Where has the time gone? I never would have thought I’d say that when I started my NACE Presidency last year, as the country rolled into a worldwide COVID pandemic. 2020 brought so many new challenges for each of us, our families, colleagues, and NACE that were unimaginable this time last year. We no doubt we're living in historic times and the decisions we found ourselves tasked with were unprecedented. Just a few weeks prior to my term commencing, NACE found itself in the unenviable position of deciding to conduct our annual conference on electronic platforms in lieu of holding the conference in person in Orange Beach, Alabama. We survived and actually did it quite well considering the limited time to prepare due to the work of our outstanding NACE staff. We are all very fortunate to have our Executive Director, Kevan Stone, and his team Staci Morgan and Connie Radoulovitch on our side. Their leadership and perseverance this past year has been superb as we navigated these uncharted waters.

This year our Fall Board of Directors meeting was held in Minneapolis, MN. Last year the leadership of NACE decided to schedule these annual meetings in a central location within our nation to ease the commute for members to attend these meetings in person. As one of our members who lives on the coast, this decision was welcomed to avoid a whole day of travel and having to adjust to the impacts of crossing multiple time zones. Realizing the need to ensure COVID-related health and safety measures, Minneapolis fit the bill perfectly and Kevan Stone, planned it very well for the host hotel to be a mere few minutes from the airport, eliminating the need to venture outside for the duration of the event. On the afternoon of October 28th, the Executive Committee conducted their meeting and on the morning of October 29th, the Board of Directors convened to tend to NACE business. In a COVID environment, we expected attendance to be down, but we were pleasantly surprised to have a few board members who were able to make the trip for a socially distanced meeting. I cannot thank the Executive Committee and Board of Directors enough for their continued support of our association, making tough but thoughtful decisions to ensure the long-term prosperity of NACE and for their leadership over the last year. It has been a privilege to work with each and everyone of these professionals.