Robert N. Waremburg, NIGP-CPP, CPPO, Senior Director, Procurement Services, Orange County Schools.  Robert will be retiring in January, 2023.

Tammy Caraker, SFO, Senior Director, Federal, State and Competitive Grants, Collier County Public Schools, Naples, FL, has earned the Certified Administrator of School Finance and Operations® (SFO®). School business professionals who earn the SFO certification have proven that they have the required knowledge, expertise, and fiscal credibility to lead their school district and effectively manage the district’s finances. 

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus provides us with the timeless concept that, “change is the only constant in life”, and for 2022 it seems perfectly apt at describing our landscape. This calendar year was defined by a global sense of optimism as much of the world returned to a more normal post-COVID economy. However, this optimism was slowly moderated due to a growing sense of uncertainty. Interestingly, what used to be a shared, global battle (COVID) has instead morphed into more idiosyncratic confrontations, with unique struggles for individual countries ranging from inflation, labor markets, and interest rates, to outright military conflict in the case of Ukraine and Russia. These concerns will take time to remedy, and each country will likely move at its own speed given unique tools and policy provisions available to help combat these issues. Although important in their own regard, the most critical variable is inflation.