Connecting with members is her top priority: a "virtual" member herself, 2006-7 FEI Canada Chair Kathy Stevenson aims to use the technology advantage for making more connections to keep FEIC in the direction it's been going--and more.

• Author: Heffes, Ellen M.

During her upcoming year as FEI Canada chair, Kathleen Stevenson, known as Kathy, says she'll shoot for 100 percent member retention. Now, she understands that's an impossible goal, but she wants to make sure that "we are adding enough value to the professional lives of our members that they don't even think, 'Should I stay a member?'"

Often cited as a reason for leaving, "I can't get to meetings" hammers home the importance of the number one benefit that members list: networking. However, Stevenson explains, with demands on time and distance, getting to chapter meetings is indeed difficult. "We've got to ensure that people feel connected--whether in-person, at meetings or through technology." She'd like the definition of "networking" to fit the 21st century model: "There are other means for networking, and we need to ensure that members are aware of what we offer."

Stevenson is senior vice president and CFO of Interior Savings Credit Union, Kelowna, British Columbia. The credit union provides a full range of financial services. When she first joined FEI in 1995, Stevenson lived in Vancouver, and attended local chapter meetings. Now, living about a four-hour drive from Vancouver (one hour by plane), she laments she attended only two meetings this year.

There are a couple of members where she is, in Kelowna, and one suggested starting a chapter. She believes there are opportunities to meet with those members and use FEI online resources to watch seminars from the National Sponsor Series, or webcasts, and not have to deal with planning meetings, speakers, etc. for a very small group.

So, Stevenson wants the national organization to consider how it will continue to provide and enhance support outside the large, urban areas, and how it can offer as much as it can to the chapters to assist them with what they need to do. FEIC has made great progress supporting chapters in the last few years, she says, with its national sponsors and Breakfast Seminar Series. She wants to continue extending the resources so that online networks are created. "Those are the types of connections we've got to encourage more," she insists.

She would also like to bring more awareness to the work of FEIC's Issues and Policy Advisory Committee (IPAC) and its Committee on Corporate Reporting (CCR). She's "not so sure that our membership has a really good handle on what our CCR and IPAC committees do, what we are working on behind the scenes and what value they bring."

CCR...