From the President

    There has been an important personnel change at IATC.  Our management group, Organization Management Group (OMG), employs over ten specialists to handle all aspects of our organizational needs.  OMG informed me a few days ago that the workload of our Executive Secretary, Amy Higgins, had expanded to the point that she needed to let go of some of her responsibilities, and she has been replaced as Executive Secretary of Torch by her former assistant, Jackie Sabogal. 

    We welcome Jackie’s appointment as Executive Secretary.  Her office is in the main building in Chesapeake, where she will be able to deal with IATC requests immediately and can answer the phone during normal work hours.

    Also, Tim Spaeder will be rejoining the board as regional representative for Region 10.  Welcome back, Tim.

    During our February board meeting in Chesapeake, Victoria Hecht, OMG's specialist in the world of social media, spoke to the board about how we view Torch and words used to describe our organization.  It quickly became apparent that we had never asked individual members of Torch their opinions about our clubs and how to describe what we do.  It was decided to send a survey through "snail mail" to all individual members of Torch to solicit opinions. Ms. Hecht is collecting the responses and will present the results to the board for further actions. 

    We expect to use social media to expose many new people to the values of Torch and to use the questionnaire responses to seek new members.  I would especially like to thank the members of the Portsmouth Torch Club for assembling a hard-working team to stuff the envelopes for the mailing. 

    Our annual convention in San Antonio is fast approaching.  The sign-up information is included in this issue of the magazine. The dates are June 21 to June 24, 2018.  You can register through the web or by printing the forms and mailing them in.  It is not necessary to rent a car if you fly, since a taxi will take you from the airport to the Menger Hotel.  

    The organizer of the convention writes,  "San Antonio is unusual in that the downtown is very compact, with the Texas Institute of Cultures, the Briscoe Western Art Museum, the Alamo, the IMAX movie of the Alamo, the River Walk, and shopping all within walking distance of the Menger.   Only the San Antonio Museum of Art, and the McNay Art Museum are more distant, and we will be offering a Step On/Step Off bus service for those stops and for the Witte Natural History Museum.    However, the Witte is the location of our Saturday night Gala, with plenty of time to visit the exhibits."  Thus an automobile is not required for the convention this year.  We hope to see representatives from all our clubs this year in San Antonio.

    Due to popular demand, we are putting together a revised new member package, the old one having become outdated. We will still be distributing pins—a custom also outdated, some may feel, but I still wear my pins and answer questions when people ask me what they represent. 

    I hope to see everyone who is reading this at the convention in San Antonio this year.  Please do come.