AWLN President's Message - February

Dear Friends of AWLN,

Last month marked the beginning of a new year, the next decade of the new millennium, and AWLN’s sixth year. Next weekend, many of us will be celebrating the Year of the Tiger with family and friends. The AWLN Board of Directors wishes you a very happy new year and may you take many steps toward fulfilling your potential.

I’d like to take this opportunity to update you on the latest developments at AWLN. Annually we elect officers to a one-year term and elect or re-elect directors to three-year terms. I’m pleased to inform you that the board has re-elected me as President, Janice Won as Executive Vice President and Iris Chau as Treasurer/Financial Officer and Secretary.

Linda Akutagawa, Linda Tan, Judith Bess and Lily Li were re-elected to head Professional Development and Events; Membership; and Marketing and Communications, respectively. Susan Chu, Linda Tan, and Sunita Chaudhuri were re-elected as directors. Phoebe Eng, Xueyan Feng, Jane J.K. Hyun, Charmaine Russo and Lily Tang remain directors.

We accepted the resignation from our board of Susan Farrell, who was instrumental in initiating and publishing our newsletter. We thank Susan for her many contributions to AWLN and wish her well as she pursues her doctorate.

At our annual Board of Directors strategic retreat last month, we reviewed our vision, mission and shared values at AWLN. Participants engaged in feisty, frank discussions, and we left the forum feeling it was productive in helping us clarify our goals, initiatives and tactics, not only in this current year but in future decades.

Bottom line: We exist to serve you, our membership, for whom we organize events, mentors and networking opportunities and from whom we welcome feedback, constructive criticism and suggestions for programming. AWLN is mindful that the L in our acronym stands for leadership, a subject that concerns many of you, and that career development is front and center among your interests. Feel free to drop us a line (communications@awln.org) about what you’d like to see AWLN undertake.

Please check out our Web site (www.alwn.org) for more details on our 2010 Board of Directors or to learn about AWLN’s mission and goals.

For those who celebrate the Lunar New Year: Gong Xi Fa Cai, Saehae bok mani badu sae-yo, Happy New Year 4708, Losar, Tết Nguyên Đán and Tsagaan Sar!

Meow Yee
President, AWLN