Hello!

I hope you’re setting new goals this spring, finding ways to have record-breaking sales, provide better customer service, and/or seeing your market share increase. May you be inspired to do your best as you participate in SME and learn and grow from all it has to offer. As we gather for dinner in May, please plan to bring a guest – or maybe two! The Membership Contest is in full swing. You could grab the grand prize! But you’re going to have to step up your game and get cracking if you want a piece of this pie.

It is a great program to bring a guest to, as we’ve KU Head Volleyball Coach, Ray Bechard joining us as our dinner speaker. Now there is someone who knows a thing or two about building a winning team, and what a great season they just came off of! It will be fun to hear how Coach Bechard is able to build a successful team year after year. Following that, we’ve the final High Performance Seminar for the year on May 14 with Kathleen Hein sharing some of her expert tips on networking and thoughts about leadership. Be sure to sign up to attend both of these events.

The May dinner meeting will also serve as our annual meeting. We ask you to consider the following slate of officers for the 2024/2025 year and electing these directors to a three-year term.

President: Richard Kelly

President Elect: Jared Hitchens

First Vice President: Irene Haws

Treasurer: Karon Lee

Directors for a 3-year term: Ben Coates, Kerri Mosinski, Jeanny Sharp.

We will call for a vote from the general membership, if no other nominees are presented – the above slate will be presented for your vote.

My sincere thanks to all of you who have served throughout this year, those continuing to serve your term of service on the board next year, and those stepping forward to serve next year as a new member of the board. Your investment of time and energy and the good work you do to plan and facilitate programs for SME-Topeka is deeply appreciated. We all get to benefit from your efforts as we enjoy these events and opportunities. Thank you for all you do!

It is my pleasure to recognize Karon Lee this month as the Executive of the Month. Karon has served as Treasurer for SME for many years and is always on hand to assist with any special event held. Thank you, Karon, for all that you do for SME. We appreciate all your good work and remain especially grateful for your longevity of service.

SME Live was a huge success. It is a lot of fun for our members to host this each year for the community. Many area sales and marketing professionals joined us for this event. Thank you to the SME Live committee for all their good work to put this on this year. They did a fantastic job securing sponsorships to make it a fundraising success.

Kind regards to all,

Jeannie