Posted by Jason Elias on Dec 17, 2021
This is the final Chairman's Corner for the Year. The Year  2021 has been a mixed year—with the global pandemic on one hand, yet a very busy and mostly successful year for recruiters. The network has performed well and there have been loads of splits and job board placements. We also have a record amount of funds in reserves and an exciting new sharing tool to replace Matchmaker.

After 21 years of recruiting, one of my favourite parts of the job is ringing up candidates to let them know they have the job.

Similarly, one of the best parts of being the Chairman of NPAworldwide is to deliver the good news to the winner of the Chairman's Award. The Chairman's Award is the highest honour in our network and goes to an NPA owner, manager, recruiter, or staff member, whose contributions and service to NPA represent a substantial and lasting benefit. Ironically, it is decided by the Board of Directors and the Chairman is only involved if there is a tie (which there wasn't). The field this year was of a particularly high calibre and any one of the finalists would have been a deserving winner.

This year was a particular thrill to be able to make that call to a good friend of mine and many in the network. Congratulations to Laura Schmieder from Premier Placement in Allentown, Pennsylvania who is the Chairman's Award winner for 2022.

Laura's many achievements include:

  • Almost Double Platinum status (Only 15 people have achieved this level)
  • Since 2007 (14 years), Laura has made 115 split placements, over 9 a year
  • Laura served two terms on the board of directors, 2006-2010 and 2015-2020 (9 years)
  • She has led and volunteered for many practice group sessions at various meetings
Please join me in congratulating Laura on this well-deserved honor! I look forward to presenting the award to her in Fort Worth as part of our Global Conference, and I hope to see many of you there celebrating as well.