Philadelphia is BDPA Chapter of the Year

A number of chapter awards were presented at the 29th annual BDPA Technology Conference held last week in Washington DC. The highest honor that can be given to a BDPA chapter is the prestigious 'Chapter of the Year' award. BDPA Philadelphia chapter took home the 'Chapter of the Year' award this year for their outstanding achievements and contributions to the BDPA mission and objectives over the previous year. BDPA Philadelphia beat out the 2006 winner, BDPA Cincinnati chapter, who managed to win first runner-up honors in 2007.

BDPA Philadelphia chapter also won the 'Chapter Membership Award' for their outstanding achievements in increasing BDPA's mission of being "a member-focused organization" and ensuring that each member of BDPA feels valued as a member of the association. Philadelphia's successes are a direct result of their programs and services initiatives led by current chapter president Curtis Jenkins and current president-elect Monique Berry. The chapter serves the community by providing weekly computer training for Philadelphia metropolitan-area high school students. The chapter's monthly program meetings sponsored by CIGNA serve to keep their membership informed of current trends in the IT industry. Finally, their overall member services initiatives help to bring in new members as well as retain the existing members.

Merck is a BDPA Gold-level sponsor and major contributor to the Philadelphia Chapter. Merck's Gina Gerhard won the 'Corporate Champion of the Year' award for her efforts to evolve the corporate relationship between BDPA and Merck at all levels. Other Philadelphia chapter sponsors that participated in the annual conference included Wyeth and Rohm and Haas.

Please leave a comment for the brothers and sisters of BDPA Philadelphia chapter if you have time or inclination!