Taking a Look Back on an Eventful Year

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope." I think we can all agree 2020 has been a year riddled with disappointments that none of us will soon forget. We have all faced unremitting challenges, both personally and professionally, that have tested us in ways we never could have imagined just 10 short months ago. But with adversity comes opportunity, and MPIGNY is grateful for the many opportunities we have had to serve our membership this year. Despite everything, we embrace hope and a positive outlook for brighter days ahead.

Before we look forward to 2021, it is important for MPIGNY to reflect on all that we have accomplished this year. At our annual Town Hall in February, we laid out a plan for our chapter in the coming year. Well, much of that went right out the window a few short weeks later! Still, our 18-member board of directors stayed the course and continued to be laser-focused on providing an exemplary experience for our membership as we moved to a fully virtual platform in March. In April, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we created the MPIGNY Community Support Fund to provide our members with financial assistance for day-to-day living expenses such as housing, health care and groceries. Over the summer, we announced the creation of the MPIGNY Diversity & Inclusion Committee that has been embraced wholeheartedly by our membership. (More details to come on this in the coming weeks.) We created a new series of events called the MPIGNY Grub Club where members were invited to connect with like-minded industry colleagues to discuss the current state (and future) of our industry, and we continued to stay focused on providing engaging ways to virtually network (and have some fun) with our peers, colleagues and friends. We expanded our CSR commitments with additional fundraising and volunteer opportunities, while also embracing increased collaboration with other MPI chapters and industry associations. There truly is strength in numbers when facing adversity, and we are proud of the programs we created as a result of these partnerships. The education team’s continued efforts to focus on timely content that will benefit our membership produced several outstanding events that I hope many of you have been able to appreciate. Lastly, we made a concerted effort to elevate our marketing and communications this year, including an enhanced presence on social media and several modifications to our internal operations in order to improve your overall MPIGNY experience.  

These are still unquestionably trying times, and it is the responsibility of our board of directors to help ease the burden while providing relevant opportunities for your respective professional development. I would also like to say thank you to so many of you who have continued to stay engaged and participate in our events this year. You are the lifeblood of our organization, and we are indebted to all of you for your continued commitment to this chapter. The industry is saturated with so much virtual content right now that it is not lost on us how fortunate we are to have consistently so many members supporting our chapter. We are well on our way to planning out the first six months of 2021 and could not be more excited for what the future holds!

Finally, with regard to officially closing out the year, we will do so with another collaborative effort alongside our friends at the New York chapters of HSMAI, ILEA and PCMA. While we certainly wish that we could hold our annual Holiday Party in person, we are still excited to do so virtually next Wednesday, Dec. 9. This event has really become a tradition for so many of us over the years, and we are excited to host one last virtual bash to close out the year. Please see below for details and a link to register.

Well, that is a wrap on 2020. Good riddance, right? I hope all of you have the opportunity to join us next week as we close out the year and look ahead to 2021. 

And, if you are not yet following us on social media, please be sure to do so as our marketing and communications team is doing a fabulous job keeping our followers up to date on all things MPIGNY as well as a variety of important industry topics. 

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Wishing you and your families a safe and healthy holiday season!

Best,

Patrick Colomer
MPIGNY President
patrick.colomer1@gmail.com