From The President

National President’s Report December 2011

Welcome members, industry partners and friends to our December edition of the IHEA journal. It is with great delight that I introduce myself as your new National President for the coming two years.

Firstly allow me to congratulate the organising committee of our 2011 National Conference in Adelaide, led by the conference convener Trevor Sheldon. I am sure I speak on behalf of everyone who attended or was associated with the conference of what a great few days were had. The presentations were varied and interesting and the displays of our industry partners were an excellent source of useful information and guidance on all types and availability of products used in our specialised industry.

I would also like to acknowledge my predecessor Darryl Pitcher who now moves to a support role for me as the Immediate Past President. Over the last two years Darryl has steered the IHEA through a time of significant change which has and will continue to provide benefit to everyone associated with the IHEA well into the future.
Under Darryl’s stewardship, the IHEA has engaged a full time contracted CEO; we have taken back core administration functions of membership registration and management, and, the publication of our quarterly journal. Our membership has not only increased but we are starting to see the return of more of our members to being actively involved in the activities and professional development opportunities offered by the IHEA. Most recently the Young Members Network was introduced at our National Conference in Adelaide.

Of course all of this work was not done single handedly, Darryl was supported by a fully committed and engaged National Board who were there at all times to initiate, develop and embed those changes into our operations. My gratitude extends to those members being; John Dransfield, Brett Petherbridge, Michael McCambridge, Scott Wells, Ken Liddell, John Fullerton, Darren Green and Jeremy Bowler. A special thank you is also extended to our great friend Jim Cozens who was forced to retire from the Board due to personal circumstances – Jim your wisdom and collegiate approach to everyone involved with the IHEA will always be appreciated.

While at the recent National Conference, your new National Board was elected and those members are identified in the Editorial page. As you will see we have a broad range of experience and talent to draw on over the next two years and my goals as the National President will be to work with the new Board to consolidate the changes that have already occurred while seeking to continually improve our business modeling and our operations to ensure even greater benefit and growth for the IHEA as a whole.
May I take this opportunity of wishing all our members and supporters a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

Mitch Cadden
National President