Stop the annual effort to have CONYM (Council on New/Younger Members) representatives on other councils and be a voting member of the BOT

Message from your SAO Trustee Richard A. Williams, DDS, MS

Greetings to all and thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Trustee for the SAO to the AAO. Just one year removed from being the neophyte Trustee, I still find myself “drinking from the firehose” occasionally because our AAO is not a static organization. Rather, it is extremely active and dynamic.

We are in a season of great challenge and change which presents us with even

greater opportunity. A new title, Chief Executive Officer, has been given to Lynne Thomas Gordon. She has led a great reorganization of the staff at headquarters which has put familiar names and faces in new roles and refined the roles of others. Some have departed and others have been added in positions not formerly present at the AAO. Gary has enumerated some of these new initiatives in his remarks and I am positive we are well-poised to meet and impact our future.

The stars have aligned for the SAO to be in the rare position of having three of our members serve on the Board of Trustees and I could not be prouder to

be a part of that group! Gary Inman has been unofficially dubbed as the “President of Change”. You can see from the number and variety of Task Forces he has appointed that we are taking an in-depth look at who we are and how we accomplish tasks in order to better position ourselves to meet our members’ needs in critical areas. Jeff Rickabaugh continues to make us proud. Jeff has quickly acclimated to his role as Speaker of the House of Delegates and is providing steady, direct, and concise guidance to our BOT as well as the House of Delegates. He will most assuredly leave things better than he found them… that is his personality.

President Inman has delineated several areas of interest for our membership

in his letter. The CAP program being spearheaded by Katie Maassen and COC as well as Advocacy/Legal. I echo his enthusiasm for what Katie is doing with our all-digital campaign to put the AAO and its message before the consumer/patient in a meaningful way that is translating to new patients in YOUR door. If you have not logged in to the member website recently, you should take time to peruse it in the near future. It has been redesigned to function in an efficient and appealing manner. When you log in, a pop-up box in the lower left corner of the page will tell you how many times your name has been used by the AAO doctor locater service. I can attest from personal experience that the number for me has increased exponentially, providing email requests for appointments that have started treatment in my practice. Please verify your practice demographic information so that you can benefit from this program and see your assessment dollars at work in a very positive way.

Advocacy is another arena in which the AAO team is fighting for members and

patients. Sean Murphy, Trey Lawrence, Andrew Wiltsch, and Gianna Hartwig are proactive in monitoring regulatory agencies and state boards to remain aware of matters of concern regarding patient care and well-being. You will find a timeline of information at the link www1. aaoinfo.org/legal-advocacy. Please take a few minutes to see what is being done by our team on your behalf.

It has been my privilege to serve on the “How We Work” task force under the leadership of Ken Dillehay, SWSO Trustee and alongside Jeff Rickabaugh and

Steve Siegel. This group is tasked with examining how the AAO and more specifically, the BOT functions in multiple areas. The process has been led by association consultant Mark Engle, who has facilitated discussions regarding policies and procedures, construct of our BOT, and possible efficiencies to assist us in getting our work done in the most effective and relevant manner. One of the task force recommendations addressed the size and makeup of our BOT. The

conclusion we have reached is that we can increase the size of the BOT by up to three members without sacrificing

efficiency and relevance. This suggestion will provide the opportunity to address the need for diversity on our current Board and there is a forthcoming Resolution to the HOD from the BOT. You will have the opportunity to discuss it with any of us so that you will, hopefully, agree with our sense of urgency to address perceived needs for diverse representation. The current proposal is to add to the BOT up to three additional members who will serve for three-year terms and will represent either a demographic or expertise-based need. Our experience with New and

Younger Member liaisons Trista Felty last year and Mariela Anderson this year has proven to be an invaluable contribution to our discussions as we make vital decisions

for the AAO. Other recommendations are likely to be forthcoming as the task force completes its assigned task.

I have also asked our editor, Jim Vaden, to print an essay from one of our firstyear Resident here at the University of Tennessee who recently attended GORP. It is a summary of her experiences and an affirmation that the support provided by the SAO this year is helping to build the next generation of engaged members.

The AAO is strong because of its members and that means YOU! We will continue to be strong as long as all of us remain engaged and help orthodontics by contributing our time and talent in order to leave it better than we found it.

Thank you for the humbling opportunity to serve!