Strategic alliances and RMA's strategic plan

Four months into RMA's 90th year, I'm delighted to provide an update on plans to strengthen even further this venerable Association.

In its simplest form, our strategic plan for the coming year is designed to significantly increase institutional memberships. Business 101 tells us that with greater revenues, an organization can reinvest to create even stronger products and services. Our current members and our Board have already identified the resources institutions of varying sizes need to operate successfully within an increasingly complex financial and economic environment. It's my job to help RMA realize our shared vision through greater resources.

One of many steps toward increasing membership was taken in May, when RMA signed an alliance agreement with America's Community Bankers. ACB has agreed to promote the availability of RMA programs to ACB members. For example, ACB and RMA are conducting a credit risk management training needs survey for ACB members, and RMA has been accorded the status of a preferred solutions provider. ACB members may use RMA products or attend RMA conferences or education programs at RMA member pricing. Further, ACB members were offered free trial memberships that ended August 31, at which time they were eligible for any promotional membership opportunity offered through RMA's chapters. We are very excited about this alliance as well as others we are forming.

Access to RMA products and services is no small thing. For example, RMA's Web site is the portal to the best of our heritage as well as the most promising practices for the future. Here are just three features:

* Under "Educational Opportunities," you can find credit training, something RMA has been doing for 90 years--offered as an in-bank class, an open enrollment class, a self-study tool, or a Web course.

* Taking advantage of the combined expertise of industry leaders, you can order study packs on lending to a variety of industries or arrange to have your own electronic mentor at your fingertips (see page 32).

* With this solid foundation, you can then move forward through RMA Web offerings to improve market, operational, and enterprise-wide risk management at your institution.

The RMA Journal is another key resource for our membership. The Journal offers a monthly focus on a risk management topic, plus a variety of other articles. Let me introduce you to this issue. Directly opposite this letter, a member of RMA's Diversity Initiative reports on what this initiative means to our Association and its members. Then we look at RMA's future through the eyes of our new chair, Rick Harbaugh, who is president and CEO of Equitable Federal Savings Bank, a community bank in Grand Island, Nebraska. Rona Pocket, a member of the Journal's Editorial Advisory Board, introduces this month's risk management focus--fraud. Credit risk management, capital management, turnaround consulting, Basel II, and a "spilled milk" are all part of this month's Journal.

I wish you good reading, I welcome new institutional and individual members, and I do hope to see you soon at one of RMA's many conferences.

Maurice H. Hartigan II

RMA President and CEO

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