Howard Pressman, CFP®
President’s Message
Wow, I can hardly believe this is my last President’s
Letter. The year has gone by so quickly, I can hardly believe it. Someone
recently explained to me that the older you get, the faster the years go by. As
I sit here massaging my sore knees and grousing about time’s rapid pace, it all
seems to make sense. Speed aside, this has been a truly wonderful year and the
honor of leading our chapter will certainly be among the highlights of my
career. I’ve met so many new people and talked to so many talented planners.
There were so many great moments this year, but my favorites include hosting
the Symposium in my Capitals jersey after their Stanley Cup victory the night
before, joining fellow chapter leaders in Arizona for the Alliance Forum
meeting, Metro Washington Financial Planning Day and addressing the student FPA
chapter at Virginia Tech
As I entered the year, all bright eyed and bushy
tailed, I had so many ideas for our chapter. But reality soon set in and I
opted focus on two key initiatives that, in my opinion, will help to usher our
chapter into the future. The new technology sponsorship package was designed to
recognize the unique needs of this fast-growing segment of the financial
services industry. We had our first tech sponsor this year, and I am confident
this option will only grow. This year we also tested the technology to
simulcast our chapter meeting to two locations. In efforts to reduce the amount
of time required to attend monthly meetings, we aim to have a meeting location
on each side of the river. Stay tuned for more information about this exciting
initiative. In addition to these, while
many chapters saw membership declines this year, our chapter enjoyed a slight
increase in members.
Looking beyond 2018, there is much that is uncertain.
FPA National recently unveiled their OneFPA Network initiative which promises
many changes to our association. For starters, chapters will no longer be
independent legal entities, as they will be wrapped into the National FPA
entity. Peggy Nelson will become an employee of FPA National and all chapter
reserves will be turned over. According to the plans unveiled, local chapters
will continue much as they have, with local leadership in charge, and we’ve been
assured that we will have control over our budget. To be honest, I’m not
certain how I feel about these changes. Primarily, my concerns center around
the communication of these changes and the rapid pace at which National would
like to dissolve the legal chapter entities. With many details left to be
determined by new committees that have yet to be formed, I feel it will be a
challenge to have sufficient details by the fourth quarter of 2019, when
National hopes to move from 89 individual entities to only one. Moreover, I am
having some difficulty in seeing how the chapter system stood as an obstacle to
FPA’s broader goals as outlined in the OneFPA Network plan. The FPA NCA Board
is reaching out to FPA National to have a conversation and to better understand
how these changes will affect us. I encourage you, if you’ve not already done
so, to visit the OneFPANetwork.org website to learn more about these changes.
2019 will certainly be an interesting year for our
association and will require strong leadership. I’ve had the pleasure of
working on the Board with Chris Rivers for many years now and have tremendous
confidence in him and the rest of our Board. These are the right people to make
our chapter stronger than ever and to manage this transition.
I thank you all for the support, encouragement, advice
and inspiration you’ve given me over the year. You are the ones who make our
chapter the vibrant and exciting community it is. Being President has been an
amazing experience I will remember forever. Thank you and Happy Holidays!
All the best,
Howard
Howard Pressman, CFP®
2018 FPA NCA President
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