Schedule of Upcoming Chapter Events
Please See the complete CALENDAR of EVENTS that follows this News Section. Includes details on upcoming Dinner Meetings and Board Meeting schedule.
Board meetings: 02/20/08, 4/23/08, 6/4/08
Dinner Meetings: 01/23/08, 3/19/08, 5/21/08
Next Event - Dinner Meeting Jan 23, 2008 Organizers: Shelagh Ashe, Paul Austin
Location: Little Inn, Johnston, RI
Speaker:James Steel, Chief Commodities Analyst, HSBC Bank USA Topic: Trends in the Gold Market
Time: 5:30 Cocktails, Appetizers & Registration. 6:30 PM Dinner & Program
Cost: $40 for IPMI Members, IPMI Sponsors and Associate Members. $45 for unaffiliated non-members
See IPMI Home Page for more information and invitation
NE Chapter Annual Report 2007
The New England Chapter reports that it continues to maintain a strong and active membership base and remains financially solvent. We currently have 101 paid members and supporters. Additionally we have 27 corporate Special Sponsors, including 4 new ones. Much of our Chapters success comes from having a strong and active Board. The board extends its gratitude for the ongoing support of our special sponsors, individual members and supporters. Their generosity contributed to another successful season.
This past 2006-2007 program year we once again provided a diverse group of speakers and interesting topics. Our fall meeting, traditionally hosted jointly with the Womens Jewelry Association, presented Anna Martin of ABN AMROs International Diamond & Jewelry Group speaking about the evolution of financial products and services in the jewelry industry. The winter meeting featured Steve Crogan and William Walker, agents of DHS Immigration & Customs Enforcement, and their overview of Operation Cornerstone - a cooperative AML initiative. Our spring speaker, Kent W. Gladding of Citizens Investment Management Services, provided an economic overview and 2007 market outlook providing context to operate within the national and global economies.
Our May meeting doubles as both our annual business meeting and our Annual Jewelry Design Competition Awards night. Three of the four Board members whose terms expired were reelected. Additionally, Paul Austin, Linda Kenerson and Chris Sicard were newly elected to the Board. The chapter expressed its thanks to two members retiring from the Board Bob Arcand and Carlos Mariscal. Both served IPMI New England in various capacities for more than twenty years! Bob, the chapters archivist and historian, was a multiple term president and Carlos was a fixture as Treasurer. Well miss these two dedicated individuals.
Attendees to our 17th Annual Jewelry Design Competition & Awards had the opportunity to meet participating students and professors and to understand the truly positive impact our program has upon them. The jewelry auction affords bidders an opportunity to acquire unique, one of a kind pieces by budding artisans. We auctioned off the top four pieces and we were able to raise over $2500 for the jewelry. The money raised helps keep the program at least partially self-funding. The students attending get an opportunity to receive awards, speak about their creations and watch their pieces go to the highest bidders. We awarded a total of $3050 to eight students with the top five entries also receiving plaques: the LaFazia Memorial Award, the IPMI Presidents Award (sponsored by National), two IPMI New England Chapter Awards and the Award for Technical Merit. Three different colleges had award winners and last years Presidents Award recipient became another multiple winner with an honorable mention. Kudos to the Jewelry Design Committee, chaired by Donna Kiesel, to the students who participate, to the professors who help maintain the quality of the entries over the years, and to the judges who again had difficult choices to make in the competition.
We continued to develop and expand the scope of the Jewelry Design Awards Programs. Last year we added an award for technical merit. This year, in addition to increasing the awards to students, we initiated a program to directly grant a qualifying institutional program. Congratulations to UMASS Dartmouth and their graduate student assistant (who coincidentally also garnered the Award for Technical Merit this year).
The Chapter appreciates the continued generous financial and logistical support it receives from National IPMI. More importantly, it provided the encouragement for our chapters initiative to expand the Awards program further benefiting the institutions, programs and students. This year our chapter awarded more than $6,000 in prizes and grants - more than triple the awards made as recently as 2003!
At our first Board meeting of the 2007 2008 season in June officers will be elected, committees formed, dinner and board meetings scheduled, and responsibilities for speakers and venues assigned. In keeping with the Organizations charter we will continue to present educational programs to our respective members. We invite anyone interested to become members, supporters or sponsors of the Chapter.
Respectfully submitted by:
John H. King, President IPMI New England Chapter
NE Chapter Board Openings
Interested in Participating in your Local Chapter? Please consider joining the Board. Elections are held at the Annual Meeting in May. Service is for a two year period.
Contact a Board Member with questions or to express your interest.
NE Chapter Report - June 2006
IPMI New England Chapter Report June 2006
The New England Chapter reports that it continues to maintain a strong and active membership base and remains financially solvent. We currently have 113 paid members and supporters. In addition we have 23 corporate Special Sponsors. The four dinner meetings we had during the year were well attended with an average of over 50 people at each of the meetings. Much of our Chapters success comes from having a strong and active Board.
Our 2005 2006 year of programs began in October with our traditional joint meeting with the Women in Jewelry- New England Chapter. This was actually a half-day seminar discussing the final rules on the new AML laws. The seminar was chaired by John Bullock who assembled a strong group of speakers from both private business and governmental agencies. A dinner meeting followed the seminar at which time John gave additional insights about AML.
The speaker at our January meeting was Sheila Sawyer, a partner at the law firm of Foley Hoag. She opened quite a few eyes as to the personal liabilities of Corporate Officers and managers in government investigations and reviewed risks, indemnification issues, and defense strategies. Jeff Christian from the CPM Group reviewed the causes of the recent volatility in the precious metals markets at our March meeting and tried to give his best prediction as to where the prices were heading.
Our business meeting in May doubles as both our annual business meeting and our Annual Jewelry Design Competition Awards night. This was our 23rd Annual Meeting and three of the four Board members whose terms had expired stood for reelection unopposed, and John Schmitt was elected to the Board for the first time.
We awarded a total of $1800 to six students with the top three entries also receiving plaques: the LaFazia Memorial Award, the IPMI Presidents Award (sponsored by National), and the IPMI New England Chapter Award. We had award winners from three different colleges and the first place winner had received an honorable mention two years ago. The Jewelry Design Committee, chaired by Donna Keisel, would like to offer thanks to the students who participate, to the professors who help maintain the quality of the entries over the years, and to the judges who again had difficult choices to make in the competition.
We once again auctioned off the top three pieces and we were able to raise over $1300 for the jewelry. The money raised helps keep the program at least partially self-funding, and the students who are there to receive their awards get a chance to watch their creations go to the highest bidders.
We continue to appreciate the support that the Chapter receives from National and would like to strengthen this interaction. In keeping with the Organizations charter we will continue to present educational programs to our respective members.
We have our first Board meeting of the 2006 2007 season in June and at that time the officers will be elected, committees formed, dinner and board meetings scheduled, and responsibilities for speakers and venues assigned. We will be posting this information on the website shortly after the meeting and would invite anyone interested to attend any of our functions or to become members of the Chapter.
Respectfully submitted by:
Bob Arcand, President IPMI New England Chapter
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