Ladies and Gentlemen,

It's early April and there are a few things that you need to be aware of...

As you know, last year was an enormous growth year for the Western Regional Chapter. The other day I received a message from Executive Director John Abounader. John sent out a list of Western Regional Chapter members who have let their membership expire, not renewing for 2008. Out of the 919 members in the Western Regional Chapter as of February 2008, we now have active 794 members... yes, we just lost 125 members. If you are one of the members who have let their membership lapse, please think about "reupping." Or if you know any of your peers who were members and let their membership lapse, please speak with them about "reuppping."

It is the desire of the Executive Board to maintain our membership and to increase it if at all possible, and of course, to make sure current members want to renew their membership when it expires. IAATI membership offers networking information for worldwide contacts, reference information, the APB, e-News, and an annual Training Seminar. As you'll see below, IAATI WRC is also moving to give you some additional benefits.

As reported last month, your 1st Vice President, Rick Greenwood, was hard at work trying to get the boards of the WSATI chapters, AATIA, CATI, and other independent auto theft associations in the Western Regional Chapter's jurisdiction to share their membership rosters with us. He has succeeded and you will find a link to the roster if you look at Site Content, just to the right of this message. Click on WRC Contact Roster and it will take you to the information about obtaining the roster. The roster is password encrypted. Rick has already shared the password with the Presidents of the associations who have contributed to the roster. It will be up to the Presidents of the associations to share the password with their own membership, thus controlling who within their own associations have access to the roster. Rick is still attempting to obtain a few associations who are straggling, but so far we have AATIA (Arizona), BCAATI (British Columbia), WSATI Central California, WSATI Northern California, WSATI Northwest (Washington), and WSATI Southern California on board.

As if he has a lot of time on his hands, Rick is also working on an IAATI WRC e-Newsletter covering activities and information provided by the associations within the IAATI WRC jurisdiction. In order to receive any email / e-Newsletter offerings, you will have to be an IAATI "Member's Only" recipient. For more information on either of these new ideas, contact 2008 IAATI WRC 1st VP Rick Greenwood at rgreenwood@wrciaati.org.

Your 3rd Vice President, Jim Kautz, is at the forefront of putting together the 2009 IAATI Training Seminar. Last August at the 2007 IAATI Seminar in Phoenix, IAATI Executive Board members were advised that no one had submitted a request to put on the 2009 Seminar. When the IAATI WRC Executive Board met in Phoenix, we discussed the possibility of CATI and IAATI WRC co-hosting the 2009 Seminar. Since August, Jim has been working along with IAATI Past President Kent Mawyer in trying to secure the 2009 Seminar in Colorado. Current IAATI 4th Vice President, (and Past IAATI WRC President) Joe Brosius, will be in charge of the 2009 Seminar. With Jim and Joe pushing forward, the WRC will be assisting in hosting the Seminar, as we did in 2007 in Phoenix. More information will be forthcoming. For further information on the 2009 Seminar, contact 2008 IAATI WRC 3rd VP Jim Kautz at jkautz@wrciaati.org.

For a complete listing of the Western Regional Chapter Executive Board, Directors, and Advisors, please go to the IAATI WRC Officers link at http://www.wrciaati.org/officers.asp.

In closing, I just wish to say it is important that we continue to communicate with one another. As previously stated, if you know of one of your peers who has let their membership lapse, please take the time to let them know about the benefits of being an IAATI member. We go through this "lapsing" event yearly when the memberships of Training Seminar attendees expire and the attendee chooses not to renew their membership. Please remember that when you renew your membership in IAATI, a portion of the renewal fee comes right back to the regional chapter. That money is used to assist associations within the regional chapter in putting on training seminars and for other training needs. We want to continue pushing forward in the Western Regional Chapter. If any of you have any ideas or suggestions, please contact the Executive Board at eboard@wrciaati.org.

Sincerely,
Gary Labb
2007 Western Regional Chapter Immediate Past President

Click Here to view the President's October 7, 2008 Message

Click Here to view the Past President's October 7, 2008 Message

Click Here to view the Past President's September 8, 2008 Message

Click Here to view the President's July 1, 2008 Message

Click Here to view the President's May 28, 2008 Message