| PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE | |
Wow, time flies. Here we are already in the first quarter of 2005. I wish all of you and your families a wonderful 2005 and trust your holidays were outstanding.
I would like to take a moment to express the loss of a true CEA icon, with the passing of Chuck Conner in December. Chuck has been a dynamic influence at CEA for many years, all the way back to the mid-60’s as President. Chuck was a true educator. His mantra was to educate the CEA Boards and escrow practitioners throughout the state. Chuck will be greatly missed. My first introduction to Chuck was during his 1988 New Presidents/Directors training session, one Sunday. I learned so much, he was such a great help to an incoming CEA director, including giving me information I could use everyday on my desk. As we later found out, we had a similar hobby of motorcycle riding and enjoyed sharing road trip stories. This is our 50th ANNIVERSARY. Watch for exciting information for our 50th anniversary celebration. We have exciting plans for this upcoming year. Not the least of which are: #1 CEA is aggressively marketing our new State Membership category. This new category will benefit the escrow practitioners in the outlying areas, who are unable to benefit from regional membership. As a State Member you will have access to all the benefits of CEA and AEA; including but not limited to, receipt of the outstanding CEA News publication, timely Newsflashes, access to the members only section of the www.ceaescrow.org website, discounts to the CEA sponsored educational opportunities and CEA Annual Education Conference, and benefits provided at the national level with the American Escrow Association. #3 We are in the “Research and Development” stages of complying our educational materials into a professionally written and published book, in lieu of our current offerings of outstanding educational material; however, this material has been written by numerous escrow professionals, each with different writing styles. My personal slogan for 2005 is “Each One, Teach One.” I challenge each and every seasoned escrow officer, to share a least one piece of knowledge with his/her assistant or junior escrow officer every week. The benefits from this program are numerous: The greater your assistant knows, the greater assistant he/she can be to you, making your job easier and making you more valuable to your customers. As you teach assistants, you are growing the next generation of escrow professionals. You have information locked away that is not currently being used through the course of typical escrows, but our business is cyclic and those assumptions and All Inclusive Deeds of Trust will come back again. Prepare the next generation. The Executive Board and Board of Directors look forward to an amazing 2005 year. Be prepared for a fantastic time. Jill Mushaney |
From the President by Jill Mushaney, CEO, CSEO   |
