President's Letter

October 2005

It’s October! We always look forward to this month and the HR Southwest Conference and Exposition. This year’s conference theme is “HR: A Hallmark of Excellence”. I hope all of you are planning to attend October 25th through the 28th. Check out the website at www.hrsouthwest.com and register to attend if you have not already done so.

We had a wonderful September Dallas HR monthly program -- “A View From the Top”, a panel discussion presented by four senior-level HR professionals and moderated by Al Lucia. Three “take-aways” come to mind: (1) Having some operations background, and understanding how your company does business, is critical to a successful career in Human Resources. (2) Be sure that the administrative and compliance aspects of your responsibilities are handled before you move on to the “more exciting” subjects. The basics must be taken care of so you have a strong foundation in place. (3) It is critical to understand the metrics of the HR profession and the metrics of your industry, so you can prioritize and implement effective initiatives. Special thanks to Al Lucia and to our panelists – Joe Bosch, Florence Ricks, Gloria Olson, and Jack Cunningham. Their experience, insight, and sense of humor made this an entertaining and informative program.

On September 28th, we held our third quarter Dallas HR Happy Hour at Sam’s Boat in Addison. If you haven’t attended a Happy Hour, plan to do so. These are great opportunities to network with your fellow HR professionals.

The 2005 DFW Area Salary Survey is now available. Thanks to Tamara Trummer, Jamie Bottorff and the Compensation Committee for making this happen. Also, E-Link is here! The E-Link group is for unemployed HR Professionals who have managed at least two levels of staff, with budget responsibility, and are looking for a position paying $100,000 or more. Have fun and network with other HR Executives who are also in the job search process. The group meets from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., the 2nd and 4th Friday of every month, at the Dallas HR offices. Thanks to Leisha Cadwallader and Sandi Stevens for their leadership of E-Link. See www.dallashr.org for details on the Salary Survey and E-Link.

Our membership campaign continues, with a goal of 2005 members in 2005! We now have 1947 members, so please invite your fellow HR associates to join and take advantage of the networking, educational and professional development opportunities Dallas HR offers….and help us reach our membership goal.

Welcome to two new members of the Dallas HR leadership team. Sandi Stevens will serve as Director of Executive HR Programs, and Judy Martin has graciously agreed to oversee our Study Group. And, a new year for Dallas HR is just around the corner. The election process is complete and we have selected our new leaders for 2006. Carol Hollen will serve as 2006 Dallas HR President, and Karen Cunningham will be President-elect. (Also, congratulations to Karen on the arrival of her new baby daughter, Avery.) Appointees for Directors and Chairs will be named soon and committees for 2006 will be determined in November and December.

Special kudos to our Community Relations Committee, chaired by our Community Relations Director, Debi Dault. Since this program began in 2004, the committee members along with other Dallas HR volunteers, have provided training seminars for the Texas Workforce Commission – with 1000 people trained in 2004, they are on track to train over 2000 people in 2005. Dallas HR donated over 1000 new toys to Salvation Army’s Forgotten Angel program, raised money to assist tsunami victims, collected 200 pounds of food for the North Texas Food Bank, donated diapers and other needed items to Bryan’s House, provided 1000 toiletry items to Dallas Life Foundation, and donated clothing and accessories for Attitudes and Attire. More recently, thanks to all of the Dallas HR members and their companies who contributed, we raised $10,000 for the American Red Cross and Hurricane Katrina relief efforts! Additional Hurricane Relief information is available on our website. Thanks again to all of you for your great community spirit!

Be sure to register for the upcoming November monthly meeting – “It’s 2008. Do You Know Where Your Talent Is?” And, remember our Community Relations beneficiary for November is Attitudes and Attire.

I look forward to seeing you at the October HR Southwest Conference and at the November Dallas HR meeting!

Carla Williams, SPHR
2005 President

“Excellence Through Partnerships”

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