Dear Friends,
 
Happy New Year! Yes, it’s happy. Despite the recent tragic attack on our nation’s capital, I am confident we entered a new year with hope and optimism. Personally, I am more positive than ever as I watch members of my family securing appointments to take the COVID vaccine. I’m excited knowing that one day soon we’ll be back together in person again.
 
 As I reflect on 2020, I am so proud of the way our members supported each other and helped their own communities through these difficult times. It was certainly a year of hardship and risk-taking, but also a year of tremendous learning. The pandemic forced us all to look closely at our organizations’ value propositions. With so many of our colleagues being concerned about job security, we want you to know that NYSAE was concerned as well. We showed flexibility with dues payments, reduced our registration fees or eliminated them altogether. I am so very proud of our volunteers who still found time for NYSAE this past year and worked hard to develop innovative programming that has kept us together and engaged throughout the crisis.
 
If you haven’t gotten a glimpse of ASAE’s The Power of A video, here it is for your viewing pleasure. It shows us the impact, influence and strength of our association community, especially during the pandemic. There’s so much more we can do together as an association instead of on our own. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is a perfect example of that. I was astonished at how quickly they put out their reaction to the recent violence as they published it as news was breaking. Many people are talking about the importance of unity right now, and the association community has always been a prime example of the power of unity.
 
I’m also excited about how out of the pandemic experience, the NYSAE Synergy Awards Committee created the new Crisis Innovation Award. This is a wonderful example of making the best of a bad situation. We’re planning an in-person breakfast in October to celebrate all of the Synergy Awards winners, but in addition to the winners, we will honor organizations which reduced suffering, mobilized responses, provided solace, and/or assisted the people of New York City in partnership with, or as a complement to, government.
 
Despite the challenges we have faced this past year, I know that we will be bigger and better in 2021. I’m looking forward to seeing your faces in the near future.
 
Warm Regards,
Holly

Holly Koenig, Senior Vice President, Kellen
CEO, New York Society of Association Executives
hkoenig@kellencompany.com