President's Message
By Janet Sain

It is so hard to believe that the Annual SASFAA conference is over! After much planning, effort and hard work, the 42nd SASFAA Annual Conference held at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta, Georgia was indeed a tremendous success and the sight of so many awesome accomplishments! It was the conference where we had over a 1000 registrants, 77 vendor/sponsors, raised almost $6300 for the community service project (the Atlanta Ronald McDonald houses), conducted our first-ever electronic voting and held our first Multicultural Leadership Symposium. The general and interest sessions were outstanding and brought much knowledge and skills to those who attended.

There are so many individuals who deserve special recognition:

• Brent Tener, Conference Chair
• Lisa Mitchem and Todd Woodlee, Local Arrangement Co-Chairs
• Lester McKenzie, SASFAA Treasurer
• Forrest Stuart, Membership Chair
• Bob Godfrey, Vendor/Sponsor Chair
• Erik Melis, Electronic Services Chair
• Ron Day, Past-President and Nominations and Elections Chair
• Deborah (Dee) Talley, Diversity Chair
• The entire Conference Committee
• All the Local Arrangements Committee members
• GASFAA

The list could go on and on. I really appreciate the effort and hard work that went into the planning and implementation of the conference.

For the first time, we held electronic voting, and by all accounts, it was very well received by all who participated. Congratulations to the newly elected board members:

Also, thanks to those individuals who agreed to have their names placed on the slate. SASFAA has so many great individuals and I would like to encourage you to consider this opportunity to serve SASFAA or to assist Guy Gibbs, President-Elect, as he plans his year by volunteering to serve in one of the many committees SASFAA utilizes to perform the many tasks each year.

Congratulations to Bob Godfrey for receiving SASFAA’s Distinguished Service Award. Bob has certainly shown outstanding, significant and meritorious contributions to SASFAA. This recognition is well deserved.

As President, I had the distinct pleasure of recognizing another wonderful individual. Ms. Francine Reeves was honored with the President’s Special Appreciation Award for her many years of service to the SASFAA community. This was in addition to the Honorary Lifetime Membership she received earlier during the luncheon. Susan Little and David Bartnicki shared some wonderful memories and stories of her many years of service. We will all miss her and wish her the best in her well-deserved retirement years.

Also recognized during the awards luncheon with Honorary Lifetime Memberships were John Burns from South Carolina, Marilyn Clark-Watson and Judy Deines, both from Kentucky, and finally Bill Fron, Georgia, who was in attendance and was able to share a few words with his SASFAA colleagues and friends.

The next SASFAA Board meeting will be held in June. Should you have any concerns, issues or suggestions, please feel free to contact any member of the board. In the meantime, there will be membership survey that will be posted on the website very soon. Take a few moments to complete it and let us know how SASFAA can better serve your needs.

Have a great rest-of-the-academic year! And thanks for all you do!

Janet Sain