Thank You For Allowing Me To Be Your President

What. A. Year. Twelve months ago I was a professor, living in Pflugerville, about to take over as president of AWC Austin. Today, I’m a corporate communications manager, living in Wimberley, finishing my term as president of WCA. I joke the only thing that remained constant in my life this year was my husband.

That’s not entirely true. The support and friendship of the members of this organization, no matter whether the name is WIC, AWC or WCA, is always there. Last spring during the board nominating process, Rachel Jordan Shuss, our 2009-10 president, told me, “Don’t worry, I’ve got your back.” It’s hard to understand exactly what that means until you go through the tough decisions the board had to make this year and you realize that past presidents and current members supported our actions and had our backs.

I am looking forward to seeing our organization grow and develop in the next few years. As an independent, unaffiliated organization, we can now do things we were unable to do in the past. I know the 2013-14 WCA board, under the leadership of Susan Jahns Moore, will take the organization to the next level.

One of the things I’m most looking forward to this year as past president is heading a committee on the progress of women. This is something our organization used to do, and with the change, we decided to bring it back. Quite simply, this committee will develop WCA programs looking at the role of women in the workplace and society. After all, we are WOMEN Communicators of Austin, a key differentiator from other communications organizations in town.

As I wind up year, I want to say a big thank you to the WCA board. This group of ladies chose to take a hard road this year to move our organization in the direction it needed to go. While we’ve had challenges this year, we also had successes, including our 40^th Anniversary Banner Brunch, which set attendance records, and some long-time members and past leaders who rejoined WCA because of our change. I was very blessed to have worked with a great group of women and to lead an organization with such amazing members. Thank you for allowing me to serve you this year.

Dara