Monthly District Spotlight: Featuring District 4
Happy 50th Anniversary to Mid Florida SHRM
“Organized in June 8, 1970, a group of human resource professionals started a local association for practitioners involved in personnel called the Personnel Management Group. The group believed that the organization's greatest value to its members was to provide active and free flowing communication within the local area. The founding members included leaders from Owens Illinois, FMC Corp., Sears Roebuck, Florida State Employment Service, IMC Corp, Agrico Chemical Co., Lakeland General Hospital, Florida Tile, Lakeland Chamber of Commerce, and the Mayor of Lakeland, Marvin Henderson.
Mayor Marvin Henderson led the first round table discussion and the topic was the need for large scale training programs for new employees. In 30 years, the need for training has not changed. At the next meeting on July 8, 1970, the membership adopted the constitution and the by-laws, as well as, a name change to the Mid-Florida Industrial Relations Association. The new name was thought to be more closely related to the interests and goals of the organization. The first officers were responsible for petitioning for affiliation with the American Society for Personnel Administration with 19 members. Ten of those members attended the 23rd Annual National Convention of ASPA in Dallas, Texas in November 1971 where they were presented with their charter papers.
The organization helped establish a student chapter at Florida Southern College soon after the receiving their charter. In 1970, there was only one female member, Mary Zysco of Sears Roebuck. By 1976 Shirley Downing of Davy McKee was elected the first female president of the chapter, demonstrating how our profession changed in only a few years.
The chapter’s members are all, and have always been, practicing human resource professionals. The benefit of being a member is that we meet with other contemporaries on a monthly basis for professional development - to learn from each other, exchange ideas, gain new business friends and belong to all award-winning local chapter of a strong national organization. Beginning in 1974, our chapter achieved the Superior Merit Award, and has received it many times since.
Early in 1985, our membership elected to change our organization's name to the Mid-Florida Personnel Association. When the national organization made an official name change, we changed our name in 1993 to what it is today, the Mid-Florida Society for Human Resource Management. The chapter’s current president is William Hamrick, Senior Manager in Publix’s HR department; the immediate Past President is Andrea Williams, HR Business Partner/Market Director with Advent Health. Other past presidents include senior HR practitioners spanning various companies and organizations across Lakeland and Polk County.”
I’ve included a few pics from some of our events….
Meetings at our Grasslands location…
Board Meeting:
Happy 30th Anniversary to Lake Sumter SHRM
In 1990, Debbie Fontaine and Elaine Patterson Williams worked very hard to allow the Lake/Sumter Personnel Association (LSPA) to become affiliated with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). They officially became the Lake/Sumter Society for Human Resource Management (LSSHRM) on December 12, 1990. At that time they had twenty members, ten of which were members of SHRM.
Lake/Sumter Society for Human Resource Management chartered as a SHRM Chapter on December 11, 1990. We were formerly known as the Lake/Sumter Personnel Association. The President at that time was Nancy Lankford, PHR who was the Human Resources Manager for Avesta Standvik Tube in Wildwood. Debbie Fontaine and Elaine Williams invested many hours to achieve the chapter affiliation with SHRM. We had twenty original members; ten had to be SHRM members.
Lake Sumter SHRM conducts professional development programs and seminars; over the years there have been initiatives for professional development, promoting the profession, professional certification, web site development, newsletter development, diversity, workforce readiness, the SHRM Foundation, and more. In 2009 Lake Sumter SHRM won an incredible three coveted STP/ATP awards from HR Florida and also won national recognition from SHRM for their fund raising efforts for the SHRM Foundation, coming in number three in the nation per capita and number one in the Southeast. They have developed a strong Certification Study Group by partnering with Lake-Sumter Community College and offering a low cost high quality program to prepare our members for the certification exams. We hold an outstanding seminar each year in May, with re-certification credit given for all speakers. This event is very well received, however it was not held this year due to COVID-19.
Lake Sumter SHRM may be a small chapter but they are a dynamic one. They have had great leaders and great members with incredible dedication and commitment to the organization, their membership and the profession over the years. As of December 2019 they had 64 active members and have 9 annual meetings that earn a total of 12 recertification credits through SHRM and HRCI.
Induction of 2020 Board of Directors:
2008 Board of Directors:
2020 Board Meeting while social distancing:
