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Winter-Spring 2008 classes |
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2008 CPCU Open Golf Classic |
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The Lake Washington Chapter serves about 120 members who live and/or work in the greater Puget Sound area.
Our regular chapter meetings are on the 2nd Thursday of the month at the Bellevue Harbor Club.
John Bledsoe, CPCU our 2008-2009 Chapter President, the Chapter officers, and the Board members welcome you to our website. Feel free to contact any of us if you have questions or need assistance.
SAVE THE DATE LAKE WASHINGTON CHAPTER CPCU MEETING DATES
Save the following dates on your calendar for the 2008 to 2009 Chapter meetings:
Sept 18, 2008 in Bellevue
Oct 2, 2008 in Seattle
Oct 27, 2008 is I-Day in Seattle
Dec 4, 2008 in Bellevue
Topics will be sent separately .
We look forward to seeing you at the meetings.
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Important Chapter Announcement |
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Dear Lake Washington Members,
Your CPCU Chapter Board is writing to you today to advise you of our current state and some fairly significant changes to our board structure and chapter that are currently being explored. While the board is in favor of making the changes explained below, we also owe it to you as members to present the background and reasons for this proposal, and also seek your opinion and counsel. Based on several factors you will see below, our board believes the best way to effectively manage our chapter beginning in 2008-2009 is to merge Lake Washington Chapter with our sister Seattle-based Pacific Northwest Chapter. The intent of this is to create a stronger board and succession plan, while creating little change for our members and, most importantly, keeping our Eastside meeting presence. Many of you will remember that prior to 1995, we were one chapter, and have always maintained good relations and done significant planning and activities together, including the annual golf tournament, two joint meetings per year, and numerous charitable support work. Background
In the last two years, Lake Washington Chapter membership has decreased almost 1/3, going from 150 to just under 100 members. This is due primarily to two factors:
- Eastside employers relocating into Seattle-area or elsewhere
- Demographic changes of our members, including those who have moved, retired, or left the industry.
It is worth noting that Pacific NW chapter has maintained their membership level during this same time.
While the percentage of members attending meetings has stayed around 25-30% of all members (similar to most chapters), many who attend the meetings have noted that the meeting attendance has grown smaller. Additionally, the nine new designees for our chapter in 2007-2008 (the future lifeblood and leaders of any chapter) all work in the Seattle-area or have moved out of the area entirely, making Lake Washington Chapter involvement difficult to impossible.The decrease in membership and lack of new members then creates pressures in recruiting talented individuals for our board of directors and chapter volunteers. We are concerned that this leaves our chapter vulnerable should further changes occur that impact our current board and volunteers. To be effective stewards of your chapter, we feel it is prudent to make future plans now with these trends in mind, rather than reacting later.Proposal
Based on discussions we have had with PNW Chapter and the CPCU National office, we would like to begin planning to merge Lake Washington Chapter back into PNW for the 2008-2009 CPCU year. While many details still need to be worked out, here are three important items that you should know:
- While our chapter name would change, our meeting location would not. We would still plan to have regular meetings at the Harbor Club, and would continue to as long as meeting attendance made this feasible
- The current Lake Washington Chapter board and volunteers would still exist and become part of Pacific Northwest, perhaps known as our "Eastside Committee".
- There would still be meetings in both Seattle and Bellevue (and periodically Tacoma).
One big advantage that having one board serving both Seattle and the Eastside is that the larger size of both chapters creates a larger pool from which to draw our future chapter leaders. This minimizes the concerns we have about succession planning and management, though any volunteer organization will always need driven, talented individuals to take charge and help lead into the future.As PNW also includes lunch costs in membership fees, we have discussed ways this can provide even greater value to you, perhaps by simply giving members of both current chapters the option of which meeting location you choose to attend. Again, more details will be worked out, but we want any proposed change to benefit our current members.What's Next, and Feedback
Over the next two weeks, both Lake Washington and PNW boards will hold our annual planning meetings for the 2008-2009 term, where obviously the proposed merger will be a significant topic of planning. The board would appreciate any feedback you have--pro, con, or simply questions, as we plan these meetings. You are also welcome to attend our Lake Washington planning meeting on Thursday, June 5th from 12:00-4:00pm at the Desert Fire in Redmond. If you are interested in attending all or part of our meeting in person, please let one of us know below by this Wednesday, June 4th so we may plan accordingly.Assuming we proceed, the National CPCU Governors will formally vote on this proposal at their July 2008 meeting.
In the meantime, we would appreciate your thoughts. Please feel free to contact any of our current board members:
Joe Helensky, CPCU (Outgoing President)--425-424-5836--joehel@safeco.com
John Bledsoe, CPCU (Incoming President)--206-473-3978--johble@safeco.com
Rayanna Edwards, CPCU (Incoming Vice President)-425-709-3799--rredwards@psfinc.com
Thank you for your time and involvement with our chapter and CPCU, and consideration and understanding of this proposal.Sincerely,
Joe Helensky, CPCU
John Bledsoe, CPCU
Rayanna Edwards, CPCU
Lake Washington Chapter |
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