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Strategic Planning Committee Refocuses MVMA's Mission
by Tom Armitage, DVM - MVMA President-Elect

On a very warm Saturday and Sunday this past July a heterogeneous group of association members and a very generous and patient moderator, Jason Canapp, donated a summer’s weekend for the purpose of redefining our association’s mission, values, goals and future direction. An underlying key focus was to increase the value of membership as we reach out to the wide diversity of veterinary medicine in our State.

In these planning sessions we redefined the MVMA’s Mission Statement and achieved a consensus on the importance of specific values.
Our new mission statement reads:

To ethically serve as the leader and resource for the veterinary community through communication, education, representation and support for the advancement of animal and public health.

The values we want to bring forth as an organization are: Service, Involvement, Innovation, Commitment, Leadership and Collegiality.

We want to commit ourselves to involving our members in all areas of the association’s activities. In so doing we will set the standard for state veterinary associations.

As part of our value proposition efforts we look toward improving communications with our membership through:

1. A new “List serve” which will offer members a valuable networking opportunity

2. Legislative updates through MVMA’s News Bites and our regular newsletters

3. Continually upgrading and improving our Website

4. “The Maryland Veterinarian” which will now have more on-line issues than printed versions

We will also strive for increasing relevancy in our CE offerings. The CE committee will grow and enhance its relationship with VMRCVM’s Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine to expand the scope of our CE events.
The Strategic Planning Committee is currently recommending By-Law changes in order to add a new membership category for veterinary staff and to re-instate the Legislative Committee as an official standing committee. The Legislative Committee is currently overseeing legislative matters of importance to all veterinarians at the state level and works hand in hand with our legal counsel representative, Mr. William Erskine.

Considering that more and more of our members proudly hail from VMRCVM, another current initiative which will gain strength is our relationship with our local veterinary college in Blacksburg. The Mentors’ Program has been attracting more members in the last few years and is very rewarding for those participating. Discovering our future through activity with our current students and incoming members is vital to the MVMA. We are bolstering our relationship with the VMRCVM Alumni Association as we coordinate communications and support activities with common goals in mind.

With all these actions and plans in place and moving forward, we enthusiastically invite all members to get involved. Consider expanding your voice in the association through committee involvement with Public Relations, Legislative, Continuing Education, College (VMRCVM), Membership Task Force or other committees. Please contact any current officers, committee chairs, the association office, or other active MVMA members to learn more about opportunities to be an integral part of your organization’s future.
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