elcome from TSHHRA President, Brad Pope….

Welcome from TSHHRA President Brad Pope….

If you are like me, you have a thousand things going at once and don’t have time to read additional material such as this letter. With back-to-back meetings, emails, projects, emails, phone calls, emails…..well, you get my point…..it is hard to stay connected with your HR colleagues across the state and sometimes locally as well. The current TSHHRA Board is committed to improving these connections and networking opportunities for our members. More about that later in this letter….so read on!

It has been a little while since our last TSHHRA meeting in May, 2007. The TSHHRA conference in Chattanooga was very successful with nearly 50 participants and 45+ vendors converging on downtown Chattanooga for a few days of learning, fellowship and, of course, lots of fun. I want to thank the following for all their hard work on the conference: Christie Kline, Kim Sexton, Ginger Cordell, Dee Kennedy, Duaine Long, Rebecca Hulgan. And, thanks to many, many other CASHHRA members for their help.

The national ASHHRA conference was held in October, 2007 in Anaheim, California and TSHHRA had great representation. Also, thanks to the extra efforts of Marty Keith, 2006-07 President, TSHHRA once again was awarded the ASHHRA 4-Star Award for Chapter Management. This award goes to a chapter that satisfies a long list of criteria for running a chapter as well as development of chapter activities. Other awards TSHHRA received during the conference include:

Paul Guy Mentorship Award – Marty Keith
HR Leader Award – Karen Burks
Outstanding Chapter Officer Award – Sandi Sartin
Outstanding Chapter Achievement Award – Christie Klein
Communication Award – Brad Pope

TSHHRA Website – Several board members who attended the 2007 National Leadership Conference identified that a few of the stronger chapters within ASHHRA are strong because they have a well developed web site. Their web sites are actively used by their members for networking, chatting, sharing ideas and information (excluding pay information of course), best practices, etc. At the quarterly board meeting on December 7th the TSHHRA board voted to add a position to the board for Web Site Coordinator. And, more great news, Christie Kline, current CASHHRA president, has been chosen to fill this role. Christie is currently working on her masters degree for interactive technologies. You’ll have to ask her what that really means, but I do know that it makes her very qualified to serve TSHHRA in this capacity. The TSHHRA web site has struggled for many years. It can be costly to create pages and manage regular updates, but with Christie’s help, along with our IT consultant Greg Goodgame, the TSHHRA website is already getting much needed updates. We will soon have a section specifically for TSHHRA members. This will greatly enhance our ability to network with each other throughout the year. I appreciate both Christie and Greg’s hard work to help us with this important, much needed benefit for our members.

Legislative Liaison
Thanks to Joe Hill, TSHHRA’s Legislative Liaison, for keeping our chapter updated on new and pending legislation within the state and country. Joe recently distributed the 4th quarter update including information on Tennessee legislation banning smoking in most public places, pending legislation prohibiting bias for sexual orientation, and information on a new I-9 form. Joe has been a great resource for TSHHRA and with the enhancements to our website, more members will be able to benefit from Joe’s hard work.

TSHHRA Executive Committee
The Executive Committee is a strong group of dedicated, experience HR professionals. I am grateful to each person for their support throughout the year as we strive to improve the benefit of TSHHRA membership to you….the members.

2008 TSHHRA Conference
Hopefully you have received information on the 2008 TSHHRA conference. This year’s conference looks to be among the best we’ve had in many years. Thanks to Kellie Jones and Melanie Smith for their leadership and hard work in coordinating the conference. Look for a link to the 2008 TSHHRA Conference on the homepage of this website. I look forward to seeing you in Pigeon Forge.

Kellie Jones is well prepared to take the reigns as TSHHRA President for 2008-09. She has a tremendous amount of energy and enthusiasm and will certainly be an outstanding president and leader for TSHHRA.

Lastly, I encourage each of you to become more involved in your local districts as well as the TSHHRA chapter. A chapter/district can only be strong from the networking and involvement of its members. TSHHRA has had many outstanding leaders and board members over the years, but the continuing growth and development of all members relies on each of us becoming more involved. I look forward to seeing you at the conference!

All the best,

Brad W. Pope, SPHR
TSHHRA President