As 2013 winds down I would like to take this opportunity to look back at the past year, reflect on everything that LMA has done for our members and to thank all of the volunteers that provided countless hours of service to the chapter.
It is also a good time to extend a sincere thank you to all of our sponsors for their generous financial support throughout the year. Their support helps keep our chapter running as well as it does.
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We started off the year with a very successful Your Honor Awards ceremony at Carnivale in Chicago, where 13 firms were recognized for excellence in legal marketing. We also inducted Sydney Iglitzen into the Hall of Fame and named Amy Jean our Rising Star. Congrats again to both of these outstanding women and the winning law firms!
A big thank you goes out to the volunteers that planned, organized and executed this amazing event, especially our committee chairs Sydney Iglitzen, Megan McKeon and Joy Long. (Believe me, it was not easy keeping the Hall of Fame award a secret from one of the event organizers!) All three are veterans of this event, having successfully planned a number of them. This terrific trio always does a wonderful job. Thank you again, ladies!
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In September, we held our semi-annual Midwest Conference themed “Not Business as Usual.” For those of you who didn’t attend, you missed a great conference. (There are a few recaps in this issue of In the Loop, so you won’t feel too left out.) We really wanted to showcase the local talent that we have in-house at our firms. Many thanks to all of the speakers who so willingly shared their insights and ideas — Don Lee, Keith Maziarek, John F. Hurley, Megan McKeon, Maureen E. Farr, Anne Gallagher, John Byrne, Allen Chichester, Suzanne Donnels, Nancy Roberts Linder, Barry Solomon, Susan Steberl and Ian Turvill. (And a thank you to those speakers who are not in-house at law firms — Andy Crestodina, and our corporate counsel panelists, Catheryn Albrecht, V. Alexandra Darrow, Gary S. Friedlander, Douglas A. Graham and Ronald E. Potempa.) Finally, a great big thanks goes out to our co-chairs Sydney Iglitzen, Bill Fitzgerald, Stuart Goodman and Tasneem Goodman.
This was also the first year we awarded the Outstanding Service Award. Going forward, this award will be presented during the Your Honor Awards with our Hall of Fame and Rising Star. The Outstanding Service Award recognizes those members who have gone above and beyond in their service and dedication to the chapter. The Midwest Chapter was honored to present the inaugural Outstanding Service Award posthumously to the family of Judi Weingarz. Judi was the director of marketing at the Interlex Group, and an active member of LMA, serving on the local and international boards of directors. She also chaired the local LMA Midwest Conference and the LMA International Conference and was an active member of a number of committees. She exemplified the spirit of this award and set a high standard of service for future recipients.
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2013 found us working to expand our city group structure with the formation of a city group for Chicago. We also made inroads to getting groups running in Kansas City and possibly Iowa. It is only through the work of our dedicated volunteers that make these city groups happen. So a big thank you goes out to:
- John Cornwell and Cindy Richards in Detroit.
- Pam Champ, Taryn Elliot and Jennifer Whitley in Indianapolis
- Pagette Fischer and Jennifer Rupkey in Milwaukee
- Anne Frohock and Stephanie Richter in St. Louis
- Amy Jean and Jim Jarrell in Chicago
These are the folks that work so hard to bring programming to each of our cities. (Also the members that help plan those all-important socials!) And please, if you’re thinking of getting involved with the chapter, the city groups are a great place to start. Reach out to these folks if you’re interested!
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I would like to thank Jennifer Gamber for all of her hard work on In the Loop this year. And of course, she couldn’t do it without the assistance of Jeremy Persin, who helps ensure our contributors turn in their materials on time, Melody Jean, who handles the email layout and distribution, and Dayna Schmidt, who makes sure everything is working on the Web site. Also, I’d like to thank all of our contributors throughout the year — you do an amazing job keeping the chapter informed about all that is going on.
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Last but not least I would like to extend a big thank you to our wonderful Board of Directors who help to steer this ship that is the LMA Midwest chapter. Our President-Elect, Rich Marsolais, who did a wonderful job chairing the programming committee and working to bring all of the nationally recognized speakers to our chapter.
Secretary Anne Gallagher who kept us on task and worked to ensure we had a good record of everything we did this year.
Treasurer Stuart Goodman, who spent countless hours ensuring our bills were paid and our budget was balanced. And Stuart couldn’t have done it without the help of Treasurer-Elect, Cere Woods.
Our City-Group Liaison Maureen Farr did an amazing job working with our established city groups and on outreach to our city groups in formation. She really was the right person for the job since she was so helpful in getting our St. Louis group off the ground.
Member-at-Large for Networking Sydney Iglitzen as usual wore so many hats we had trouble telling which version of Sydney was showing up for each meeting. The Energizer Bunny has nothing on Sydney!
Member-at-Large for Membership Bill Fitzgerald spent countless hours on the road getting out to our city groups and making sure each member was feeling some love from the Board.
Member-at-Large for Communications Lisa Sesti worked hard to establish best practices for city group communications.
And finally Immediate Past President Tasneem Goodman who chaired our sponsorship committee whose members helped bring in almost $17,000 for our chapter this year.
My final thank you goes out to our chapter admin, Melody Jean. She does an amazing job putting up with a bunch of crazy legal marketers and keeping us all on task. If you’ve ever received an email from the chapter, you’ve seen only a part of what Melody does for us. She’s the behind-the-scenes force that keeps everything running smoothly. Thank you Melody!
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We’re on track for another exciting year in 2014. Get ready to celebrate, as it is our 25th anniversary year! In addition to returning Board members Rich Marsolais, Sydney Iglitzen, Maureen Farr, Cere Woods and Bill Fitzgerald, we welcome Taryn Elliott, Beth Massing and Christy Baas. Also returning to the Board by special appointment is Allen Chichester.
With Rich in the president’s seat it proves to usher in a new era for our chapter. What started as the Chicago Chapter back in 1989, grew to the Midwest Chapter in 2011. Rich is the first chapter president from outside of Chicago. We will also welcome four board members from outside of Chicago. The Chapter is growing and the legal marketing excitement is building! Look for more great things to come in 2014!
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Last but not least, thank you to you – our loyal members. We are here to serve you and hope that we are doing a good job. If you have ideas for things we can do better, please let us know. Or better yet, come join us as a volunteer!
It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as president of such a spectacular chapter.