Greetings SIM-MN members and welcome to 2023!
I’m excited and honored to be serving as the 2023-2025 SIM-MN Chapter President building on the great work of my predecessor and board members. Our 2023 board conducted a strategic session in Q4 last year to level set on where the Chapter is and where we want to continue guiding it in 2023. January was busy establishing our goals and onboarding 4 new board members and additional committee members. Our board is a diverse group of practitioners, thought leaders, corporate drivers, and entrepreneurs. This commitment to diversity of thought within the board and Chapter has and will continue to lead to thoughtful considerations, opportunities, and positive change. Every decision we make as a board is benchmarked against what’s fair and beneficial for the Chapter, the Members, and our Community. Leading with this core focus ensures our board continues to educate and elevate the Chapter while positively impacting our community.
We experienced great accomplishments in 2022, thanks to the efforts of our board, committee members and volunteers. We grew membership over 50%, returned to meeting in person for many of our events and launched our 1st Annual SIM-MN Golf Fundraiser. With the funds from the golf event, we were able to award eight scholarships to deserving college students. The excitement from this experience has led us to create more aggressive fundraising goals for 2023 so we can expand our impact within the STEM community. Reserve Aug 2 on your calendar now for our golfing fundraiser! Interested in volunteering at this event? Please email Myron Braun to discuss opportunities: mbraun@renodis.com
In 2023 SIM-MN is focused on continuing to grow and elevate membership, programming, and sponsorship. We have launched a new sponsorship program in the form of Corporate Sponsorships and Service Provider Sponsorships that will allow for fulfilling engagement for Chapter sponsors while providing a year of value. For those interested on behalf of their employers or by referring interested companies, there are many opportunities to participate via an annual or monthly sponsorship or by supporting a signature event such as the Golf Fundraiser. Please reach out to Ryan Hawkins, who is the Sponsorship Chair, to learn more about how you and your organization can sponsor and participate: ryan.p.hawkins@gmail.com
Our 2022 programming had great attendance and feedback on events such as our cooking class with Jeff Mader, various in-person events with talented speakers, and signature panel events with top IT leaders in our community. We hope you were able to attend our 2022 events and continue to make SIM-MN events a priority for 2023. Our board is committed to bringing in CIO/Leadership discussion panels, coveted speakers, and unique “only in SIM-MN” experiences for 2023. More to come!
We continue to welcome aboard Committee Members to support a variety of initiatives so if you have any interest, please contact me to discuss. As always, you only get what you put into something. Make sure you get SIM-MN’s events on your calendar and engage the community; it will garner the best experiences and value possible for your membership.
I look forward to seeing you at the events!
-Heather Manley
SIM-MN Chapter President
Heather.Manley@ondemandgroup.com