President's Blog, October 2020
Posted: 16 Oct 2020 by Marlene Eskind Moses
Congratulations to all of the New Officers
From the USA Chapter, we are fortunate to have the excellent leadership of Reneaux Collins as she begins her term as President. Capable Peter Buchbauer is President-Elect and dedicated Wendy Crew has moved from Secretary for many years into the position of First Vice President. Joining the leadership team are Vice President Deborah Webb and Vice President Katharine Maddox both of whom bring experience and wisdom to the job. Sue Moss is our clever Secretary and William Glucksman fortunately will continue as our competent Treasurer. Smart Pam Sloan will remain as Counsel and astute Amanda Trigg will serve as Parliamentarian.
Immediate Past President Jorge Cestero did an excellent job in his term as President. I will include in my message a poem that I wrote for Jorge when he left office.
What an outstanding term you have had.
Leading us through good times and bad.
The San Francisco meeting was a blast.
It now seems so far in the past.
To Toronto we were going twice
Until those plans got put on ice.
You and Sarah had arranged for a magical time
A Canadian experience would have been so fine.
Coronavirus came and shattered our travel
We now know staying home can get very dull.
But not to worry, Jorge found many ways
To keep us in touch every seven days.
With weekly chats to keep us informed and connected
The format with Nancy Berg as host was perfected.
Jorge guarded the treasury with all of his might.
He was determined to keep the dollars and make it right.
He and Bill Glucksman would not accept a loss
They got the money back from Toronto which surprised all of us.
Jorge is making sure that US Fellows are in the mix
When education programs are chosen and fixed.
He teaches us as well when given the chance.
To obtain our discovery from Asia to France.
He is our handsome guy who works hard everyday
To further international family law objectives in every way.
We love him as a dear friend and thank him immensely.
For taking good care of our Chapter so intensely.
So as he retires and becomes a president of the past
His efforts on behalf of our chapter will last.
So thanks to Jorge as Reneaux comes in.
We are in good hands we know from beginning to end.
Toast to Jorge and hats off to him
Now he can relax and be with his kin.
We love you, Jorge.
From the Canadian Chapter, we have accomplished Karon Bales as President and skilled Kay Melbye as President Elect. Knowledgeable Oren Weinberg is serving as Treasurer. Skilled Caroline Harnois is Secretary. Sarah Boulby is the Immediate Past President. She expertly led the Chapter during most challenging times for which we are all grateful.
IAFL Brochures
We are very pleased to have our IAFL brochures on our website and ready for distribution. The original brochure was brilliantly written by William Longrigg and Rachael Kelsey. We now have it translated into two other languages. Carolina Marín Pedreño assisted with the translation to Spanish and Dennis Ho assisted with the translation to Chinese. We hope to soon have the translation to French as well.
Chats and Webinars
Our chats and webinars are well-attended and are a great service to our members. They will continue. Please mark your calendars to virtually attend the Hague Convention 1980 40th Anniversary Celebration on Monday, October 26.
On November 19, the IAFL is putting on a free webinar which is open to all our Fellows and to our invited guests. The guests do not need to be IAFL members. We have created this webinar for the purpose of recruiting new Fellows and letting them know about our organization. Amanda Trigg is the moderator and producer. The topic is “How To Successfully Develop An International Family Law Practice With The IAFL.”
IAFL Membership Survey
Be on the look-out for an IAFL survey which will be coming your way soon. Please complete it so we can better plan for the future of the IAFL with your input.
Stay happy, healthy and connected to the IAFL. I greatly miss seeing all of you in person.
Warmest regards,
Marlene
