CFMA HQ and its volunteers are focused on ensuring that the Association is prepared to meet the future needs of its members. You may have already noticed one update — a new design for CFMA Building Profits! And while the look is new, it’s the same valuable content you’ve come to rely on to provide insights and information as you and your company prepare for the future of construction.

I’d like to share some additional insights and updates that are important to the future of CFMA.

Leadership Retreat

CFMA’s Officers and senior staff get together every year to make decisions about future CFMA leadership. I often hear the misconception that there is a secret path to gaining leadership positions within CFMA, but nothing could be further from the truth. Like most things in associations, there is a committee for that!

CFMA’s Leadership Development Committee oversees the development of current and future CFMA volunteer leaders. One of their main duties is to oversee the population, maintenance, and development of the leadership pipeline. They track current leaders in CFMA leadership positions, ensure these leaders receive growth opportunities, and provide input to CFMA’s Officers in preparation for this annual retreat in January to make informed decisions about leaders selected for the upcoming year. Stay tuned; the slate of CFMA leaders for 2023-24 will be listed in the next issue.

December Executive Committee Meeting

We also held a productive Executive Committee meeting in December, which included:

• A report from the Next Generation Task Force, which intends to make initial recommendations about how to recruit and retain CFMA’s next generation of members to the Executive Committee at its March meeting.
• The Associate Member Value Task Force was formed to come up with recommendations for the Executive Committee about ways to add value for Associate Members.
• Approval to continue offering chapters an additional $1,000 in Support, Training, and Resource (STAR) Program funds for preapproved activities and education related to suicide prevention; certification; and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Approval for the Heavy Highway Committee to feature a display from the National Work Zone Memorial at CFMA’s 2023 Annual Conference & Exhibition in Colorado on July 15-19.
• Approval to change the name of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee to the DEI+ Committee.

Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention

Several years ago, CFMA, along with assistance from other construction industry associations, created the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention (CIASP) as an independent entity to focus on educating the industry on suicide prevention (preventconstructionsuicide.com).

Since then, CFMA has asked its chapters and companies to take the pledge to STAND Up for Suicide Prevention; now, more than half of CFMA’s chapters have taken the pledge. I encourage the rest of you to consider doing this — it requires no financial obligation and is merely a way of expressing your support for this initiative.

Chairman’s Challenge Coin

Each year, CFMA’s Executive Committee has the opportunity to give out a limited number of Chairman’s Challenge Coins to an elite group of members who they feel do exceptional work for CFMA, but whose efforts might not be acknowledged at the Executive level.

To read about how the Chairman’s Challenge Coin recipients make this the amazing organization that it is, go to cfma.org/chairmanscoin.

I hope you enjoy this issue of CFMA Building Profits about the future of construction, along with its new look!

Copyright © 2023 by the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA). All rights reserved. This article first appeared in January/February 2023 CFMA Building Profits magazine.