ONE OF THE MOST VALUABLE yet overlooked aspects of leadership is the value of listening. With that in mind, CFA Society Toronto conducted a member survey this spring to get a sense of what the membership wanted, so that we can continue providing meaningful member value and increased and improved engagement with members. Thank you to all of you who took the time to complete the survey and provide us with your thoughtful feedback.

While we are still analyzing the results, we will be implementing some initiatives over the shorter term. This includes focusing on fewer, higher-profile events and speakers on timely topics such as the democratization of private market investing and the intersection of artificial intelligence with asset and wealth management, among others. Members also wanted more customized communications based on their interests and desired frequency of contact. This item, in particular, is at the core of our digital marketing strategy, which is designed to reach members and key stakeholders with engaging content based on an ongoing analysis of their personal preferences.

Members also wanted us to provide a variety of programming formats, including roundtables of topics that are of interest to their specific cohort of experience and industry. We will continue to strive to listen to you and implement initiatives that further increase the community sprit of CFA Society Toronto.

We are also working very closely with our stakeholders, particularly employers, to collectively encourage more women to pursue their CFA designation and, more broadly, championing the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within our industry. While much has been done recently, we have room for improvement to ensure our industry reflects the diversity of the Greater Toronto Area.

This month, I will have the privilege of representing CFA Society Toronto at the Americas Regional Society Leadership Conference in Seattle. It will be a tremendous opportunity to learn best practices from our peers in the other global financial centres, such as New York, London, and Boston, among others, as we have similar opportunities and issues facing our respective memberships. By collaborating closely with them and our colleagues at CFA Institute, we can leverage our collective efforts to elevate the value of the charter across both the global and local investment and financial services communities. I look forward to sharing important developments in this regard in the future. Until then, thanks so much for your support, feedback, and engagement with CFA Society Toronto.