I would like to thank you for the opportunity and honor of being the Houston Chapter’s President for 2010.  I would also like to thank you for choosing the Appraisal Institute as your professional appraisal organization.  We have an exciting and busy year planned for 2010. 

The “2010 Passport to Success” is the result of our member participation and brainstorming and the board of director’s desire to serve our members.  Thank you to our committee members and our board of directors who worked hard to ensure that this serves all of our members. 

The Houston Chapter is known to be one of the best education providers in the country.  The “2010 Passport to Success” and the significant benefits provided herein are possible due to the years of hard work and success that the Houston Chapter has achieved through profitable education offerings.  We are fortunate to be able to give back to our members this year and to help our associates on their path to designation.  Inside you will find our 2010 calendar and course schedule, as well as the opportunity to take advantage of several free and significantly subsidized courses, designation requirements (such as the E-Demo, Comprehensive Exam Review and the Comprehensive Examination), webinars, and even a free business meeting luncheon.  This year we are offering over 35 courses and seminars.  There is information on each offering or discount in the passport regarding the required reservation date and any restrictions.

The Appraisal Institute was organized in 1932 and the Houston Chapter was founded in 1944.  Our chapter has made a lot of progress over the past few years.  However, as with any established organization, today we face significant challenges such as member attrition, the economy, the aging of our members, getting our members involved, serving our members and recruiting new members.  Our organization needs to designate qualified individuals in order to maintain its leadership role in the valuation industry.  Unfortunately, we are not designating enough people locally and nationally, and many of our associates face numerous obstacles to becoming designated.  The “2010 Passport to Success” shows how committed our chapter is to helping our associates obtain their designation.

My goal for our chapter for 2010 is best explained by the letters “C.O.D.” - Communicate, Outreach and Designate.  We are updating our membership information to make sure that we can communicate timely and effectively with all of our members.  We want you to come to our events this year.  You will receive calls from our committee members and board of directors to invite and encourage you to attend our meetings, courses and social/networking events.  We will do our best to keep you informed about our events this year as well as our advocacy for you.  There are five business meetings planned for 2010.  You will not want to miss our first speaker, the national president of the Appraisal Institute, Leslie Sellers, MAI, SRA, on Tuesday, February 16^th.  He will provide us with an update on the state of our organization and what the Appraisal Institute is doing for you.