Greetings! As I commence my two-year term as your Board Chair, I first wish to thank my good friend Jason Elias (now serving as Immediate Past Chair) for his dedication not only to NPA but also to our industry. Strategically, Jason marshaled NPA through a global pandemic, while also always keeping his watchful eye on creating membership value. I would embarrass Jason if I listed his awards and achievements at NPA and in our industry. I will simply say that this network is much better today because of dedicated leaders such as Jason. Thank you mate! You remain an inspiration to us all.
My friends, we are now (I hope) in a place where Covid is moving behind us, and we can all move forward. Unquestionably the geopolitical events in Eastern Europe are regrettable. What is happening in front of our eyes is horrible. I know all NPA members share the hope that all hostilities will soon come to an end.
As I reflect on my almost ten years with NPA, I am amazed how this 65+-year old member- owned network has changed my life. To be brief, just before I joined, I was at a crossroads in my career. My identical twin brother, Dan, (but I am much better looking folks…..) had just left the business to return to industry. After 15+ years in the business, I was bored. I was close to accepting a Senior HR role with U.S. Air Force's Civilian Services. Fortuitously, before almost accepting that role I ran into NPA at a NAPS meeting and joined NPA in December 2012. Then, as a new member with only 3 months in with NPA, I went to the 2013 Las Vegas Global Conference. I came away from that meeting with an information overload, but I was also very impressed with the relationships and split transactional experiences I heard about. More importantly, it was the people that impressed me the most. I said to myself; these people actually really like each other and are truly friends…
Well, I still did some consulting with the Air Force, while getting to know NPA. Lori and I were blessed in 2013 with the first of our seven grandchildren, and I made my first NPA split. Since then I have been like a kid in a candy store doing splits around the world, diversifying my business, reinventing myself, pivoting back into my original legal search competency, while still maintaining my core practice matters in sales recruitment. I could have never done this without the support of so many NPA members and our top-notch professional staff.
As your Chair my mission is simple: don’t break what is working, keep NPA financially strong, recruit new top notch members- while always looking for ways to enhance member value. Along the way we may have a bump or two, but look at 2021, in spite of a global pandemic, it was one of NPA’s finest brokerage performance years.
It is great to see new members doing split transactions soon after joining NPA -keep up the great work! However, I must remind all new members that for some NPA may be an acquired taste. For example, it took this writer almost a year to make a placement. So hang in there and give NPA time to work. The common denominator for success at NPA is to be proactive, not reactive. Get on the network calls, go to meetings. Don’t wait for the phone to ring, pick up the phone!! NPA success is your responsibility.
So in conclusion, I say here is to NPAworldwide: to the wisdom of our 65+ year history and to the promise of the future- Cheers!
Happy Hunting.