While January is technically the start of a new year, for most of us the return to work in September feels as much like a new start as any other time. New marketing schedules, conferences, road shows, and longer workdays present opportunities to start fresh with new and updated work plans and objectives. At CIRI, fall represents the launch of a new professional development calendar, which typically runs September through May. Earlier this week, the National office published the fall 2014 professional development brochure, which outlines two dozen events happening at the Chapter and National levels. Topics range from shareholder analysis and targeting, to managing CEO transition, high frequency trading, budgeting, and social media. BC and Ontario are also offering mentorship breakfast events that are free to members and feature leading IROs as they share their stories and tips on how they successfully navigated their way to the top.  

The entire fall lineup features top-notch speakers and timely topics and I encourage you to attend as many CIRI events as you can. One of my objectives this year will be to attend events at every Chapter, and I look forward over the course of the programming year to meeting those of you I don’t already know. These events are learning opportunities, but also deliver the benefit of networking with peers, and many offer continuing education credits for CPIR professionals. More information on each event can be found on CIRI.org. Welcome to fall programming!

As always, I welcome your comments, questions and feedback on anything CIRI related. I can be reached at mbrown@edrsilver.com or by phone at (604) 640-4804.