Letter from the President, Susan Schmidt:

As I assume this year's WIIT Presidency, I briefly would like to share my thoughts on what I hope to accomplish in the coming year. Last year as I listened to Nicole's thoughtful and focused remarks on her objectives for her term as WIIT President, my thought was that I needed to begin making my notes for tonight then. I did not, but during this year as President-Elect, in the back of my mind was what I would like to talk about tonight.

During the year, I realized that I would not want or need to suggest major shifts in WIIT's direction. Nicole Bivens Collinson, Angela Hofmann before her, and WIIT's other past Presidents, including June DeHart, a colleague of mine who is here tonight, and WIIT's first President 20 years ago, Julia Hughes, who is seated at our head table, have made WIIT a valuable substantive and professional development resource as well as an effective and collegial organization.

Thus, my objectives really are rather simple and straight-forward: (1) to build upon the good work that has gone before me; (2) to strengthen our organization; and (3) to enhance WIIT's value to all of you - our members and future members - through events and opportunities to participate that make WIIT a respected professional organization in Washington and beyond. And, hopefully, to have fun in the process.

What first attracted me to WIIT, and probably many of you, is our substantive programs and events. With the continuing guidance of our VP for Programs, Catherine Robinson, and a group of experienced and new committee co-chairs, WIIT will continue to offer quality, timely and interesting programs on a range of substantive trade topics. I encourage all of our members to suggest program topics and events, as well as become involved with those events, to keep our programs relevant to our membership.

Equally important are WIIT's professional development activities. Many organizations focus either on people starting out in their careers or on more "seasoned professionals." WIIT always has brought those together, and this past year was no exception. As we have heard, we had an excellent professional development series under the guidance of Loretta Schmitzer, our VP for Professional Development, and Loretta and her team are already thinking about the year ahead.

This year, I would like to reach out to our more experienced members who, when asked, always have given back to WIIT. We need to continue to tap their talents and experiences, and to provide opportunities for them to respond. So, for those members, expect to hear from our professional development and substantive program committees, and others.

Another focus I would like to pursue is to continue to build and strengthen the WIIT brand, both expanding WIIT's name recognition and providing members with even more opportunities. This past year we renewed relationships with other DC organizations and teamed with them on programs, including Women in Government Relations, the American Bar Association and the DC Bar association. Looking forward, we want to continue to work with them as well as other organizations, such as the Women's Bar Association and WITA.

We will strengthen new relationships begun this year with area universities, including the new GW Center for International Business Education & Research (CIBER). Last year, we co-sponsored a career panel on which three of the five featured speakers were WIIT members and we now are exploring how to work together on a national Speaker's Bureau to give WIIT members at all points in their careers a chance to gain that experience and exposure. Georgetown University' Career Development Center has participated in WIIT events and likewise is interested in working with us.

The website of the Organization of Women in International Trade, now almost up after several years of development, is another tool for WIIT-DC, the largest chapter in the international OWIT organization, us to use and to help build awareness about all of the things that WIIT-DC does for its members and in the community, both directly and through the WIIT Trust.

My challenge to myself for the year, in addition to continuing the good work and efforts of my predecessors, is to encourage participation from all of our members to make WIIT even stronger and more responsive to its members. One year from now, I would like to be able to say that the trade community knows even more about WIIT and that our members, who include both women and men interested in international trade, know that WIIT is responsive to their interests, encourages their participation and values their participation.

We all have busy lives with competing demands - and an all-volunteer organization such as WIIT is yet another commitment. But like many of you, I have found that I get more when I contribute more. I hope that during this year we can increase your interest in WIIT and encourage strong participation from all of our members - and have some fun in the process.

Thank you for attending our Annual Meeting and this Annual Event, again thanks to the volunteers who made this event possible, and I look forward to working with Tonya Kemp, WIIT's President-Elect and all of you in the coming year.

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