Letter from the Denver Chapter President, Kelly Ward
Hello WIM Denver members – and perhaps beyond! I’m so excited for the year ahead and to share about our recent Strategy Kickoff Meeting for the year ahead! Our chapter welcomed a new board in April, and I’m beyond pleased to serve besides these fabulous women:
- Vice President – Mariea Kartick
- Corresponding Secretary – Jackie Dorr
- National Rep – Judy Bolis
- National Rep, Alternate – Brody Rastall
- Recording Secretary – Emily Sportsman
- Treasurer – Brenda Steele
- National Rep – Anita Bertisen
- National Rep, Alternate – Corinne Smit
Photos from Our Last Meeting
For the year ahead, we are really looking forward to re-energizing and re-engaging with our members after we have all weathered the pandemic. In that spirit we are working towards reorganizing our committees and offering content that brings in professional development themes, more opportunities to network and connect more deeply, and continues to honor our technical heritage.
Our friends at Resource Capital Funds opened their gorgeous new office to us for our strategy kickoff meeting held April 20 th . It was a perfect venue where we able to meet each other over dinner (thanks again, RCF!), come together as a large group and then be able to have 5 breakout areas for brainstorming sessions around committees. The energy at the meeting was INCREDIBLE! Thank you to all the members that joined us, sharing perspectives and insights!! The excitement was palpable and walking out of that meeting with committee co-chairs and teammates was utterly fantastic!
So, speaking of committees, we are still looking for volunteers to join our efforts. Here’s a brief rundown of the committees:
- Scholarship & Awards – Participate in process that awards 2-3 college students scholarships in mining-focused curriculum within Colorado; identify and write nominations for industry awards such as WIM 100 (from WIM UK), National Mining Hall of Fame, SME GEM winners, etc.
- Finance & Fundraising – Support fiduciary review of the use of our chapter funds; work across other committees as necessary to identify and hold fundraisers to raise funds for the chapter to use in various programming, scholarship awards, meeting refreshments, etc.
- Membership & Partnerships – Generate ideas and actions to gain additional chapter members, including a focus on members outside of the Denver metro/Front Range communities; how to attract, engage and retain corporate partners (incoming from WIM USA or perhaps even locally) to build membership and create wider community.
- Programming – The team that puts on the events for members to attend; these events can range from technical webinars to local company-hosted career development panels to networking-driven activities (think hiking, happy hours, etc.); major events to veer towards topics of leadership, emotional intelligence, career development, etc.
- Outreach – The “clearinghouse” for communications to members (social media posts, newsletters, etc.), educational endeavors (interacting with the public, and more specifically K-12 and even college students), and historian activities (documenting meetings, events, gatherings with photos, write-ups, etc.).
- Governance – Aligning Chapter Bylaws and Policies, ensuring compliance with WIM USA requirements.
If you are interested in participating in any of these, please let me know so we can get you connected right away! I would love to hear from you – feel free to email me at Kelly.Ward@marsh.com.
I look forward to seeing you all throughout the year at the various activities we will have lined up! And please, tell a colleague about us and feel free to bring others to our meetings. All interested persons – ahem, not just women – are welcome and can learn more on our chapter page.
Lastly, we will be getting together with our friends over at Mining 4 Beer for happy hour this month. Please join us – and bring a friend! – at Baere Brewing Co after 5 pm on Wednesday, May 25th . Baere is located at 320 Broadway in Denver.
See you soon!
Cheers,
Kelly Ward