International Women's Day was celebrated around the world earlier this month and the power of our global society network was on full display.    

From Australia to Atlanta to the Middle East and beyond, societies around the world held conferences and events promoting women in finance and investment management. I had the opportunity to participate in the first annual MENA diversity and inclusion conference hosted by CFA Society Bahrain. What an inspiring and rewarding experience to see the great passion and achievements of women in the region, and especially the support of their male colleagues at all levels of industry and government. We certainly are measuring up! 

Here are some key news items and reminders:

• Interim CFA Institute staff appointments: Steve Horan, Managing Director Credentialing, will assume the role of Managing Director of the Americas on an interim basis and our Regional Managing Directors will assume responsibility for Institutional Relations to ensure a consistent global approach and to strengthen our effectiveness and impact. 
• Register for the Global SLC: We have an exciting agenda for the conference, under the theme “Building the Societies 2.0 World”, and are looking forward to connecting with many of you in London, 9 – 11 May. Make sure you secure your place and register by 29 March 2019 (please check with your Society to see whether you are eligible to attend).
• Compensation Survey: CFA Institute last conducted a member compensation survey in 2007 and we have since received interest from members and society leaders for this to be updated. I’m therefore delighted to announce that we will be launching a new global compensation survey in April. The data will provide members and CFA Societies with access to a unique set of market-level data related to compensation and we ask that CFA Societies support promotion of the survey to your local memberships.
• Lifelong Learning: The CPD Design Council has been busy focusing on how to improve our CPD offering. As part of this commitment, we have collaborated with CFA Society United Kingdom on a pilot for a learning platform that would deliver competency-based content to our members.
• Improved communications: The enhanced communications preference center launched on 22 March. Please take the time to login to your account and update your preferences.
• Member and Society Satisfaction Survey: We greatly value members’ time and feedback and are currently reviewing the number of survey requests made to members. As a result, it has been agreed to scale back this year’s member survey and society satisfaction survey. We hope updates to our surveys will improve the member experience and encourage greater response rates. Find out more here.
• CFA Society Anniversaries: I want to congratulate CFA Societies that recently celebrated their anniversaries, including CFA Society San Francisco, which marked 90 years with a year-long awareness campaign, and CFA Society Cyprus, which hosted a large-scale event to celebrate its 15^th anniversary and charter awards. 
• NPS story ideas: A reminder that we will be running a feature on how CFA Societies are positively impacting their Net Promoter Scores (NPS) in Connexions, in July. Please share your member value focused initiatives here.

Finally, earlier in March, society relationship managers met in London for a three day team retreat focused on further developing our role as consultants to Societies in a Societies 2.0 world. Did you know that your society relationship manager is highly trained in board governance topics – including strategic planning, succession planning and conflict resolution – as well as on CFA Institute strategic initiatives? He or she can help you identify solutions to common challenges, develop impactful projects, and pinpoint the best practices or resources that will help you best deliver value to your members.  

It is our immense honor and pleasure supporting you in the great work you do.

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