President's Article Strengthening Supply Management through Leadership By Jill A. Alvarez, C.P.M. President NAPM-Orange County, Inc.

We have elections just around the corner and you thought they were over! We do not have punch cards and will not have an issue with chads, or daily lawsuits in Florida, but voting should still have your every consideration.

We have four open seats on the Board of Directors and five or six candidates competing for the opportunity to serve. That says a lot for our association–that our members see the value in our leadership structure and want to be part of the process. Some affiliates report they have three open seats and three candidates, so they all get elected and many affiliates have the same people running year after year.

You will have an opportunity to meet each of our candidates in March, as they will do a brief presentation on why they think you should vote for them. And you vote for a total of four individuals. Following the election, the Executive Board is voted on at the May Board of Directors’ meeting. That means my successor, the president, vice president, and others are elected in May. All of the incoming board members and existing board members have a vote.

We also have several important issues on the ballot this April – one issue is Student Members and your Board of Directors has voted against continuing to offer a student membership at this affiliate. We have an individual that qualifies as a regular retired member and needs the vote of the membership. We have asked the membership to approve a new position – President Elect. The board voted in favor of the new position and you will see a write up of all of this information in the election section of the web page, along with biographies of the candidates and your absentee ballot.

Please show your support by selecting the best of the candidates and voting wisely on the issues presented to you by your Board of Directors. The votes will be counted and the winners announced right there at the dinner meeting in April and the Executive Board announced in May, installed in June. Our Administrative Support Committee gathers and counts and verifies everything. You can decide to turn out at the “poles” (April’s dinner meeting) or fax in an absentee ballot to the office up until about 2:00 p.m. on the day of the elections. We are just like the rest of the country–incapable of accepting electronic voting, but maybe in the future!

So I look forward to seeing you at the “poles” as I cast my vote and continue Strengthening Supply Management through Leadership.