The ATA Chronicle - September/October 2024 - 4

FROM THE PRESIDENT
Moving into the Future:
Welcome Adrian Aleckna,
ATA's New Interim Executive Director!
T
GEOFF KOBY
president@atanet.org
ATA's officers
and Board
continuously
review a variety
of initiatives
to make ATA
stronger as we
move into the
future.
here's an old saying,
variously attributed,
that says that the
most dangerous statement
is " We've never done it
that way before! " This is
sometimes taken to mean
that if you do the same thing
repeatedly, you won't get
new results, or conversely,
that if you want to get
different results, you need
to do something you haven't
been doing-or you've never
done before. In a word,
change happens!
One of those changes is in
personnel. As was announced
in September, Kelli Baxter
is no longer the executive
director of ATA. The Board of
Directors extends its thanks
to Kelli for all her work on
behalf of the Association.
In September, the Board
appointed Adrian Aleckna
to serve as ATA's interim
executive director. Many of
you are already familiar with
Adrian through her work at
ATA Headquarters as director
of professional development
and events. Even before she
joined the ATA team, Adrian
worked with ATA leadership
to ensure the success of our
annual conferences. Overall,
she has worked with ATA for
17 years, with the past seven
as an ATA employee. Please
join me in welcoming Adrian
to her new role!
Rest assured that Adrian
and the rest of the team
at ATA Headquarters will
continue to work during the
coming year to make your
4 The ATA Chronicle | September/October 2024
Adrian Aleckna
membership experience the
best it can be.
ATA is moving into a
future that is in many ways
uncertain. Some of the ways
that we've worked in the past
might not be the best choices
for the future. ATA's officers
and Board continuously
review a variety of initiatives
to make ATA stronger as we
move into that future.
As I wrote last month, one
of those initiatives is our
strategic planning process.
Other initiatives include
task forces on diversity,
on AI, and for our virtual
conference project. ATA
needs to ensure we have a
strong financial basis on
which to take action, which
means finding new sources of
revenue as well as reviewing
costs and making sure
we're not overspending. For
instance, the new database
at ATA Headquarters
(variously called " the AMS "
or " Nimble " ) has been costly
to get started but promises to
result in better management
of the Association and lower
costs down the road.
ATA's officers and the
Board look forward to
working with Adrian. Her
extensive experience in
conference planning, as well
as over a decade of experience
as an assistant executive
director of another
association, will help take
ATA into the future with
three key areas of strength:
our members, our
conference, and our
Certification Program. We're
confident Adrian will be a
positive force for change.
www.atanet.org
http://www.atanet.org
The ATA Chronicle - September/October 2024

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