As I continue as President of ISM-CV/Richmond Metro through the 2015-2016 year, I want to thank the membership for entrusting the leadership of this organization to the new Officers and Board of Directors. Please click on the following link to view your new ISM-CV/RM Officers and Board of Directors. We offer a BIG THANKS to Shem Bonner for his many years of service as our Membership Chair as he steps down from this position. We also WELCOME Doug Anderson as he steps into a BOD role for the Chapter this year.

We have a couple of BOD spots remaining open, so if you would like to volunteer to fill one of those seats or volunteer on one of the committees, please send me an email at

The upcoming year will be busy and will offer our membership and local organizations/companies a variety of professional development and networking opportunities. ISM-CV/Richmond Metro Chapter is your “Doorway to ISM”educationalsessions, training and networking opportunities. Let us open that door and escort you along the path to your professional goals!

We have already convened to plan out some very informative and, hopefully useful, topics as well as bringing back a couple of presentations that continue to be relevant over the years. Our topic for the Spring 2016 Conference, scheduled for March 18, 2016 – Save The Date!, will be around Risk Management. Identifying the different types of Risk, such as Financial, Operational, and Procedural, and hopefully a few best practices around mitigating those risks will be presented by those who are faced with risk factors every day and how they mitigate those risk factors. If there is someone within organization who you feel is an expert in one or more of the Risk areas, please send me an email and we will reach out to them.

We are offering a new method of membership meeting for our September meeting, utilizing a webinar offered by ISM National. Please be on the lookout for an email with the details on how to register for that webinar! We ask for your feedback on this method of training after you attend the session.

Richmond Metro Chapter is teaming up with the Carolinas/Virginia affiliate in promoting the Emerging Professionals Group within our area. Our outreach to VCU’s Supply Chain and Analytics department will bring focus on the future Supply Chain leaders. If you or your company would like to mentor a student, please let us know. We have also been in touch with Ajilon (who has a new division dedicated to Supply Chain Professionals) to be a resource for them and for our membership when the local companies are looking for Supply Chain professionals. Again, if your company is looking for SC professionals, let us know and we will put them in touch with the Ajilon group.

If you are looking for the next step in your SC career, ISM-CV/Richmond Metro is your “Doorway to ISM” certification review classes for CPSM and CPSD. We are looking to form study groups for each certification, so let us know if you are interested in joining a study group or if your organization would like us to schedule a Review Class for any of the certification modules.

See – our year is full of opportunities! Join us each month for our professional development and membership meetings and to network with your fellow Supply Chain professionals! Our list of topics for the meetings is listed on our ISM-CV/Richmond Metro home page.

We look forward to seeing you at our meetings.