May 2011 President's Message

Wow, what a night! Ben Arnold of Ben Arnold Associates sang the invocation and the Star Spangle Banner and then led us all in the pledge. What a fitting way to start off a great night. Kris Erickson of Lovitt & Touche and Angel Denton of VIO Vitality Inside & Out did an outstanding job on holding our Executive appreciation & Scholarship award dinner. All executives in attendance were honored for their support and membership in our chapter.

This year's winner Shannon Beckham of Xavier College Prep has some very lofty goals and will go far. It was interesting how she weaved her family story with the history of EWI, her Grandmother was a secretary and how EWI as an organization has kept changing with the times as women have grown to so much more than we once were. Shannon hopes to attend an Ivy League school and pursue a career in politics as she loves the face pace and also enjoys speech writing. Our guest speaker Judge John Ore gave a fascinating talk really geared to Shannon. His talk was full of history and he had everyone in the room riveted as he had Shannon hold a half full glass of water and slowly filled it. John Ore along with Patricia Greenquist of Arizona Dept. of Health Services were retuning judges and Dave Cheatham of Velocity Retail Group was a new judge. They all had to read over 30 applications, and they told us that they were all really impressed by the youth of our city. We thank them for their service and time.

It is always refreshing to hear from our winner; they have such passion for learning, growing and becoming. Those of us past the "School Years" must remember that we still must continue learning and keep our passion's alive. EWI provides many opportunities to learn; we learn by serving on committees, on the board, listening to speakers at chapter meetings, webinars, and the various conferences that happen our way. I want to keep encouraging all members to take advantage of all that EWI has to offer.

This month we will be holding a mini firm night for each member firm, sharing table space with each other. Bring materials that you would like to share, business cards, samples, newsletters, anything you wish to share or help us learn more about your firm. We will also be awarding the EWIE award to an outstanding member firm, the winner was unable to attend the April meeting. We will also be welcoming 2 new members! Mindy Comitor the new member rep. for Midwestern University and Gena Johnson of In2 Design.

I will see you all at the Arizona Grand, have a Happy Mother's Day.

All the best

Jennifer Burns - President

Bell Signs

Quote of the month: "The only real training for leadership is leadership"

Anthony Jay