As the new publisher of Credit Union Times, I am now responsible for the Publisher's Notebook in which I will have the ability to offer views on topics of interest. I confess this is a little daunting as I have spent my publishing career on the business side of the table. Now I have to come up with something insightful…in print…for the world to see.

For those of you who might have missed our recent awards reception at GAC, the “social event of the season,” we used the occasion to recognize the best the credit union community had to offer. We were pleased to present awards to Tom Glatt, CEO of the Year; Matthew Kaudy, Marketing Executive of the Year; Jim Morrell, IT Executive of the Year; Allen Cooper, Volunteer of the Year; Members 1st Federal Credit Union, Outstanding Political Action Award; and Wescom Credit Union for Outstanding Service to the Underserved Award. I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our honorees and candidates for taking the time to submit recommendations for consideration. Selecting the winners was a daunting task for our editorial team.

I would be remiss without thanking our corporate sponsors once again for their support. We look forward to coordinating enhanced and successful event next year.

The event was well attended by many of our friends who came by to extend personal congratulations and best wishes to our honorees. We started the program with a unique introduction from cyberspace as we shared a new addition to our Web site capability.

In my strategic plan for growing Credit Union Times capabilities, I extended an open door policy to any and all who wish to meet and discuss how we might improve our ability to serve all who touch the credit union community.

I had the pleasure of making a lot of new friends over the past few weeks and look forward to many more moving forward. I am finding a value benefit I had not expected when I took this position. A common thread to every meeting was the obvious pleasure found in helping people in some way. Credit Union Times is proud to serve such a community. The ability to “pay it forward” by doing something that will benefit a credit union member is a priceless opportunity. What better employee benefit can we have?