On 1 January I was honored to relieve Keith Michel as President of SNAME. Please join me in expressing our appreciation to him for his exemplary leadership these last two years. Keith has been an enthusiastic SNAME member and active volunteer for 30 years and I am pleased to say that he will not be going far. He has agreed to become the Chair of the (mt) Editorial Committee as Jay Carson steps up as Functional Vice President for Knowledge Management. This dedication to our Society and profession is emblematic of the commitment and selflessness exhibited by the many volunteers who work closely with the Headquarters staff to provide for the continued deployment of services for and professional development of our Society’s membership and marine industry professionals at large.
As I take command I am pleased to say that the Society stands in good health as we enter the new decade. SNAME has weathered the economic storm and I believe has come out the other side as a stronger and savvier organization. I have been working closely with our new Executive Director Erik Seither to help get our Headquarters organization shipshape as we embark on our journey. Our course for the next two years is charted in the SNAME Strategic Plan prepared through the tireless efforts of Rich Mueller and the members of the Planning Committee working closely with the Functional Vice Presidents. The Plan was approved by the Council last November and lays out the direction I intend to take the Society.
We have established aggressive objectives in each of the Society’s functional areas of Knowledge Management, Education, Technical and Research, Membership, Planning and Public Policy, Finance, Headquarters Administration and Operations and the key area associated with Students and Young Members. Achieving these objectives is going to require reaching many individual waypoints through the collective efforts of volunteers and staff working together to mark our progress. I ask that all members, whether currently active in a volunteer capacity or not, to take a moment to review the sections of the Plan of greatest interest to you, and to identify what you can do, will do, this year to help further our Society’s mission, vision, and goals. You can view the Plan here.
As I contemplate serving the Society as President I ask myself, “how did I get here”? Obviously, over a 40 year career in the marine profession there were many circumstances and events that led me to this point, but the simplest answer to my question is …because somebody asked me, and I said “yes.” Asking comes easy to some, but for engineers, asking is often a difficult thing to do. As a group, we are reserved and sometimes inhibited, and saying “yes” can be even harder for us than asking. But it is in reaching out and taking the risk of asking others to do something that we help them to learn and grow as engineers and as professionals, and it is in saying “yes,” when we ourselves are asked to do something, that we learn and grow as well.
What we do here in SNAME as marine professionals is important to our membership, to our employers, to our profession, to our respective nations. I ask that you appreciate that you are not a bystander, but a shipmate, an investor and an owner in this Society. I ask that you support SNAME in a manner that suits your individual skills, ambitions, and position in the industry, and receive the emotional rewards that come from volunteer service. What I most ask of you is to say “yes” when you are called upon as a volunteer, participant, supporter, or donor, and to help create a future for our Society and profession that we can all be proud of; to make it better tomorrow than it is today. Last, I ask that you accept my heartfelt thanks for the opportunity to serve as your President.
Respectfully,
Ed
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