This
year, YPNG has made some New Year’s resolutions. We’ve upgraded our
website and have added some new members to our Board of Directors. We
have also restructured our membership, so please read on to find out
about all of the new information.
The
YPNG Board of Directors has several new faces, and we are excited to
have them. We’d like to welcome Jenna Wallravin as the Special Events
Director, Rob Frew as the Outdoors Director, and Audrey Bigelow as the
Sports Director. In mid 2011 we also added a Technology position, Luke
Wallace, and a Marketing position, Melanie Myerscough, so we are now
eleven Board Members strong now. It’s bittersweet for me to have to say
that after five productive years Jamie Magon has stepped down as YPNG
President. I am excited and honored to take over as President but I am
sad to see Jamie go. She put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears helping to
make YPNG what it is today but Jamie wasn’t alone though; there have
been a lot of people along the way that have really helped YPNG grow and
prosper and we truly thank them all as well. Two of those people are
Tyler Benson and Paul Belmont, who also both recently retired from the
Board. While Jamie, Paul, and Tyler’s efforts will be missed, I am
confident the current Board is going to be outstanding and will give all
the members a 2012 to remember!
As
of January 1, 2012, we are charging a nominal, annual fee of $10 for
membership in the Young Professional’s Networking Group. As many of you
have seen, YPNG has been growing at an extremely fast rate. Starting
from socials of 20 people in 2006, we now have more than 1,100
subscribers (as of 2011).
The
reason for the annual membership is simple: YPNG needs to cover
overhead costs. The organization is a non-profit, and all of our Board
and Committee Members volunteer their time, resources, and efforts. The
organization is incurring expenses as it grows, such as maintaining
insurance to cover events, trips, and outings, merchant fees, and event
expenses. One of our primary expenses is our shopping cart and website,
which we’ve upgraded to better meet the needs of our members. By
covering some of our overhead costs through membership fees, we are able
to give more of the profits back to the community, as was originally
intended.
Some
perks of the “new” membership are discounted rates to events, access to
member-only events, and the opportunity to join a committee. The weekly
newsletter is still free, but as of January 1st, if you want access to
the aforementioned perks, you need to go online and register. To
register go to ypng.org/joinnow. Since this is a new site, you’ll need
to create a new username and will be emailed a password. You may also
view our FAQ (ypng.org/faq) which will help answer any additional
questions you may have.
As
I mentioned earlier we’ve done a lot of work to our website. While it
is still under construction, it is ready for our members and subscribers
to take a test drive. We’ve added a few new sections so you can learn
more about YPNG and what we offer so please check it all out.
As
always, we are looking for committee members, and we have several
committees to choose from. If you are interested in helping out and
joining a committee, please let us know. Please contact me directly with
any questions you may have. Thanks for your time and I hope to see you
all soon!!
Sincerely,
Ryan Baker
YPNG President
info@ypng.org
