from our chairman

Association of Continuity Professionals

2023 Annual Report

Dear ACP Members:

Once again it is my distinct pleasure to share with you the incredible activities,

accomplishments, and strategic initiatives your Association achieved last year. We began 2023 in a celebratory mode as we acknowledged our 40th anniversary and our theme of “The Road to Viability”. Last year’s report detailed the unprecedented challenges ACP faced in 2021 and 2022 when the pandemic basically resulted in a nearly complete halt to the value-added benefits our members depend on. As you will see below, 2023 was truly a year when our overall viability was enhanced.

Early in the year your National Board of Directors approved the formation of a Strategic

Visioning Working Group. Starting with a face-to-face meeting in May, the Working Group, with few exceptions, met on a weekly basis to address a multitude of issues and considerations beginning with the question “Is ACP still viable?”, plus:

• Review of the value proposition of an ACP membership.
• Relevance of and required changes to the ACP Vision and Mission.
• Focus on what our current strengths should become.
• Enhancement of the services provided to our Chapters by the national organization.
• A renewed priority to offer high quality professional development opportunities.
• Establishment of Special Interest Groups for industries highly represented in ACP.
• An increase in the frequency and quality content of communications.
• A return to live meetings on both a regional and local basis.

Initiation of a review of ACP’s governance documentation with amendments to be implemented in 2024.

As 2023 ended a recommendation was made and unanimously endorsed by the Board of Directors to establish a new Vision and Mission for ACP as follows:

ACP Vision

To become the premier global membership community for risk and resilience professionals.

ACP Mission

The Association of Continuity Professionals is a diverse community of risk and resilience professionals providing networking, professional development, and a pathway for those new to the profession.

Strategic Visioning Committee

Recognizing the importance of this Working Group’s ongoing efforts in setting the strategic direction of the Association a decision was made to transition the WG to a Standing Committee for 2024. As the year progresses you should look forward to regular communications regarding their activities and accomplishments all of which will be focused on our theme for 2024 “The Road to Relevance”.

Meet Your 2024 Leadership Team

I am extremely grateful to all the National and Chapter Leaders for their dedication to our members and to their respective communities.  As we begin 2024, I’m very excited to have the pleasure of working with Lori Adamo, Avery Church, Ron Derrick, Brandon Edwards, Dr. Robbie LaRocca (Secretary), Paul McGonigal, James Mitchell (Treasurer), Allan Schmidt, Todd Ray, Joanne Storbeck, and Kelly Williams.  I want to thank outgoing Board members Lizz Floro, Cathy Robbins, and Alicia Stevens for their service and to Allan Schmidt who served as your Treasurer.  Amazing results due to an amazing team of leaders!

Committees

While your National Board of Directors has the responsibility of defining the strategic objectives required to accomplish our Vision and Mission, we owe a great deal of gratitude to each of our hard-working Committees. The National Board of Directors continues to be a “working Board” where committees consisting of National and Chapter Leaders drive our key strategic initiatives.  They have been appointed to establish and implement the initiatives needed to support the success of our stated objectives. Each of them has established a Charter which includes the Committee Mission, Objectives, Goals, and alignment with the Strategic Plan. The following Committees have been chartered for 2024:

Chapter Development Committee

Charged with the development of new Association Chapters in geographic areas not currently represented. At the present time the Committee is working towards establishing new Chapters in Indiana, Oklahoma, and Upstate New York. In addition, the National Board of Directors has recently approved the re-establishment of our ACP South Florida Chapter.

Chapter Relations Committee

Recognizes the immense value of ACP as a valuable resource for industry practitioners and the importance of maintaining a strong and vibrant Association that serves as a hub for professional development, networking, and knowledge sharing. With this in mind the Committee aims to empower Chapters by assisting them in board development, Chapter growth, and the establishment of valuable strategic partnerships and relationships.

Strategic Partnerships Committee

Charged with the creation of partnerships with organizations seeking to enhance their

recognition and visibility by the Association’s members and stakeholders and resulting in new sources of non-dues revenue. The success of this Committee in identifying new sponsorship commitments and maintaining a similar commitment from our existing partners allows ACP to significantly expand the current scope of services and identify new sources of value-added membership benefits.

Professional Development Committee

Responsible for providing ACP members with a variety of professional development options which support the professional development initiative contained in the Association’s Mission. Focus includes monitoring our members interests to support their growth and enhance their expertise in the industry while understanding how learning opportunities lead to new members and the retention of current members.

Technology Committee

Focus on providing the needed technology solutions to enable and support ACP’s Mission and seek to broaden those solutions in a cost effective, reliable, and secure manner. Charged with facilitating the coordination and communication of the Association’s operations in transparent, intuitive, and member focused ways.

Marketing & Communications Committee

Focused on developing, distributing, and maintaining a variety of communications, marketing, and social media vehicles to elevate ACP’s presence and support the volunteer leadership, other Committees, and First Point Management Resources in complementing efforts to meet our strategic goals and objectives.

Finance Committee

Committee mandate rests with ensuring the financial integrity of the Association and ensuring the Board of Directors has adequate in-depth information to perform their fiduciary responsibilities. This includes preparation of the fiscal year budget, monthly evaluation of financial statements highlighting favorable and unfavorable budget variances and providing oversight of the annual audit of the Association’s financial condition.  I extend my sincerest gratitude to our Strategic Partnership Committee for “flipping the script” by generating non-dues revenue and expanding our partnership portfolio.

Internal Operations

As reported in our 2022 Annual Report your Association is managed internally by Raleigh, NC-based First Point Management Resources. FPMR is one of the most admired association management companies in North America and is accredited by the AMC Institute. Fewer than 90 association management companies in the world have achieved this accreditation. As we enter our third year with First Point and evaluate the Scope of Services provided by them our level of satisfaction with their support is incredibly high. My sincere appreciation goes to Cecily Wilson, Shayla Taylor, and Jim Booth.  If you’ve had the opportunity to interact with their staff, you can probably state the same thing.

A key member of ACP’s Internal Operations is the role David Brady, Silver Loc Associates, LLC, plays as ACP’s trusted advisor.  Much of our heavy lifting has been made easier due to David’s Association Management Executive leadership and experience.

Financial

The financial results for the year ending December 31, 2023, reflected a positive variance as compared to budgetary projections for both income and expenses. To a large degree the fiscal success of the Association and a positive bottom line resulted from an ever-growing membership, excellent retention of our current members, and a steady influx of non-dues revenue. Expenditures for the year were also well below budgetary expectations because of careful monitoring and fiscal stewardship.

2024 Focus

• Continued improvements in the utilization of technology to best serve our members and the organizational resiliency community.
• Structured efforts to attract new members and retain those we currently have.
• Enhance communications both internally and externally with an increased emphasis on social media.
• Ongoing support of our Chapter network includes regular training opportunities for leadership teams and the establishment of Chapter “coaches” to assist those having leadership challenges and/or value-added benefits delivery shortcomings.
• Creation of programs such as internships and special interest groups to support the future of the profession.
• Continued efforts to establish new value-added benefits and structure initiatives to improve those currently offered.

As I begin the third year as ACP Chairman trust that you have my focused commitment and that your National Board of Directors continues our incredible progress towards enhanced relevancy and future success. As is always the case we invite and sincerely appreciate your thoughts, concerns, and valued input both on a national level and at the local Chapter level. Each of you have played a part in our “Road to Viability” and will continue to play a part in our “Road to Relevance.”

Thank you for your dedication and commitment to the Association of Continuity Professionals.

Sincerely,

Michael Gifford

Chairman of the Board

2022 Annual Report From Our Chairman