THANK YOU TO EVERYONE who made my first year as CEO of CFA Society Toronto incredibly fulfilling and rewarding. Through many stakeholder discussions, a clear picture emerged of what you would like us to do and your definition of member value.

With over 11,000 members, we have a diverse group of investment and financial industry professionals. While there are many segments within our organization, perhaps one of the most relevant is membership tenure. By looking at this specific variable and digging deeper into the results of our spring member survey, the following conclusions were evident:

• Newer members (less than five years) place a greater emphasis on networking/social opportunities and professional/career development
• Longer-term members want to see more industry-relevant programming tailored to their cohort, ideally featuring higher profile speakers

While these conclusions are not necessarily unique, in consultation with our Programming Board Directors and Chairs, our team will look to implement a couple of “quick wins” to address these needs. They are as follows:

1. Where possible, include a networking component at the beginning or end of each of our in-person events. We will also continue to hold our monthly coffee get-togethers in our office and encourage both newer and longer-term members to attend.
2. In collaboration with our Programming Committees, hold targeted roundtable events and sessions featuring forward-looking strategic content with higher-profile facilitators or speakers. These sessions would be uniquely tailored for specific member cohorts and segments.

Please watch out for these sessions and continue to provide our team with your valuable feedback.

As we embark on a new year, I look forward to working with our very talented Board of Directors as we craft a new three-year strategic plan. This will provide us with a wonderful opportunity to think boldly and innovatively about what we want our organization to look like as we progress through the 2020s.

Keeping CFA Society Toronto relevant, growing our membership base, and expanding our industry profile and influence are top-of-mind issues and will be addressed in our core strategies and multi-year initiatives. Indeed, by significantly changing our Bylaws at our recent Annual General Meeting in November, we now have the foundational governance structure through which we can build our organization to serve your needs.   

I wish you and your families a wonderful and relaxing holiday season and a very happy and rewarding New Year.