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Dear members,

As we write this letter to you, the old year has passed, and winter has the northern hemisphere firmly in its grasp. The holidays are officially over, and the new year is upon us; a time for hunkering down with family and friends, reflection, and the setting of goals. John F. Kennedy once said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” As your CXPA leadership team, we are looking towards an exciting future and during our two-day planning meeting this past November, we laid out a plan to get us there based on feedback from our membership, market changes, association sustainability and growth, and the drive for membership value creation. We’d like to share those decisions with you now. 

Foundation
In order to continue our progress, we have refreshed and simplified the CXPA by-laws. One area of change was the alignment of board rotations to the calendar year. We are delighted to announce that effective immediately, the CXPA board will be led by Bob as our new Chair, supported by Annette Franz as Vice Chair, Barbie Fink as Treasurer and Desirree as Immediate Past Chair. 

Strategy
While the makeup of our board has changed slightly, the focus on what is most important to our members has not. Your feedback has been heard loud and clear. In 2019, our key areas of focus will be:

• PR & Marketing (our profession, our community, CCXP certification)
• Online Engagement (experience, usability, resources, functionality)
• Content (relevant, differentiated)
• People (our volunteers, CXPA employees)

Each pillar will be sponsored by board members and other volunteers. More details will be revealed in the upcoming months.      Team
To support our strategy, we have made two critical changes that will impact CXPA staffing. The first is that we need to double down on our marketing capabilities. Gratefully, Lesley Lykins has returned safely from her nine-month tour in Afghanistan and is ready to step into the role of Marketing Director. Her deep understanding of membership needs, strategic understanding of the Customer Experience discipline, relentless focus on quality, and communications expertise make her uniquely qualified to be successful in this role. This focus will increase our ability to deliver content, a social media strategy, and marketing to executives in order to support the growth and strength of the customer experience discipline and our association overall.

In order for us to continue our leadership in the marketplace, increase our value to you and make headway into the C-suite for CX professionals, we are excited to announce that effective immediately, we will undertake a search for a full-time CEO. Our goal is to have this position filled by our Insight Exchange in May. Diane Magers, Interim CEO, has agreed to continue in this role until a permanent replacement is hired.



Exciting times are ahead for Customer Experience and for our CXPA members!  We look forward to continuing to be a vital component to your successful journey this year and beyond.

May 2019 bring with it prosperity, success and adventure for each of you. We welcome your thoughts and questions on any of these topics and more via board@cxpa.org.

Best wishes from all of us at the CXPA,
Desirree and Bob