President
Garth Sellers

Manager, National Facilities Management
American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
310-783-2056

Dear LA Chapter Members,

First, I would like to thank everyone who voted in our recent election. As the new LA Chapter President of IFMA, I will make every effort to guide this chapter in the direction the previous presidents have established. With 22 years of membership to the LA IFMA chapter I have enjoyed its benefits, grown in my own professional development, and expanded my knowledge through the networking opportunities the chapter has made available to me.  I also enjoyed serving as your Vice President this past year and now, I am excited to take on the role of LA Chapter President. I will do whatever I can to ensure our organization continues to guide and develop facility management professionals by providing exceptional services, products, resources and opportunities. 

However, before I continue, I would like to thank Chris Nehls for the outstanding leadership he offered to the chapter this past year.  I would also like to thank all the other board members and committee chairs that devoted many extra hours to keeping our chapter moving forward. 

Under Chris’ leadership, and with the support of the board, the chapter has made great strides to provide more opportunities for our members.  We must continue in this direction, but we can only do so with your assistance.

Recently, we emailed all of our members a meeting survey requesting feedback and asking for your comments and suggestions. Even if your response is just a single sentence, this feedback is important in helping us better understand your needs as a member of this chapter. In addition, after each meeting, a new survey will be sent to each member. Please take a moment to give us your feedback, regardless of whether you attended the meeting or not.  Another email was recently circulated requesting your comments on our website; your feedback on this very important subject is also desired.  Remember this is your chapter, so please help us in continuing its development going forward.

Equally important to the success of this chapter is our volunteers.  Helping out can be as simple as handing out literature at our meetings, writing a short paragraph about an event for the website, or connecting with a new member via phone call.  Volunteering can also provide an opportunity to highlight a project you have worked on that could educate others, or to build and demonstrate career skills.  All of these can lead to new personal connections, which are more important than ever in these uncertain economic times.

During this coming year we plan to continue building our relationships with both the San Fernando and OC Chapters.  We have also added a new board member position, Member at Large.  We are very fortunate to have Cheryl Krasho in this position. Her responsibility is to develop better relationships with other facility organizations such as BOMA, USGBC, etc.

I look forward to the year ahead and the opportunity to work with each of you in order to reach our goals.  Should you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me or any LA IFMA board member.

I hope to see everyone in World Workplace 2011 in Phoenix on October 26 through October 28.

Sincerely,
Garth Sellers