Views From AOPA Leadership

AOPA’s Future Is Bright

AS 2021 COMES TO a close, we want to thank you for your continued support of AOPA during these trying times. We know that the challenges you’re facing today are profound, and on behalf of AOPA’s entire Board of Directors, we want to let you know just how much we appreciate all you do for AOPA and, more important, the patients you serve.

With this issue of O&P Almanac spanning both our terms as AOPA president, we wanted to write this column jointly and provide you an update about AOPA’s strategic planning process, which will guide us through the next several years. Hopefully you have heard about this process already—from a previous Views From AOPA Leadership column, via a video from AOPA Executive Director Eve Lee, MBA, CAE, or through the strategic planning survey our consultant sent to all members recently. And that’s where we want to focus this message: on the strategic planning process.

The first thing we want to do is thank every one of you who responded to the survey sent by our consultant. The AOPA Board of Directors met in September and reviewed every single comment submitted by members. We learned a lot from your feedback—about what AOPA does well, but even more important, what we can do better. Your responses mattered. A lot. Your insights, your criticisms, your compliments were the foundation AOPA staff and the Board started from as we contemplated our strategy for the next three to five years. We emphasize this so strongly because it can’t be overstated: This strategic plan will, we hope, feel to all of you like it’s yours when we unveil it, because it’s built on what you’ve shared with us.

One of the most important things the strategic planning process has revealed is that we can do a better job of providing value to all our members. The diversity of AOPA’s membership is unique. It is what makes us strong, but it also presents unique challenges. Thanks to your feedback and input, we now have a clearer understanding of where key fault lines are. We believe the information you’ve provided and the resulting discussions it has provoked will lead to an AOPA that better meets the needs of every member moving forward.

Finally, one of the most exciting aspects of this process has been revisiting AOPA’s vision and mission. These statements are the North Star for any organization. Changing them is not something we considered lightly, but we believe the insights you’ve given us as part of this process compel the conclusion that we must reexamine both. We can tell you that the Board discussions about vision and mission were spirited and energizing for everyone involved—reams of large, easel-sized Post-It sheets hung around the walls of a large meeting room in Boston can attest to that. We can’t wait to share the results with all of you in the new year.

In closing, we thank you again for all you’ve done to support AOPA in 2021. We look forward to unveiling our new strategic plan in January, and to working with you and for you in 2022 and beyond.

Traci Dralle, CFm, ends her term as AOPA president Nov. 30, 2021. Dave McGill, begins his term as AOPA president Dec. 1, 2021.

Specialists in delivering superior treatments and outcomes to patients with limb loss and limb impairment.

Board of Directors

OFFICERS

President Dave McGill Össur Americas, Foothill Ranch, CA

President-Elect Teri Kuffel, JD Arise Orthotics & Prosthetics, Spring Lake Park, MN

Vice President Mitchell Dobson, CPO Hanger, Austin, TX

Immediate Past President Traci Dralle, CFm Fillauer Companies, Chattanooga, TN

Treasurer Rick Riley O&P Boost, Bakersfield, CA

Executive Director/Secretary Eve Lee, MBA, CAE AOPA, Alexandria, VA

DIRECTORS

Jeffrey M. Brandt, CPO Ottobock, Exton, PA

Elizabeth Ginzel, MHA, CPO Össur, Fort Worth, TX

Kimberly Hanson, CPRH Ottobock, Austin, TX

John “Mo” Kenney, CPO, FAAOP Kenney Orthopedics, Lexington, KY

Jim Kingsley Hanger Clinic, Oakbrook Terrace, IL

Linda Wise WillowWood, Mount Sterling, OH

Shane Wurdeman, MSPO, PhD, CP, FAAOP(D) Research Chair, Hanger Clinic, Houston Medical Center, Houston, TX

James O. Young Jr., CP, LP, FAAOP Amputee Prosthetic Clinic, Tifton, GA