President’s Column – 3/2025

Presidential Transition

Our Chapter President, Sam Roberts, has tendered his resignation effective March 1, 2025. He was replaced by VP Birmingham Rish Wood at our Chapter Board Meeting February 18th. Sam’s elderly in-laws in Massachusetts will require his full-time attention in the next few months and it became apparent he would be unable to serve any longer as President.

We all appreciate Sam’s contributions to our leadership team this past 12 months and look forward to his involvement in the future as a Lifetime Member. Thanks Sam!

Our Board appointed a new Secretary Steve Ray, who will begin work immediately. The Board also voted to replace Rish as VP Birmingham with Alex Brewer.

Our Membership increased to 146 with several new Birmingham Fall 2024 graduates joining. That number includes 32 Lifetime Members! Be sure to renew your membership by the end of March.

New FBI Director Kash Patel will be making changes to the Bureau, which according to News Reports , will include 1,000 new employees at the Redstone Campus this year. That growth will keep Alabama on the FBI strategic plan for growth in Technology, Administration, Procurement and Human Resources. Our Chapter will continue to provide tours and liaison with the Redstone Campus.

Our Community Outreach Specialist Jasmine Fells has been working with our leadership team to add more opportunities for our Chapter members to have more opportunities to network, fellowship and learn from FBI agents and staff. She will help expand our outreach to Huntsville members as well. There are 37 candidates for the Spring Class in Huntsville beginning April 1st, which will be the largest group ever.

Look for more news on activities and community service opportunities on these pages. Our Elder Fraud Awareness Team led by Terry Collins held an event February 22 at Cordova Baptist Church, expanding our reach into Walker County. David Little is heading up plans for an Elder Fraud Conference in the Walker/Winston Smith Lake area as well. Thanks to Terry and David for their work on these meetings. You will see more expansion of our work in the next few months to help expose the mission of the FBI to our community.

Some notes of interest to our Chapter: Former Birmingham SAC Johnnie Sharp retired at the end of January; former Birmingham-Huntsville COS Paul Daymond announced his retirement at the end of March; and our current SAC Carlton Peeples announced his plans to retire by early summer. We thank these men for their service to our nation,

the FBI and our Chapter. We wish each of them fair winds and following seas in their new career paths and retirement. Thanks gents!

Until next month, best blessings to you all.

Rish Wood