2020 Kick-Off Letter from Chris Johnson, MAI, SRA, AI-GRS, ASA, 2020 NCAI President

2020 Kick-Off Letter from Chris Johnson, MAI, SRA, AI-GRS, ASA, 2020 NCAI President

Dear members,

I’m both honored and excited to lead our chapter for the coming year. I take very seriously the immense responsibility and trust that’s being extended to me. It is my belief that the role of each new president is not only to sustain the things the chapter is already doing well, but also to bring a fresh viewpoint to the table and execute new ideas that will set the stage for the ongoing success of the chapter for years to come.

With this in mind, my first priority this year is to answer the most fundamental and important questions: What are we doing for our members? Are we offering the value that they should be demanding of us? What more can we do, and what can we do better? With these questions as our guiding principles, I believe we can make meaningful change this year.

We are already off to a great start. Last month, we had a record attendance at the quarterly meeting, and my goal is to continue to increase attendance and participation. I’d like to thank all those who came, and encourage those who didn’t by promising that we are doing everything we can to make your attendance more likely in the future. These meetings benefit our members only if they can afford the cost and time associated with being there, and the new one-day format will go a long way in making the event more accessible and more affordable for more members to attend. We look forward to seeing you in March.

Other changes currently in progress include improvements to the educational offerings from an efficiency standpoint, and especially initiatives that will take down barriers and make this profession more plausible for aspiring appraisers and more fruitful for established ones. By continuing to look for new ways to capitalize on our resources, we can bring greater efficiency and value to our members.

Here’s a snapshot of my ambitious plans for 2020:

• Define our chapter’s mandate with greater clarity and purpose, starting on day one. As your president, I welcome and encourage your feedback, your concerns, your ideas, and yes, your complaints. I pledge to carefully consider and address everything that comes to my attention. For example, one common and very valid concern is the long-standing flawed policy for how complaints against individual appraisers are handled and recorded. We are already taking action on addressing this issue, and I will keep the membership informed on the progress and the outcome of this important pursuit.
• Energize and empower our committees, and bring greater reward to our committee members and volunteers. Being on a committee means more than just taking an honorary seat at the table, it means having a voice in what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, having a say in your own future, and especially, doing the work to bring important plans to fruition. Each of you stands to benefit from volunteering. As your president, I pledge to bring meaning and efficiency to the use of your generous contribution of time and expertise, bringing you reward for your commitment and building a legacy for future volunteers to build on.
• Bring accountability to every level of the executive. As your president, I pledge to lead the objective of, first and foremost, clearly defining mandates for all our committees. I will work closely with each committee in establishing their goals for the year and installing tangible, measurable game plans for achieving those goals, with benchmarks and progress reports to keep us all honest. I will be contacting the chairs of each committee starting the first week of January to establish our guidelines for moving forward.

I’m excited about the year ahead, and I hope you are too. We have a chance here to do something great, and I look forward to working with all of you this year to elevate this chapter to its optimum performance for the ongoing benefit of our members and our profession.

In closing I wish to sincerely thank all of our current and past committee members for your commitment and service to our profession, and thank all of you for the overwhelming support and encouragement that I’ve already received in my short time as president.

This won’t be easy, and I don’t plan to do it alone, so I’m thrilled at the positive response I’ve received, and I’m confident that we’ll make great things happen together.

Happy New Year everyone, and here’s to an awesome 2020! I can’t wait to share it with you.

Chris Johnson
2020 North Carolina Chapter of the Appraisal Institute