A word from the president

Yet another season is coming to a close, and our Forecast Dinner in June is already sold out. The high turnout for this flagship event from one year to the next is a good gauge of the quality of our services and confirmation that events like these continue to meet your expectations.

The member survey we recently sent out to you is an invaluable tool for us and a golden opportunity for you to express your thoughts and needs so we can make sure our services are aligned accordingly. Based on the feedback we received in April; it seems that we are indeed on the same wavelength. The open-ended questions we added to the survey have given us even more insight into what you are looking for and let us hear from you in your own words, rather than through a set of multiple-choice answers. It is an experience that is definitely worth repeating in the future, if your answers are any indication.

However, we had hoped for a better response rate, which was down a full 3% from last year. As CFA charterholders, you know better than anyone how important a representative sample is to research.

The wide range of profiles of our respondents was nevertheless interesting in that it reflected the demographic diversity of our membership, providing us with a general idea of what our professional development activities will focus on next year and how satisfied people are with our services.

We understand that everyone these days is being asked for their opinion on just about everything. Case in point: it wasn’t long ago that CFA Institute sent you its own Compensation Survey. But these analyses are vital in advancing our profession and the initiatives your association hopes to carry out as part of its commitment to serving you.

I would therefore like to thank all those who took the time to complete the questionnaire and send it back to us. We really appreciate it!

As we get ready to wind down, a word about students and the next generation of CFA charterholders: our experience with them over the past few weeks has been very rewarding. Between the Discovery Day — Careers in Finance event attended by more than 200 students, the Research Challenge that saw the team from McGill advance to the semifinals and our graduation cocktail reception in May, where we welcome the newest members to our ranks, it’s safe to say the future of our community is in good hands!

Sandy Poiré, CFA

President, CFA Montréal