THEY SAY THAT TIME FLIES WHEN YOU’RE HAVING FUN, and this year CFA Society Toronto had a lot going on in the midst of the fun. This is my last letter as President of CFA Society Toronto, and it seems like just yesterday that we were welcoming new charterholders, new board members, and introducing our new CEO, Sue Lemon. We pioneered the use of audience response devices at the Annual Forecast Dinner, and we took our first steps towards defining our Future of Finance initiative for local needs.

I would like to extend my appreciation to our dedicated staff, my fellow board members, and our myriad volunteers who collectively dedicate so many hours of their time to making CFA Society Toronto an organization of which we can all be proud. This year marked a high standard in the quality of our programming, including such popular special events as the Professional Development Day, the Annual Pension Conference, the Inaugural Press Awards, and the Wealth Management Conference.

Our new CEO, Sue Lemon, has hit the ground running. You will be hearing a lot more from her in the months ahead as she becomes more actively involved in our many events and provides us with strategic leadership in many of our key undertakings. We continue our outreach to media and academic partners, and we will be reaching out to new connections in our relationships with key employers to further our mutual understanding of their needs and our capabilities in the months ahead.

The Future of Finance initiative is being integrated into many of our conferences and programs this spring. This initiative, led by CFA Institute globally, commenced with the rollout of the Statement of Investor Rights and the Principles for Investment Reporting. Overall, this initiative will ultimately touch on six areas of interest: financial knowledge, putting investors first, regulation and enforcement, retirement security, safeguarding the system, and transparency and fairness. Stay tuned as we continue to build these themes into our events.

Spring was long overdue this year. We look forward to welcoming a new cohort of successful charterholders after the June exam and hope that many of them will become active participants in the industry and our profession. I look forward to the “lazy days” of summer and the continued success of CFA Society Toronto as I pass the baton to fresh eager hands.