June 10, 2010

Dear MHHRA Members:

As our 2009-2010 year draws to a close and we prepare for 2010-2011, I’d like to take a few minutes to reflect upon this past year and update each of you on our plans for the coming year.

To begin, this past year was very successful for our Association. The attendance at our bi-monthly Vice-President/HR Leadership dinner meetings increased significantly from past years. Our annual educational conference attracted more registrants, over 170, than any previous conference in our history. Please accept my thanks for your support of both of these programs. The annual educational conference was particularly gratifying as we saw organizations send many members of their HR staff, from new to the profession up to the chief HR officer, to the event. It’s important for our Association, and your organizations, to continue to attract individuals to the healthcare HR profession and then develop our future leaders. We successfully launched two new committees – Benefits and Employee/Labor Relations – during this past year. The Benefits Committee was led by Beth Carpenter from Frederick Memorial and Mary Carole Kirkpatrick from The Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Employee/Labor Relations Committee was led by Robin Moran from Upper Chesapeake and Sara Stark from Lifebridge Health. Neither committee could have gotten off the ground without the volunteer efforts of these individuals so they deserve our thanks. Of course, the Compensation Committee under the direction of Sharon Connor from Medstar Health and Kelly Klepsig from Johns Hopkins Bayview, continued its outstanding work this past year. In addition to two major salary surveys, the Committee coordinated the development of two custom surveys, one of which will take place early next month. Finally, we continued relationships with many Vendor/Business Partners and developed relationships with a number of new ones.

For 2010-2011, the Board of Directors has asked that I continue to serve as President. I am honored to do so as this will help with our leadership succession plan. Earlier this year Laura Stafford, from Washington Adventist, agreed to replace Allen McMillan as President -Elect for the remainder of the 2009-2010 year. Laura then stood for election and will serve in that capacity for 2010-2011. She will succeed me as President on July 1, 2011. Evan Combs, from Upper Chesapeake, will continue to provide guidance to all of us in his role as Past President. In addition to Laura, both Sharon Kemp, from The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Becky Strong, from Chester River, were reelected for next year. Sharon will continue as Treasurer and Becky as Secretary. I want to personally thank these individuals for their continued dedication to our Association and guidance they have provided to me. Of course, I want to thank Allen for his efforts on behalf of MHHRA and wish him well in the future. On a personal note, I also want to congratulate both Sharon and Becky who found time between the demands of their full-time jobs and their efforts for MHHRA to complete their graduate degrees.

The Board began meetings last month to begin preparations for the upcoming year. We have selected the following dates for our Vice President/HR Leader dinner meetings: September 22, 2010; November 17, 2010; January 19, 2011; and March 16, 2011. We will continue to hold these meetings at the Marriott Residence Inn –White Marsh. We have planned for educational sessions at the November and January meetings. We’re also in discussions regarding additional webinars for this coming year. More information will be forthcoming in the near future. We have also selected April 27, 2011 at the Conference Center at the Maritime Institute as the date and location for our 2011 Educational Conference.

Our goals and objectives for 2010-2011 are:

• Continuing to expand and improve our annual “green” educational conference, with vendor support.


• Continuing to improve the Chapter’s website.


• Maintaining the state-wide wage and salary surveys.


• Offering a variety of learning opportunities, including webinars.


• Continuation of the Vice President/HR Leader Dinners.


• Increasing the number of members who actively participate in MHHRA activities and exposing more Healthcare HR professionals to MHHRA through student scholarships and networking opportunities.

In addition to supporting MHHRA, it is also important to keep our national association - the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA) – in mind. ASHHRA provides support to our Association, educational information to all members and an outstanding national conference. In 2005, ASHHRA published five core competencies for our profession:

• Raise Your Voice


• Lead With Your Heart


• Reach Beyond The Expected


• Embrace New Learning


• Exemplify Excellence

MHHRA strongly endorses these competencies and we urge all of our members to endorse them too. I encourage you to join ASHHRA (if you are not already a member) and actively participate in their events.

I am looking forward to a successful year. If you have any suggestions for how MHHRA can better serve you, please contact me.

Sincerely,

jhmiller@jhmi.edu

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