Articles

Message From the President

As my year as SHRM St. Louis President comes to a close, I wish to reflect on how we have kept our 2020 Focus Forward: Lead with Passion, Serve with Purpose.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the honor and privilege to serve as the 2020 President, for SHRM of Greater St. Louis, and on the MO SHRM State Council. Most importantly, I want to thank you all, 2020 SHRM St. Louis Board Members, Committee Chairs & Members, Sponsors, Business Partners, Chapter staff at Q&A, MO SHRM State Council, SHRM, and all Volunteers. We recognize your contributions and celebrate together our accomplishments during this most interesting, challenging, and opportunistic year.

Together, we were able to completely update our website, as well as convert all of our offerings from monthly meetings to our annual October Leadership Conference into a virtual format to continue to bring you quality educational, development, and networking opportunities. We partnered with Starkloff Disability Institute for their October virtual conference, and SHRM STL members were invited to attend the programming free of charge. We are grateful for Starkloff’s continued commitment to advancing opportunities for people with disabilities in our community.

Additionally, we rose to the challenge and kept our SHRM Certification Exam prep courses on track for the Spring and the Fall and adapted to meet the needs of our members and participants. We celebrate that we are recognized as a SHRM Learning System Chapter Champion.

The Membership committee worked extremely hard to connect with you this year to recruit, on-board, engage, and retain you as members this year and to communicate the benefit value in SHRM St. Louis membership. They went to extra lengths to think creatively for opportunities for the hardship that our members and potential members could and did encounter this year.

Workforce Readiness & Diversity and Inclusion volunteers grew their Committee by leaps and bounds and delivered programming to engage in necessary conversations that will only continue to grow in these deep rooted conversations. Young Professionals continued to engage participants through their panel discussions and kept the networking in action.

We remained fiscally responsible with our resources, and also kept our SHRM Foundation fundraising in growth mode during these difficult times. And we could not do what we do without the support of our Partners:

Premier Partner
Ogletree Deakins

Key Partners
Ascentis
McMahon Berger
Milliman
People Solutions Center
Personal Assistance Services (PAS)

Supporting Partners
BeneBloc
EEO Consulting
HooPayz
MOST 529 Education Plan
Strengths University

Yes, while I could mention more, and while there is more that I had personally hoped to accomplish this year in my role, with the COVID pandemic, I am grateful for what was achieved. I look forward to more that we can do in 2021. Last but not least, I am extremely grateful for the mentoring from Tim Wells, Past President 2020, and can only hope that I can pay it forward to our new 2021 SHRM of Greater St. Louis President, Ben Houseman, as I move into the Past President role for 2021. While changing titles and positions, my commitment to continue to actively volunteer and support SHRM St. Louis and HR Professional Advancement remains diligent and committed.

Peace & Blessings to All,
Mary Lou Smith, PHR, SHRM-CP
2020 President