NGPA Family,
It's hard to believe that a month has passed since joining NGPA as your Executive Director. In that short time, I’ve had the incredible opportunity to meet with members in Palm Springs, volunteer alongside the Women’s Committee at Women in Aviation International’s (WAI) annual conference in Long Beach, attend several local chapter socials, connect with most of our committee leaders, and visit our MSP office for an Ops Team kick-off meeting, to name a few. Though it has only been a few weeks, one thing has been clear: I am even more excited about the future of NGPA and am honored to have the opportunity to serve on behalf of members as the organization’s leader!
Attending the WAI conference afforded the NGPA Women's Committee a chance to reconnect with several sponsors, show our support towards WAI and our shared membership, and gather ideas we can incorporate into our future conferences. We look forward to strengthening our relationship with WAI and are excited to collaborate on shared strategic initiatives.
No rest for the Events Committee! I'm excited to announce our 2023 location for our summer flagship "Wings Over..." event. Based on member feedback and for an opportunity to show support to our GA members in the aviation hub of the southeast, we will be returning to Fort Lauderdale this upcoming June 16-18. Piggybacking on Wilton Manor’s Stonewall Pride Festival, our 3-day weekend event will include a fly-in, airport social, pre-pride brunch, a supporter booth at the pride festival, and a beach BBQ. Details on how to purchase tickets and book hotels are coming soon!
The Operations Team has identified several IT infrastructure upgrades necessary to support the organization’s size and future growth. In collaboration with our IT volunteers, we will soon set out on Phase 1 of the upgrade plan, beginning with building out our directory and establishing an access & identity management policy. Phase 1 will also include consolidation and simplification of the many systems and services used by all NGPA users. The goal of the first phase is to ensure our infrastructure provides a solid foundation for future systems to operate and interact with and maximize automation and ease of access, all while maintaining a high standard of data security.
On behalf of the Operations Team, we are excited to enter this next phase of NGPA’s growth and look forward to carrying out the strategic vision to be discussed next month in our annual Board of Directors meeting.
With Pride,
Justin