President’s Letter – November 15, 2011: The TIA Team

I had a marathon round of travel to the Middle East and Asia in October.  The meetings I traveled for were important aspects of my job for TIA: representing U.S. toy industry interests to safety authorities in overseas markets, coordinating activities with toy associations in other nations, and learning about changes and opportunities in the global toy industry.

I was on the road for nearly four weeks, just before our November 1 Board meetings and Washington, DC Fly-in.  I was able to keep abreast of activities back home thanks to the modern miracle of the internet, but there is no way I could have left the office for this length of time without knowing that the crucial preparations for all of our activities would be handled thoroughly and professionally by our capable team at TIA. 

The Vice Presidents at TIA are highly experienced and talented executives who know their jobs well and provide a high degree of professionalism for the association’s activities.  In case you don’t know them, here they are in alphabetical order:

• Marian Bossard, VP Meetings & Events
• Jean Butler, VP Membership/Executive Director Toy Industry Foundation
• Ed Desmond, EVP External Affairs
• Al Kaufman, SVP Technical Affairs
• Joan Lawrence, VP Standards & Government Relations
• Stacy Leistner, VP Strategic Communications
• Paul Vitale, VP Administration and Finance

And all of them would be quick to point out that their own success is a function of the capable team of directors, managers and support staff within their departments. 

At the November 1 Board meeting, one of our Directors observed that it would be good for the Board to become better acquainted with more of our staff at TIA.  It was a welcome acknowledgement that the vast agenda of TIA activities is being capably implemented by many staff members who deserve recognition. 

I don’t often enough recognize or thank the team of professionals here at TIA, and this letter is a small step in that direction.  Whenever you have the opportunity, I hope you will join me in thanking them. 

Warm regards to all,

ckeithley@toyassociation.org