Memories of the last two years will remain with all of us for a long time to come. We can give Leslie Petter a standing ovation for her outstanding leadership during this time. She not only kept the ship afloat, but she also skyrocketed our chapter forward on so many levels. During Leslie’s tenure, she perfected zoom meetings, and online parties, and reinvented the Scholar Awards Celebration.  Google Workspace was introduced, the ARCS Atlanta website was totally transformed, a new brand film was produced, and a PitchBook for fundraising was created. Her positive attitude and amazing monthly president’s letters kept us inspired and focused on our mission to raise money for our scholars.

I was honored to be asked to serve as your chapter president for 2022-23. Carolynn Cooper (2023-25) and I will be working closely together in this transition year. As we quickly move from virtual to more in-person activities, many of us may need to adjust to in-person meetings. Gone are the days of exercise pants, ponytails, and no makeup. Change can be a challenge sometimes, but I believe that most of us are ready for that change.

Our chapter is strong and in good financial order, which is a good foundation on which to build new initiatives. In addition to the day-to-day duties of running our chapter, there are three areas that I would like to highlight: Membership, Funds Development (individual and corporate), and Chapter Strategy.

• Liz Lauer, Membership Chairman, will manage the new member process and in addition will create a committee to analyze the recruitment, engagement, and retention of members.
• Mary Dodson, Vice President Funds Development, the Funds Development Committee, and Kaleigh Malloy, Funds Development Coordinator, will continue their role of overall fundraising and the management of it, while identifying new donors.
• Nancy Chambers, Vice President, Strategy will help identify possible corporate donors and assist the Funds Development team in the “ASK” for these donors.  Also in her VP Strategy role, Nancy will investigate other opportunities for our chapter, not yet noted.

Again, I am looking forward to serving this year and I hope that you will always feel free to reach out to me with whatever is on your mind.

Sara Jean