ISTAT Jetrader - Spring 2021 - 25

we've had the challenge of no meet
and greets; we've had the challenge
of no interpersonal meetings since
March 2020. One of the things we've
been trying to stay focused on is D&I,
education and Asia, but also be able to
provide members an opportunity with
our ISTAT Online programs. While our
Professional Development Program
(PDP) isn't in place now, it is going to
start in 2021, which we're still really
excited about. On the D&I initiative,
we've now got a full committee up and
running. We're working really hard on
trying to progress that. We've got the
most diverse group of board members
that we've ever had at ISTAT. So, we're
making progressions, it just hasn't
happened as quick as we'd wanted to
because of COVID.
On what ISTAT is really about:
An interesting light went off my head
about a week after I became president.

The ISTAT Foundation has given
close to US$8 million over the last
number of years, and US$1.3 million
in 2020 - including US$500,000,
toward a specific COVID initiative.
ISTAT is a nonprofit. Everything goes
back into member benefits, but a
huge amount goes toward enhancing
education, humanitarian, scholarships
and trying to make other people's
lives better. People sometimes brush
it off, but it's a massively important
part of what ISTAT is. So, the light
that went off in my head is that I
really think ISTAT can change a lot
of the world. If you just change one
piece of it, then you're doing your
job. I was sitting at the Merrion Hotel,
drinking coffee, and I was asked to
take a phone call, and it was Jep
and David Swan. David was the head
of the humanitarian section of the
Foundation, and Jep was the head of
the Foundation, and I was asked to

essentially play Caesar. As president,
I had to cast a vote. It was thumbs up
or thumbs down on if I wanted to sign
off on a US$50,000 airdrop to people in
Mozambique, who had been decimated
by flash floods. Effectively, it was giving
15 days of food, medical supplies and
water to thousands of people who,
ultimately, may have perished. I sat
there in this five-star hotel in Dublin
thinking about this going, " Wow. I'm
going to cause an action here that's
going to have an immediate effect on
people that I'll never see or meet. "
ISTAT is about social interaction, it's
about relationships, it's about a forum;
but it's so much more than that. Some
of the things ISTAT has done over the
years for the less fortunate people -
in humanitarian and scholarships and
education - have been extraordinary.
Ultimately, that's one of the things that
drives me now to continue my role and
relationship with ISTAT.

Jetrader

* SPRING 2021 * 2 5
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ISTAT Jetrader - Spring 2021

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