Dear Members of the Stamford CFA Society,
 
We have been remiss in communicating with you (aside from our events announcements) about the goings on within the Stamford CFA Society (SCFAS); for that I personally apologize. There are many good reasons for our silence - we have been extremely busy building the base for our society services to all of you, our members:
 

1. We've stepped up all networking opportunities in order to promote our vision, which is to help "investment professionals find the opportunities they seek,"
2. Our lifelong learning events serve the gamut, from senior investment professionals, to CFA candidates, young professionals and students
3. Over the next several weeks, our volunteers (now over 45 strong) will be calling you to update the employer database, so please, "Take the Call," in order to grow our network that enables members to open doors, provide business contacts, access and opportunities.
4. Jobs remains our top priority at the SCFAS, and our programs include the Job Fair in June 2010, keeping current the employer database, and the new online Jobline.
5. There continue to be many opportunities to volunteer and we are launching a new category of Adjunct Membership for senior investment and finance professionals.

It's all about the Network.
The Stamford CFA Society is one of the most exclusive and powerful professional networks in the Fairfield and Westchester County area. This year, we've stepped up all networking opportunities. The key element of our vision has always been to help "...investment professionals find the opportunities they seek." This means all our events are, primarily, networking, and then secondarily, learning opportunities. For example, did you know that most of our events have two food services? One service is set up before the talk, then a new one is set up for after-speaker networking. Most often, our event attendees stay on many hours after a speaker has finished the formal part of the talk. In the next few weeks, we have opportunities to widen your networks further, through our events, our LinkedIn presence and our happy hour socials.

It's also about Lifelong Learning.
The world of the investment professional is rapidly changing. The SCFAS is focused on helping you fill in many of your continuing education needs through topical, actionable events. CFA Candidates can take the Mock Exam this Saturday to prepare for the real one in June.  Senior investment professionals can attend our well regarded monthly Investor Round Table, held at the Greenwich Country Club, while our recent events have included: a "The State of the Equity Research" panel,  our Eighth Annual Forecast Dinner, events on Behavioral Finance, The "Relevance" Today of Diversification, our Second Annual Geopolitical Risk Review, and an evening with "The Greatest Trade Ever" author, Greg Zuckerman.

Our University Relations Chair, Mike Dineen, CFA's efforts have paid off handsomely, with a partnership with the Sacred Heart University for a new program, the Investment Management Program (IMP) for aspiring investment professionals at the undergraduate level. Summer Internships have been raised, and SCFAS lectures held at SHU have included ,"Potential Impact of Proposed Regulations on the Financial Industry" by Kurt Schacht, CFA and "Commodities Speculation as an Investment Class" by Chris Tormey.

Take the Call
A philosophy we have promoted over the past years, "Take the Call" simply means we encourage our members to commit to "taking the call" from other members. The Stamford CFA Society takes seriously its responsibility to create an atmosphere  that enables members to open doors, provide business contacts, access and opportunities. It's network-building, turbo-charged. One of the key elements to the success of this venture is the willingness of Society members to help other Society members.

We will call: The reason I mention this today is that in the next few weeks, our beefed-up volunteer list (now over 45 volunteers strong), will be working hard to update the Society's employer list. If you can help the volunteer (who will either be a CFA charterholder or a CFA candidate) with the proper information on your company opportunities or directions, that will go a long way in helping the Society help the collective membership. (Note: Please contact me directly if you wish to opt-out of being part of the call list from SCFAS.)

Employer Database Update
In this tough employment environment,  Jobs remains one of the main initiatives of the SCFAS. (We will, for example, be holding our SCFAS Job Fair in June 2010 - more details to follow). The massive Employer Database Update project we have undertaken will be used in various ways - to update the SCFAS Jobline, map out corporate sponsorship initiatives, create volunteer and mentoring opportunities, and expand employee training through the CFA program.

The new SCFAS Jobline, launched in beta form in November, has already helped one of our members find a job locally. It will be a valuable resource to all members - for growing companies, it will be a source of well qualified professionals who are all investment professionals, and already based locally. It is already the most popular section of the new SCFAS website.  For those looking for opportunities, it will only get better as the employer database is updated.

Volunteer
You may have also been thinking about volunteering, or in some cases, re-volunteering. SCFAS members volunteer for various reasons - to work collegially with likeminded individuals, to expand one's network, to develop events where one has domain expertise (or where one wants to develop the expertise further), or to give back to the community.  We have established a volunteer site where various SCFAS volunteer initiatives are discussed and executed. If you have an interest in volunteering (or in simply being an SCFAS Liaison for your company), please contact me or any one of our Board Members - we are preparing to build the various committees for next fiscal year. One-off volunteer projects are a good way to dip your toes in to volunteering, and often do not require more than one hour a week of your time.
 
New Membership Category - Adjunct Membership
Saving the best news for last - our new Adjunct Membership category is for senior investment and finance professionals who live or work in the Fairfield/Westchester County area,  (who may have taken CFA Level I/II or III exams years ago, but who never completed the program), but who would like to participate in the full opportunities of being an SCFAS member. Adjunct members do not receive membership (nor pay membership dues) to the CFA Institute. If you know of senior investment and finance professionals in our local market who would like to participate fully in all SCFAS local opportunities, please contact our Membership Chair, Amit Chokshi, CFA for Adjunct membership application.

Finally, the membership refresh cycle is coming up. Do remember that membership in other societies does not preclude you from being a member in the SCFAS - this applies to Regular, Affiliate and now Adjunct membership.

Going to Boston for the CFAI Annual Conference?
If you are going to attend the CFA Institute annual conference in Boston on May 16 - 19, 2010 do let us know - if we have enough attendees from the Stamford CFA Society, we'll try to do a meetup during the conference.

Remember - we are expanding our jobline and employer database. Please expect a call from SCFAS volunteers working on this project. 

I will communicate more about SCFAS initiatives in the coming months.  Thank you for your interest and participation in the SCFAS. Please do not hesitate to contact me or anyone on the Board directly if you have questions, concerns or ideas for the SCFAS. Or just drop me a line to say hi and tell us how we're doing!
 
respectfully,

Marc B. Ira, CFA
President, Stamford CFA Society
marc.ira.cfa@gmail.com
m. 203 424 1244
twitter: CFASocietyLdr
www.stamfordcfa.org