Positive Changes for a new Decade
From the Desk of Rhonda Amtower – WMA National President
In light of the current COVID-19 Pandemic, we are facing challenges in all facets of our lives. At times such as these, we must take care of ourselves, our families as well as continue to focus on the conduct of business of our Association.
Within WMA, the uncertainties that surround us have led to serious considerations regarding the 2020 Convention as well as the very future of our Association. Given the overall health risk and travel restrictions the pandemic poses to our members, we made the decision to cancel the 2020 Biennial Convention in Omaha. A decision not taken lightly, but one that best supports the welfare of our members and our Association. Even though we cannot meet in Omaha “in person”, we can still meet, “virtually”, to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of our Association. See the front-page article for more details.
This year only we will have a new new experience of working to bring you some of the events through a variety of avenues.
Know that the National Board of Directors continues to focus on the conduct of WMA business on your behalf. Following the Board’s recommendations at the 2019 Interim Board Meeting (IBM) to address the Way Forward for WMA, we teamed up with Courtney Lynch, a Marine and principal at Lead Star, a consulting firm, to support WMA in improving our current operations and to develop future strategy. As a result and with Board approval, we established a Working Group (WG) composed of members with diverse backgrounds, age, and a spectrum of Marine Corps and WMA experience.
The WG found that WMA has tremendous potential to meet the needs of and to provide support to females who have earned the title Marine, but also that the organization has become bureaucratic and lacks strategic focus. WMA needs to be more agile and relevant to today’s needs while continuing to value our heritage and history.
We need to continue to honor our past while striving for excellence for the future. We must strive to achieve our vision to transform WMA so that it becomes a thriving organization for female Marines (past, present, and future) looking for camaraderie, mentorship, support and the opportunity to continue to have a positive impact.
The WG key proposals to streamline and modernize our Board for more efficient and effective operations are of immediate interest and importance to our members. Although the WG is currently exploring a new Board structure and governance for our way ahead, the proposed structure/positions have not been refined at this time. The WG will work to define what a new Governing Board should look like and will present these ideas to the current Board and to the membership at large with a recommendation for a follow on nomination and election process for these newly defined positions.
In light of the ongoing 2020-2022 election cycle and based on the results of the recent Nomination process, we found we had no contested positions along with six for which we had no nominations at all. To enable WMA to continue the conduct of business we will publish a slate of officers for an “Interim Board” to serve between September (original date of convention and end of the term of office of the current Board) and elections for the newly defined Governing Board mentioned above. We will continue to keep you informed on developments as we move forward.
I look forward to working with all WMA members to meet the challenges and promote the many positive changes coming our way. We commemorate the 60th Anniversary of our Association with thoughts of our founders down to the newest members. We are together in our love of WMA and the Corps.
Semper Fidelis,
Rhonda Amtower
WMA National President