Thank you everyone for another incredible year at ASFIP. I am deeply humbled to serve as President for the 2017-2018 year, and I look forward to continuing my service as a volunteer, serving the Board as the Diversity Taskforce co-chair, and ASFIP Foundation Board Member.

Thank you, Programming Committee, led by Natalia Jones for doing an outstanding job-the average member attendance to events increased from 60 members to 90 members this year. We introduced two widely received program series; The Asset Owners Series focused on institutional investors and Women Networking In Finance which had 150+ women networking together from 50+ local companies and nonprofit organizations. Ben Inker, for the Forecast dinner at the new Suntrust Park, followed by Lunch with Atlanta Fed President, Dr. Rapheal Bostic were memorable events. The Blockchain Panel, Meeting with SEC and Tipper X Tom Hardin’s insights were sold out events. Our 3^rd Annual Future of Finance Conference, focused on Diversity and Inclusion, was a success with 150+ attendees, and speakers like Carla Harris, Carl Richards and Jeffery Tobias.

The Diversity Task Force (Christy Loop and yours truly) launched a strategic initiative, “20 by Year 2020” The goal is to increase women society membership from 16% to 20% by year 2020.  Few of the successes involved, Nation’s Top Women Portfolio Manager’s Panel discussion, a global outreach through a feature in CFA Institute’s Connexions Issue, and sponsorship of the Women’s Leadership Forum, organized by the Junior League of Atlanta.

This fiscal year, we received record funding from CFA Institute which enabled ASFIP to attract high caliber speakers and continue supporting ASFIP Foundation with its efforts. The Foundation’s financial literacy efforts led by Steve Davenport had another phenomenal year with increased outreach to the local universities, colleges, high schools and even elementary schools. The educational videos were featured in global conferences reaching worldwide audience. Fiscally, as projected we did end the year with a surplus, a portion of which was donated to the ASFIP Foundation, and I want to thank all our board members and committee chairs for that.

We also launched a new Corporate Sponsorship program which allows corporations to sponsor ASFIP events for the whole year. Thank you, Corporate Outreach Team led by David Lee.

ASFIP social media presence increased substantially, some LinkedIn posts received more than 3000 views globally, and number of LinkedIn members went up more than 30% in 1 year. We also launched a new Facebook page for ASFIP and have started a market poll monthly that provides members with views on the economy and markets through the eyes of their peers. Thank you, Technology team led by Andretta Weaver.

The Research Challenge team, led by Fred Tulley, had a record number of 19 teams of colleges and universities around South East. We partnered with universities around the city and helped universities with various events such as helping Kennesaw State Student Managed Fund with career paths in Finance, providing graders for South Eastern Hedge Fund Competition and many such initiatives. Thank You Education Team led by Aaron Jacobson-Swanson.

Thank you everyone and a special thanks to my mentor and inspiration, Steve Davenport, who was truly instrumental in making this year a success. Thank you, Cathy Ford, Executive Director for all your support. And finally, a big thank you and welcome to our new President and Board Lead, Natalia Jones, a hard worker and a long-time volunteer of ASFIP having served on the Executive Committee in various roles. On behalf of the Board at ASFIP, we look forward to another successful year to come.

Aradhana G. Kejriwal, CFA