Message from New Jersey Chapter President

Greetings and Happy New Year!

Goldie Bonney

2010 was yet another successful year for BDPA New Jersey Chapter. We continued in the tradition of providing great programs and events for our corporate sponsors and members. We had a great showing of over 300 participants for our Families in Technology Day (FIT) event (where we provided various workshops for participants and ended the day by raffling off over 100 refurbished laptops to students) and our Annual Awards & Recognition Banquet proved to be a great fundraiser for us as well as an amazing evening of celebration. One of our biggest accomplishments was gaining our 501c3 status thanks to our Immediate Past President Coram Rimes!

This year we look to continue to provide our marquee programs as well as create new programs and social events for our members, reintroduce our CIO Symposium and Corporate Advisory Council (CAC), and expand our SITES program to include additional students from all across the state of New Jersey. I am so proud of our students and I cannot wait to see how well they will do at this year's National Conference in Chicago!

As members of BDPA we are all committed under the mission of "Advancing Careers from the Classroom to the Boardroom". So what does this mean to you? To me it means never giving up on helping someone and encouraging them be the best they can possibly be. I challenge all of us to be the difference makers in our communities to do our part and make it happen. Its one thing to help a student get to college, but it's even more important to continue to foster their growth after graduation and beyond.

We have a great Board here in New Jersey (see above photo) and with their dedication and focus there is no doubt in my mind that we are poised and ready to take our chapter to the next level!

So in the true spirit of bringing in the New Year, I'd like to propose a toast...
Here is to making 2011 the BEST year EVER for BDPA! Cheers!

Warmest Regards,
Goldie K. Bonney, President
BDPA New Jersey