of our members. I’d like to change that. For those still reading, please consider this your invitation to take me up on this.

I value people that are willing to challenge the status quo and try new approaches. One such person is Sam Hinkie, former GM of the Philadelphia 76ers. So my ask is this – read his resignation letter and email me your thoughts.

On the other hand, if you want to drop me a note about anything else on your mind, please feel free to do that as well. I can be reached at lyndemay6@gmail.com.

Member feedback is critical to our future success. We begin board meetings with comments from members and we would love to share your feedback. The Berkshire Hathaway letters routinely include a shameless plug for Berkshire products. In that light, I will make a similar ask. If you are interested in getting involved in the society please check out the Volunteer Board or reach out to Diane Senjem at support@cfamn.org.

Thank you to each of you. We have much to do, but without each of your, our society would not be as strong as it is today.

All the best,

Chris May, CFA
President, CFA Society Minnesota

What Keeps CFA Charterholders Up At Night?

· · Leave a comment

Elizabeth Engel, M.A., CAE

What keeps you up at night? And what can CFA Society Minnesota do to help?

About nine months ago, CFAMN engaged Spark Consulting to try to find out.

The timing of the project was inspired by some technology changes the CFA Institute is making that will help the Societies and the Institute work together and share data better to help members like you achieve your most important goals and solve your most pressing problems.

Society leadership proposed questions we wanted to try to answer such as:

  • What do members need from CFAMN to continue to grow as financial professionals throughout their entire careers?
  • What do members truly value in their relationship with CFAMN? What, if anything, is missing?
  • Are members contributing to CFAMN in ways the Society isn’t aware of or recognizing?
  • What can CFAMN do to intentionally build and strengthen the organization’s relationships with members, and members’ relationships with each other?
  • How can CFAMN work more collaboratively with both the CFA Institute and the other Societies to better serve all charterholders?

Over the course of the summer of 2017, Spark’s CEO Elizabeth Engel interviewed four members of the board of directors, 15 charterholders, and the Institute’s Society Relations staff; and spent two days in Minneapolis meeting with CFAMN’s staff, board of directors, and membership committee in person (she also had the opportunity to attend our summer social and learn about lawn bowling). Engel also reviewed CFAMN data, including the results of several years’ worth of member satisfaction surveys and event evaluations, the Society Data Book provided by the Institute, our current strategic goals, and member program use and other demographics over time.

By the time Labor Day rolled around, she had learned a number of things about our members and your needs:

  • Going into this project, CFAMN had a theory that geographical location (Twin Cities versus the rest of our three-state region) was a strong determinant of members’ sense of connection to the Society. That theory appears to be correct: “Right now, I’m this anonymous person in the woods of northern MN; it’s hard to figure out how to be engaged.”
  • With regards to your needs, we were able to identify two programming gaps: members would like more programming for experienced professionals and more programming that’s accessible to non-Twin Cities members.
  • Members are also concerned about brand awareness: “Friends with both the CFA and a JD say it’s as hard as the bar exam, but the general public doesn’t understand that. While big financial services firms and banks understand the value of the CFA, smaller banks and firms don’t.”
  • Charterholders use financial skills in all aspects of their lives. Many of you, particularly those who pay for membership out of pocket (or out of your own small business revenues), make the actual financial calculation about membership: “Do I plan to attend enough events this coming year so that the total amount I’d save through the member discount equals or exceeds the cost of dues?”
  • Given that, we’re especially pleased to report that the overwhelming majority of you answer that question with a resounding “Yes!” The Society annually retains more than 94% of members, which is above the overall average for all Societies and for the Institute itself, where membership is required in order to continue to use the CFA designation. The Institute considers 95% retention to be “perfect,” so CFAMN is just about perfect on this measure.

What does all that mean?

We’re glad you asked!

We’ll be running a short series of blog posts over the next two months or so, sharing some more findings from the project, allowing board of directors and committee members’ to tell you their thoughts and reactions, and discussing the roadmap of where CFAMN and the Institute plan to go next in helping you continue to advance, personally and professionally.

A Letter From Our Society President

· · Leave a comment

Joshua M. Howard, CFA

Society Members –

The CFA Society of Minnesota is fortunate to have more than 150 active volunteers that serve on our committees and help with individual events. This allows us to be innovative and try new things while still maintaining our popular events and programs. Although we currently have an abundance of energetic, thoughtful people on our Board of Directors and our committees, we must continually replenish our volunteer base. Every year we have 3-5 Board positions as long-time volunteers roll off the Board, and committees frequently have the need for new volunteers throughout the year.When we prepare for Board transition we look for new Board members and committee volunteers from a variety of industries – some even outside of finance, such as people with experience in human resources, marketing, accounting or law. We seek diversity in all aspects including, experience and viewpoints. We strive to represent the interests of the entire body of local members and of all occupations either directly or indirectly related to investment management. Many people do not realize that you do not have to be a charterholder to be on our Board or to volunteer with one of our committees. Event and committee volunteers technically do not even need to be local society members, though most choose to join once they start volunteering.

Our Nominating Committee for the upcoming fiscal year will begin their work in May, but it is not too early to put out the call for new volunteers. If you have an interest in joining our Board, assisting with a single event (such as the upcoming Intellisight Conference), or helping one of our committees (Employment, Membership and Advocacy have the biggest needs) please let me know and I will get you in touch with our staff or a committee chair. If you want to learn more about volunteering in general please send Diane Senjem or me an email and we can discuss the current opportunities. I guarantee we have a spot for any level of time commitment. If you know of someone who might be a good fit we also accept referrals.

To all our past, current and future volunteers, thank you so much for your contributions to the CFA Society of Minnesota.

Joshua M Howard, CFA
President, CFA Society of Minnesota