Message from Chris Faust
President, NJ/IABC

Hi Fellow NJ/IABC Member,

Now that the official torch has been passed, following is the first of many informal “Messages from the President” you can expect to receive throughout the year. The purpose of these emails is to inform, educate, advocate and/or call for participation.

First, a special thanks to my predecessor, Rich Ecke of Berry Ecke Associates, the entire NJ/IABC Board and our many volunteers. Thanks for your continual leadership and taking precious time out of your personal and professional lives to help advance the organization. One of the major accomplishments of 2006 was the establishment of NJ/IABC’s first Student Chapter under the guidance of University Relations Board Director, Gary Radford, Ph.D., and Student Chapter President, Alexis Piekarsky. Alexis was appropriately honored at our recent IRIS Awards dinner and again at IABC’s national Leadership Institute for spearheading this incredible achievement.

And speaking of the recent IRIS Awards dinner, the event proved to be the association’s best to date with over 140 attendees. Congratulations again to all the Award of Excellence and Award of Merit Winners as well as the Best in Show Winners. We also recognized NJ’s Communicator of the Year, Peter W. Thonis. As Chief Communications Officer for Verizon Communications, Inc., a Dow 30 company, Peter was the architect of all internal and external communications for the successful purchase and integration of MCI Communications within Verizon throughout 2005 and 2006. Today, Verizon Business – the unit formed at the close of the MCI sale – has achieved all its merger integration targets, garnered favorable press coverage and is on track to produce incremental revenue growth to the business.

In the coming weeks, look for a brief, online member survey, NJ/IABC press announcements and an early calendar of events and programs for the year. We also plan to revitalize, NJ/IABC’s Blog, Connect. If you would like to be a regular, contributing blogger or event infrequent guest blogger in Connect, please send an email to cfaust@fast-lane.net and we’ll send you a username, password and instructions on how to begin posting immediately. We also wanted to point out IABC recently unveiled the Advocacy Commons, a new website designed to open a dialogue with IABC members and colleagues on the topic of Advocacy for and by IABC. To visit, go to http://commons.iabc.com/advocacy/.

Again, look for more updates and developments throughout the year. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to contact me or any of our Board members with any questions, feedback or ways to get more involved in the association.

Best Regards,

Chris Faust
President, NJ/IABC