Letter from the SAWD President

LOOKING FORWARD

We are excited to welcome you to The Grand Hotel in beautiful Point Clear, Alabama. It is a treat for me to host our annual meeting as your President in my home state. With the uncertainty this year has brought, I hope everyone is ready to enjoy the Southern experience live. There is nothing like the times we can all get together and fellowship, as only we can, as members of this great organization.

As we look forward to our upcoming meeting, I wanted to thank the people who put in countless hours of hard work to make it all possible. Charles, VJ, Betsy and the entire staff at ASG have done an outstanding job this year navigating us through many challenges and obstacles. With their guidance and instruction, we were able to have a very productive year. I would like to give VJ a special shout out for his expertise in organizing our Zoom meetings and keeping us connected this year.

I would like to thank the Executive Committee (Hugh Raetzsch, Chad Pickel, Sam Stewart, and Scott McPherson) for their dedication and wisdom in leading The Southern this past year. It has been an honor and pleasure to work with this great group of men.

Our Committee Chairs and Committee Members showed great resilience in finding ways to meet and communicate throughout the year. The work they do is essential to the guidance and structure of our organization. April Garver (Conventions Committee), Jack Casanova (Education Committee), Hugh Raetzsch (Special Projects Committee) and Jim Naifeh (Government Affairs) have all done amazing work this year in leading their committees and making this year a success.

I would also like to thank our Vendor Partners. Your help and support are critical to the SAWD. The contributions you make and the involvement you have in The Southern truly makes our organization special.

Looking back over this year, I feel very optimistic about the current state of the SAWD and the direction that we are heading. Developing an enhanced social media presence (Facebook and LinkedIn), contributing articles to industry publications, establishing education opportunities with the Greg Martin Legacy Education Series, and having meaningful conversations about diversity and inclusion were among some of the projects we started this year.

As I think back to the first Southern meeting, I attended almost thirty years ago, I am overcome with emotion. I cannot imagine what my career in this industry would be like without the experiences and friendships that The Southern has given me. I have enjoyed every minute spent, every laugh shared, and every tear cried with the great people I have gotten to know throughout the years. It has been an honor to serve as President and I am truly humbled to have served in a position that has been held by so many giants in our industry. Marty Howell

SAWD President