ASSOCIATE Magazine FBINAA Q4-2024

ASSOCIATION PERSPECTIVE

Craig Petersen

I t seems like time has raced by since the National Annual Training conference in Kansas City. I would like to thank the Kansas Western Missouri Chapter once again, our National Team and the Eventive Group for all of their hard work to make the conference a success. Being sworn in as your Association President is one of the great honors of my life. I am humbled by the many kind words and messages of support offered by our members. I’ve recently been asked about membership retention. Specifically, what is the best way to retain our members and increase our membership numbers? The answer is multi-faceted; however I believe our strength in this effort lies within the chapters. We begin with member engagement at the National Academy. I commend our National Team for their efforts to forge relationships with the new students during their time at the National Academy. We do offer the “best free coffee at the academy”. But what accompanies that coffee is daily interaction with some wonderful people in the National Office that truly care about our members. We are now offering the opportunity for Chapters to sponsor the coffee breaks as a means of promot ing the chapters and introducing the new students to their local chapters. If you have an interest in sponsoring a week of coffee, please contact the National Office. Member retention, however, begins at the chapter level. Our chapters provide the best opportunities for members to remain engaged at their chapter retrainers and events. Speaking of chapter engagement, I have had the opportunity to visit several chapters since the conference in Kansas City. All have provided top-tier training from subject matter experts, the kind of train ing we have come to expect. Each chapter is unique and many offer signature events. The Florida Chapter offered a host night at Mango’s Tropical Café in South Beach. The evening was filled with both excellent food and entertainment you would expect in Miami Beach. The Mississippi Chapter never disappoints with their annual seafood cookout, it was wonderful again this year. The Tennessee and Kentucky Chapters combined to host their conference in Nashville and hosted their annual event at the Redneck Riviera featuring an evening of great music and food. The Arkansas Chapter hosted their conference on Petit Jean Mountain, and they had their traditional steak dinner. The steaks are cooked by Randy Lann , Grill-master of the Dallas Cowboys and it is, without doubt, the best steak I have ever had. The Africa-Middle East Chapter held their retrainer in Cape Town, South Africa. The area was beautiful, and the people were so hospitable. One of the highlights for me was their Yellow Brick Challenge. The group traveled to the Cape of Good Hope National Park and hiked up to the historic lighthouse at Cape Point. I have also been blessed to meet some wonderful people during my travels. Many of those that left a lasting impression on me are some of our faithful retired members who continue to support their chapters. I met Dean Riggin , a graduate of Session 101 and Life Member of the Arkansas Chapter. I enjoyed his sto ries about being one of the early sessions to attend the academy in its current location in the 1970s. I also met Floyd Hancock , a graduate of NA Session 123. He watched on with pride as his granddaughter Kelsey shared her experiences from YLP Session

25, with the Arkansas Chapter during their Banquet. I also look forward to seeing Bobby Underwood of the Mississippi Chapter every year. Bobby is a graduate of NA Session 121, and he hasn’t missed a single event in my time with the chapter. I was also fortunate to meet Bob Emory , of the Maryland-Delaware Chap ter, a graduate of NA Session 86. Bob and his friends started the Annual Navy tailgate event for the Maryland-Delaware Chapter back in 1976. The family friendly event is a signature event for the chapter and is very well attended every year. Our retired members have so much to offer us, and it is wonderful to see their member engagement. It was great to see so many of our members at the FBINAA Reception held at IACP in Boston. As always, I offer my thanks to our long-standing partner, Justice Federal Credit Union , for their sup port of this annual event. Their support allows our members another opportunity to connect with old friends and to make new friends. Our call for presentations has been announced and we look forward to receiving the many great submissions for training courses. As we prepare for our Annual National Training Confer ence in Baltimore, our training committee will be evaluating those presentations to bring you the high-quality training we have come to expect. Evaluating so many quality submissions is no easy task. Last year we received about 170 submissions that had to be narrowed down to 24 for the conference. I thank our training com mittee in advance for the challenging work ahead of them. Lastly, I spent a week recently in Baltimore for the Section 3 Leadership meeting and for a site visit of the conference hotels and convention center for the 2025 Annual Training Conference. I left Baltimore extremely excited about the 2025 Conference. The Maryland-Delaware Chapter, the National Office Team, and The Eventive Group, are working very hard to provide everyone with a wonderful conference. They have some exciting events planned that I know you will enjoy. I spent some time walking around the Inner Harbor area and found it to be easy to navigate and family friendly. There are many local attractions such as the National Aquarium, Fort McHenry, Fell’s Point, and several museums to name a few. I hope that you will plan to join us in Baltimore.

Stay safe and God bless,

Craig Petersen 2024-2025 FBINAA President NA Session 245

4 FBINAA.ORG | Q4 2024