Stephen VanDyke, CSI, CDT, NCARB
Well folks, this is my last President’s Message for the Worcester Chapter. My extended three-year term began when Jim Olender, former WCCSI president left his position at AW Hastings to work for Dynamic Windows, pulling me up from Vice President into the President position. It’s been a steep learning curve for me, and I want to thank my other Board members for their support and encouragement over the last 3 years.
Looking back on my tenure, I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished. We’ve managed to consolidate at least 3 separate lists of contact information into a single spreadsheet, allowing us to connect much more efficiently with members and non-members alike. We’ve shifted the type of programs we offer to consciously include a hands-on aspect to them and have consistently seen an increase in attendance. Though our membership numbers have stayed consistently around 38 we’ve seen some older, less-involved members drop off but just as many new members join, keeping the chapter vibrant and diverse. We’ve initiated a couple of new ways to engage members including a program planning night in lieu of our August Board meeting, and a Young Professionals night at Recess in West Boylston.
Taking over for me as President is Marty Helly, and the chapter couldn’t be in better hands. Marty’s held this position before and worn just about every hat there is to wear in the Worcester chapter. He’s the Immediate Past President of the Northeast Region, has had an active hand in planning most of the recent regional conferences and remains involved in several other chapters. Have no fear that he’ll steer the ship in the right direction, keeping the chapter vibrant and engaging. Pete Caruso has stepped up into the Vice President position, and I’m thrilled by his willingness to take on this new responsibility. Pete’s been an active Board member for several years and has conceived of and planned several of our educational programs. Having his support as Vice President keeps our leadership very strong.
I also want to welcome Robert Gutmann to the Board as our newest Board Member starting next month. Robert’s been an actively participating member for several years and prior to joining the Board, he showed great initiative through the planning of our upcoming Building Envelope Testing program. He’s participated in program planning sessions and our Young Professionals event, and we’re really excited to have someone as engaged as Robert step up to the Board level.
I’ll still be a Board member, but as Immediate Past President, I’ll be relieving Mike Sheehan in the role of the Worcester Chapter representative to the Northeast Region. My role in that capacity will be representing Worcester’s interests to the Region and trying to develop ways the Region can support our local chapter better and steer those resources our way. I’m looking forward to this new challenge and to the connections I’ll make with the other 14 chapters in the Region.
So with that, I hand the reigns back to Marty, and thank you all for the support you’ve shown me as your President.