Suzie Gehrig, FHFMA, CPA 2011/2012 Chapter President McMahon-Illini Chapter of HFMA
Greetings and Happy Spring to everyone! To all of you on the Board of Directors and committees that have helped make my president year a success, I say a heartfelt thank you. We had our spring meeting in uptown Normal at the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center. It was a beautiful facility. Our program committee did an outstanding job of securing very good speakers discussing timely and relevant topics. I know our meeting conflicted with other HFMA meetings but attendance was good. We had our “Dinner on the Chapter” at the Pub II, and as always, was an excellent networking opportunity.
I would like to take this time to thank our Corporate Sponsors for their generous support that allows McMahan-Illini to provide quality educational programs and networking events. Our sponsorship committee had done a fantastic job in the last few years of economic stress in securing our chapter with sponsorship funds. We are thankful for their support.
I would also like to thank all of the volunteers that commit their time and talent to better our organization. Our chapter prides ourselves on being a professional resource to the healthcare industry. Attending HFMA meetings, whether local or nationally, gives you the opportunity to network with fellow professionals to gain insight and knowledge on the ever present challenges of healthcare reform. I encourage you to consider attending ANI in Las Vegas in June this year. HFMA national has some awesome programs and key note speakers lined up.
In closing, I encourage everyone to “Believe to Achieve”, both in their professional and personal life. Believe to Achieve is this years’ national theme, and a personal favorite of mine. I believe it is important to believe in yourself, believe in each other, and believe in your profession. We all face challenges in life but it is certainly helpful to have the support and encouragement of friends and colleagues. I hope you all enjoy your summer and look forward to continuing as your Communications Committee Chair. We will be having our program kick-off committee program meeting in June or July, hope to see a lot of you there. Good luck to the incoming Executive Committee, your leadership for next year. Penny Cermak as President, Rachelle Sauls as President Elect, Connie Ziegler as Vice President, David Bittner as Treasurer and Veronica Modricker as Secretary.
Suzie Gehrig
2011/2012 Chapter President
McMahon-Illini Chapter of HFMA
