Thank you for allowing me the honor to serve as your President this year.  I was blessed to find continued support from the 2019 Board of Directors, all of whom volunteered hours of their time to make 2019 a successful year! I would like to give special thanks to your incoming President, Virginia Balfour, for her tireless efforts, and to our Chapter Management Professional, Celia Rosas, for her longstanding commitment to this organization. 

Under the leadership of former Symposium Chair (and former SAHRMA President) Rhonda Michel, we kicked off 2019 with an extremely successful South Texas Human Resources Symposium, which attracted 213 number of attendees over the course of two days and featured SHRM President and CEO Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., as a keynote speaker.  Government Affairs Director Raven Applebaum led an equally successful Employment Law Conference, which drew 178 number of attendees.   Finally, Diversity and Inclusion Director (and incoming Secretary) Cora Lonning facilitated a first-of-its-kind, multi-speaker program, “Inclusion. Getting to The Heart of Diversity.”  Throughout the course of the year, we hosted several successful workshops, including “Employment Law 101” and “Planning for Paid Sick Leave: What Employers Need To Know To Ensure Compliance with San Antonio’s PSL Ordinance,” as well as a variety of dynamic speakers at our general monthly meetings – thanks to Professional Development Director Gonzalo Soliz.  Thank you to those who served on the various associated committees, who worked to ensure the success of these events and of our meetings.

Virginia led an initiative to increase our chapter’s donations to the SHRM Foundation and set a goal of $10,000.  Through her efforts, SAHRMA has contributed a total of $11, 098.27 to the SHRM Foundation this year.  SAHRMA has also awarded two scholarships of $1,000 each to Blanca Banda and Rose Hernandez.  Finally, through the tremendous efforts of our Membership Director, Sheema Harris, and her committee, SAHRMA’s membership has increased from 604 members as of the end of 2018 to 707 currently.

I wish you and your families a very special and enjoyable holiday season and a prosperous new year.  I encourage you to support Virginia and the 2020 Board of Directors next year to build upon the exciting momentum within SAHRMA and to consider becoming involved in one of our various committees, including College Relations, Digital Communications, Diversity and Inclusion, Government Affairs, Marketing and Public Relations, Membership, Professional Development, Symposium, and Workforce Readiness.  You can find more information on these opportunities at https://sahrma.org/Serve.

Tiffany Cox Stacy, Employment Attorney

SAHRMA President, 2019

LEARN | CONNECT | SERVE