Society News

 

 

 

 

 

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT, DAVID OSBORNE

 

NCSCPM Holds Spring Workshop

Submitted by Sarah Smith, President-Elect and Program Committee Chair

The North Carolina Society of Certified Public Managers (NCSCPM) held its spring workshop “Perspectives in Leadership” April 8^th.  Over 50 people convened at the Wake County Commons Building for a day of professional development and networking.  NCSCPM President David Osborne provided the welcoming remarks and invited members of the audience to join the Board of Directors for networking and relaxation after the Thursday afternoon board meetings.  The audience represented all facets of North Carolina State Government, including NCSCPM members, CPMs and PMP students.  Joining us for the workshop were Ed Phillips, Chairman of the founding NCSCPM Board of Directors and co-designer of the AACPM logo and Haywood Poole, NCSCPM Past-president and past AACPM Board Member at-Large.  Two NCSCPM Past-Presidents were also in the audience - Tami Hinton 2006 and Sandy Pearce 2004.

 

                         

 

 

Dr. Willow Jacobson, from the School of Government at UNC Chapel Hill, gave a dynamic presentation entitled “Preparing for Tomorrow: Workforce and Succession Planning.”  The topic was well received as most attendees indicated they are challenged by the impending wave of retirements throughout the public sector workforce and retention issues.  Dr. Jacobson also provided participants with a multi-step succession planning template “Understanding and Planning for Your Workforce” for use in their own organizations.    

Dr. Willow Jacobson, right       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ms. Gwen Norville, a trainer with the N.C. Department of Corrections, was the lunch speaker.  Gwen provided a humorous presentation “Your Generation” which examined the generational differences between the Veterans, Baby Boomer, Generation X, Millennial and Generation Y.

           Gwen Norville left

 

Dr. Jim Brunet, from the Public Administration Department at North Carolina State University and a new faculty in the Public Manager Program, was the afternoon speaker.  Dr. Brunet’s presentation was entitled “The Public Manager’s Role in Promoting an Ethical Workplace Environment.”  His talk was timely as ethics is a major topic of the current election cycle and ethical challenges in several state departments that have affected moral.

                                                                

                                                    Dr. Jim Brunet, right

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The NCSCPM Program Committee worked very hard to develop a program that would meet the needs of Society members, PMP students and other state middle managers.  Charlene Shabaaz reached out to Dr. Jacobson and manned the registration table with Linda Jefferson.  Both also helped prepare the workshop packets along with Jenny Rollins.  Anita McNeil coordinated the continental breakfast, snacks and the catered lunch.  Kim Gillespie was not able to attend the workshop but was helpful in developing ideas for content and programming.  I want to thank all of them for their help.  Without them the workshop would not have happened.

 

NCSCPM is starting to plan the fall workshop and is exploring co-sponsorship opportunities with Ann Cobb, Chair of the CPM Consortium and Director of the Professional Development Center/PMP program in North Carolina.  The Program Committee’s goals are to present a strong program that will reach a wider audience.

 

 

NCSCPM Members Volunteer

Submitted by Sarah Smith

The North Carolina Society of Certified Public Managers Board of Directors has been exploring ways for the Society to be more active in terms of public service to promote not only for service to the community, but also networking and comradery.  Through a recent survey of members, CPM graduates and current PMP students we learned that our community is very public service minded with many carving time from their busy schedules to serve various charities and organizations.  Recently, Sarah Smith, NCSCPM President-Elect, made contact with North Carolina Public Television (UNC-TV) to explore volunteer opportunities for the Society.  The first opportunity to present itself was “Engineering the Future with Design Squad,” held April 5^th at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.  The event was hosted by the PBS Kids design competition television show “Design Squad” and the North Carolina 4-H.  The event challenged local kids and their parents in a dozen design and engineering projects that ranged from building paper tables to creating rubber band cars and zip lines.  Over 500 kids and their parents turned out for the event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enthusiastic event participants above

 

Dan Thomas, NCSCPM Treasurer, Dianne Reid, PMP class of 2008 and Sarah were on hand from 9:00 am until 3:00 to set up the event and assist kids with the activities.  The need to get kids interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is more pressing than ever and this event served to tweak their interest.  While we were hoping for a larger volunteer turn out, all agreed this was a great first step if finding public service opportunities that are not only important, but as well.  Dan, Dianne and Sarah thoroughly enjoyed themselves and would volunteer for this type of event again.  NCSCPM will continue to explore service opportunities.

 

 

 

                                                                                           L-R  Dianne Reid, Sarah Smith, Dan Thomas