Welcome to EBA A Message from

the President

INVESTING IN EBA’S FUTURE

Welcome to EBA’s 2023 Annual Conference! Get ready for a reimagined experience brought to you by EBA’s dedicated Conference Committee, chaired by Rita Wiggin, and powered by your feedback.

As I mentioned in prior communications, the EBA Board of Governors has been hard at work focusing on strategic objectives to increase membership value. The enhanced conference experience is one outcome of this focus. Today, I am proud to announce we are further investing in EBA’s future by enhancing our educational offerings with a first-of-its-kind Environmental Risk Manager certificate program that will include Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and roll-out in early 2024. We feel this program will be a resource for both banker and affiliate members, help drive new membership, and promote consistent environmental risk management in the industry. Likewise, it will provide a platform for future educational opportunities and set the stage for EBA to become an industry-leading training provider.

Development of a formal education program has been an idea (and a good one) floating around EBA for years, but the organization has never been in a position to act on it. Thanks to the prior boards’ (under Sharon Valverde’s and Bill Sloan’s presidencies) leadership in building adequate reserves, and to the current board’s vision and courage to act, the EBA is now ready to execute on this exciting transformational challenge.

The board unanimously approved a motion to retain Recovery Risk, headed by Marty Walters, to develop the curriculum and necessary procedures to obtain independent certification of the training program. See Marty’s journal article EBA Levels Up on Professional Development on page 7. Marty will be attending the Annual Conference and presenting an overview of the program during the joint banker-affiliate session. Please do not miss this!

Have a great conference, and as always, please do not hesitate to ask questions or provide feedback to any of the board members. I look forward to seeing everyone!

Meet you in St. Louis,

David Lambert EBA President