Fondest greetings to you all on the New Year. I hope you’ll allow me the honor of being among the first of the seven billion inhabitants of this planet to express the same thoughts: my gratitude – and relief – that 2020 is now in the past. It was a year that will be long remembered, but never missed.

As awful and disruptive as 2020 was, our chapter appears to have emerged relatively unscathed, and looking forward to the time in the not-too-distant future when we may once again fully engage with our many projects that serve the community. We hope and expect that we will once again be able to pursue our work on human trafficking, opioid awareness, bomb-making awareness, along with our efforts on crisis relief for fallen law enforcement officers and on natural disasters, as well as offering support for  Citizens Academy classes, and on and on…

I hope that many of you were able to attend our excellent (virtual) Annual Meeting in mid-December. I do think we were able to put together a good show – our SAC, Johnnie Sharp, Jr., was excellent, as always – so very informative. It’s always edifying when the SAC can open up to take questions from the members as he did. It was lively and packed with useful inside information. We are so fortunate to have the relationship we enjoy with our FBI Field Office. SAC Sharp and COS Paul Daymond are simply superb. It is their support that allows us to be the outstanding chapter that we are. And Marc Curles, our board member, parliamentarian, and resident SEC football official, exceeded all reasonable expectations with his talk on officiating in the SEC in the time of Covid-19. Absolutely spellbinding. Our thanks to Marc.

But now, with the arrival of the new year, as the poet says; “The moving finger writes…”, and we must bid goodbye to several officers and board members whose terms expired at the close of 2020. V-P Ginger Ory, Secretary Debbe Trehern, our Treasurer Chris Karlson, and the great Joe Popinski…all vacate their seats due to term limits. Our thanks to all for their tremendous efforts on behalf of the chapter.

And we welcome new officers: V-P’s Brenda Conville (Huntsville) and Jacqueline Gray Miller (B’ham), Secretary Vanessa Vargas, and Treasurer Damita Hill, along with new board members Rish Wood, Fernando Valentin, Alex Brewer, Huisuk Kim Palmer, and Paige Boshell. We are excited about the prospects for a new and invigorating year. There are many challenges that face us and there is much that we want to accomplish. Let’s start out by stating our intent to be the best FBICAAA chapter in the nation, just as we have been for these many years.

Please give these new officers and board members your support, and we hope to see you – virtually at first, and in the flesh as soon as it’s feasible once again. Let’s pledge to go forward together and make 2021 a memorable year – for all the right reasons!

Happy New Year!

--- Paul H. Franklin, President                                                                                       FBI Birmingham CAAA