Greetings once again from your ASTD San Diego chapter!

If you read nothing else in this newsletter, please read this:

The Ultimate HR Marketplace, a joint event between your ASTD Chapter and SD-SHRM, is being held on June 12th at SeaWorld San Diego.

This event is your opportunity to confer with 30 of our area's top consultants and vendors in training and development, HR, leadership development, and much more.  

The full list of exhibitors is here:  

www.astdsandiego.org/ASTD-SHRM_Marketplace_Exhibitors

When you register (members: $30; nonmembers: $50), you'll book your appointments with the consultants you want to meet and talk with.  This is your chance to ask real questions about issues, problems, and challenges you're dealing with today - and get real, actionable answers.  

Parking, lunch, and a day at SeaWorld is included in the price of your ticket.  

Plus, our exhibitors have contributed to some amazing prizes - SHRM's HRCI Certification program, a DISC Certification, and a cash prize of over $500 are just a few of them.  And all you need to do to win is ... be there and meet with at least 7 exhibitors, including two 10-minute Forum presentations.  

I'll see you there, right?  Just click here to register. 

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Also:  The award-winning Mentor-Protege program is open for your applications as a Mentor or as a Protege.  Positions for Lead Mentors are still available.  Click here to learn more.

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With all of that said, I want to take a moment now to introduce your ASTD-SD Board members.  It's only due to their dedication and hard work that you have these opportunities.

I don't have space to express my appreciation to all of them in this newsletter, so I'll save the three Officers of the Board for next month.  (Yes, the privilege of rank strikes again!)

Programs

Putting on each of our monthly Chapter meetings is a huge job, with many moving parts, a large Committee, and - as you might expect - a steep learning curve. That's why we have two Programs Directors, each serving two years, so that there's always one who knows the ropes and one who's learning.

Carol Sheckler is our 2013 "senior" Programs Director, having been the rookie last year.  As Board President, I deeply appreciate Carol's dedication and determination. She is one of the best negotiators I have ever met, always seeming to know the right thing to say to encourage a speaker's generosity, or to help ease over a sticky spot in any collaborative effort.

Liz Aitcheson is this year's "rookie" Programs Director, having stepped in when Michele Rubino moved to the East Coast early this year.  Liz has an amazing head for detail and is almost as nit-picky as I am about attending to and following up on all those details.  Liz also has a real concern for individuals, making sure (for example) that speakers are cared for and that the servers at our venues know we appreciate their efforts on our behalf.

Professional Development

Gaby Alvarez has been a real trooper on the ASTD-SD Board of  Directors, agreeing at the end of last year to extend her two-year term as Professional Development Director to a third year in an effort to better balance the Board tenure as a whole.

Gaby is responsible for events such as PEAK, the Mentor-Protege program, and all the workshops we put on over the year.  Each of these events alone would be a big undertaking - and somehow Gaby pulls them all off.  I'm in awe of her organizational skills!

Membership

Gregg Fasbinder has brought some innovative ideas to the Membership role, including the new-this-year Human Performance Alliance networking meetings. Gregg's view that we need to involve the wider San Diego Human Resources and leadership communities with our activities is right on target with how the industry as a whole is developing.  He's been a true champion of our learning and development field while also extending the reach of the Chapter into other areas.  

Gregg attended our National conference, ICE, this month, so if you see him, ask him about the experience.

Technology

Our Technology Director, Iswar Radhakrishnan, has resigned this month due to the time constraints of a very busy career.  The behind-the-scenes work of Technology is demanding, and can sometimes go unseen.  Iswar's dedication to detail and concern for effective, functional process and procedure set an example for us all.  And although you may not have explicitly noticed the website usability tweaks he made - well, that's actually a good thing, because a technical tool should never intrude itself upon the experience of using that tool to accomplish a task.

Stay tuned next month to hear about our Board President-Elect, Secretary, CFO, and our Office Manager!

Grace Judson
2013 Chapter President