The relentless march of time sees us already in Spring 2017 and the first mince pies appearing in the shops, which can only mean the end of year is 3 months away. As always, it has been a busy time for all in ALUCA with many great events held in the last few months, showcasing all that is wonderful about our association and delivering to our three key words of Educate, Develop, Connect.
We are in the time of year when our subgroups put on their main events of the year – the Professional Development Days / MiniLucas. WA, QLD, SA and Rehab have led the way hosting fantastic events which have had great feedback from our members, with VIC to come on 12th October and NSW/CMG on October 17th. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the events I have attended, and most importantly have learnt a great deal in the process – both about our industry and the committed professionals in it. Perhaps I should offer a prize for those who now know what FLK stands for!
These events could not have occurred without the unstinting hard work and dedication of all our subgroup committee members, and again my heartfelt thanks goes out to all of them.
I am writing this update from Melbourne airport as I wait for a plane to Europe to see family. Fortunately for me, this year’s LUCID conference in the U.K. is being held at the same time as my trip and I am looking forward to meeting our British counterparts and discussing the latest developments in our industry in that part of the world, and trying to work out what could be coming our way soon. Connecting with associations such as LADUCA, LUCID, AHOU etc. is a fundamental part of our strategy for our association to connect our members with their counterparts around the globe. We are also busy working on improving and deepening our relationships with key industry stakeholders locally, such as the FSC, who recently provided some feedback on our updated Code of Conduct for members.
We are in the final stages of the ALUCA – Turks Legal scholarship and the ALUCA-MLC-Monash Award both announcing this year’s winners in mid-October and our thanks go to both Turks, MLC and Monash for their ongoing support of these awards each year and the time, effort and expertise that goes into making them successful.
I’m pleased to announce that our membership numbers continue to grow. Historically we have seen numbers dip in an off-conference year but this year they have increased by 5% and we continue to welcome new members each week. We are currently sitting in excess of 1500 members, which is considerably up from under 1200 in Spring 2015. Speaking of the conference, you will have seen that we have announced next year’s conference which will be held in Hobart from 11-13 October and it is already shaping up to be our best ever.
You will shortly be receiving information regarding this year’s AGM which will be held in mid-November. Included in this will be information regarding some slight amendments to our rules to both modernise our association (e.g. allow electronic voting) and to make our association more sustainable.
I’ll leave Amanda to provide a full update on the other work that has been taking place, most importantly the capability framework which is an extremely exciting modernisation of our accreditation framework, and one that is exceptionally relevant and important to us as Life Insurance Claims, Underwriting and Rehabilitation professionals.
As always, please feel free to contact me on chair@aluca.com.
Jim Welsh
ALUCA Board Chair
Comment and discuss this article with other industry professionals in the ALUCA Linked-In group