Northwest Chapter
(Includes the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming)

So, what's really going on with the Northwest Chapter?

When the Northwest Chapter Board members began planning for 2010, we realized quickly that there was work to be done. We started early, with meetings picking up shortly after National Conference. We identified a number of initiatives and goals in an effort to make the Northwest Chapter of the Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals a thriving chapter within the organization offering valuable networking and educational opportunities for all of its members.

Goal #1 — Membership Reinvigoration

The Northwest Chapter covers a lot of miles. Because of this we are faced with unique challenges in our membership base. We are fortunate to have strong membership in the Seattle and Portland metro areas. But,what about the rest of our states? What's going on out there in Wyoming and Montana? How can we help get our Alaska and Idaho members more involved? What can we offer to bring in new members in the Seattle and Portland areas? And most importantly, how can we encourage current members to get involved?

These are all questions that we asked ourselves and we are working toward solutions. Elaine Bailey is the Membership Committee chairperson and has guided her committee in some exciting efforts.

• We have been reaching out to personally contact companies in Wyoming and Montana where we currently have no members. We have also contacted companies in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska to see if there is more we can do in the states that we have members in.
• We have developed a new way of welcoming members to our chapter by contacting them personally after their new members packet has been delivered.
• We are developing a program to provide networking opportunities to members in all areas of our chapters region.

Goal #2 — Provide Meaningful Educational and Networking Opportunities

This has been a busy year for us already.

• In February we partnered with the Washington Surveying and Rating Bureau (WSRB) to provide a chapter meeting and presentations from the WSRB and Compliance 360. We included a webinar as part of our presentations in order to provide members who were not able to travel to our chapter meeting an opportunity to participate. We also included our national membership in this opportunity.
• We hosted another successful E-day in May. We were again able to partner with the WSRB to provide a full day of presentations for both sectors of our industry, Life & Health and Property & Casualty. Additionally, we had expert presenters from out of state travel in to provide us with the most up-to-date information.
• We have begun planning for a meeting to be held later this summer.
• And of course… who can forget about National Conference? Yes, plans are in the works for another fun filled AICP adventure! The Northwest Chapter Board is busy planning ways for us to represent our chapter and direct some attention our way.

Goal #3 — Website Enhancement

Our Website Committee has been updating our Chapter Website so you find items of interest on an ongoing basis. If you have recently checked the NW Chapter Website, we encourage you to take a look. You will note some nice enhancements:

• Pictures of our Board of Directors and Committee Chairs to give folks a face to go with the name.
• Leadership Corner. Various Board members write an article pertinent to our members and our Chapter. This is our fourth article beginning with an introductory article by our President, Bill Douglas, followed by a report on the January National Board Meeting by our Regional Director, Steve Youngkrantz, and our last article was about Chapter finances by our Treasurer, Doug Pennington.
• Officer Guidelines. Have you ever wondered what each of the Board members is responsible for? We have added our Board Member guidelines. We felt this was an important step in getting information out to members who may be looking to get involved.

We also continue to work toward improving our wiki and the information that it provides.

Goal #4 — Celebrate AICP's 25th Anniversary!

Our Chapter President, Bill Douglas, is leading a national task force to make sure we celebrate this landmark with style. Board members have helped him come up with some great ideas for the Chapter. This year's National Conference will be one filled with honor and nostalgia for those that have been involved in developing the AICP into the organization that it is today.

At a chapter level, we honored some of our longest standing members during our Business Meeting at E-day. We also provided cake for the occasion!

Our Board is working diligently to achieve our goals. We are excited with what we have accomplished and anticipate seeing the breadth of our work continue to grow for years to come. We have a wonderful membership base full of unique and enthusiastic people from a broad geographic region. With time, we hope to see our membership expand and have our chapter viewed by others as an example to follow.