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To facilitate achieving its purpose as stated in Article 4, Section 21 of its Bylaws, PARMA has established and recognized various “Chapters” based upon geographic distribution of its members. The Board of Directors supports the activities of each Chapter, provides augmentations to Chapter budgets to support their educational activities, and ensures that administrative support is available for Chapter activities. The Chapters are responsible for, among other things, presenting training opportunities for PARMA members on a regular basis and providing an opportunity for interested members to contribute their time and effort for the betterment of the organization. Because the strength of an organization is derived from the active involvement of its membership, it has been the practice of the Board of Directors Nominating Committee to, whenever possible, nominate for service on the Board of Directors members who have assumed an active role in Chapter business. Continuation of this practice is in the best interest of PARMA.
In addition to its responsibility for providing educational opportunities for members, each Chapter has an ongoing program of identifying organizations, both public and private, which would benefit by membership in PARMA. The Chapters also provide a significant contribution in developing programs for PARMA’s Annual Conferences. To carry out these important functions, each Chapter has an actively involved Chairperson and should have a Vice-Chairperson and Secretary-Treasurer.
Members are encouraged to use the meetings as a platform to spell out their successes and experiences so that others can benefit from this knowledge. If you have a non-commercial topic that you would like to present contact your chapter Vice-Chair (who is in charge of topic development) or Chair (as listed on the website under “Meetings”).
New chapters may be formed by an action initiated by the Board of Directors for members who have demonstrated the feasibility and reasonable chance of success of a new Chapter. If an approved Chapter is unable or unwilling to follow the purposes of PARMA, the Board of Directors may dissolve the Chapter.
It is the responsibility of the Chapter Officers to develop and present an educational program on a regular basis for its membership. Meetings will be held at a place convenient to the membership and written notice of the date, time, place and program will be provided to the Chapter membership in sufficient time to allow members to calendar the meeting.
The program should focus on risk management topics or current issues of general interest or a combination of both. Generally, the program will be presented in the morning followed by lunch, and into the afternoon, if warranted. Regular members should be allowed to attend the meeting at no cost. For those staying for the meal, a charge should be made to cover the cost of the meal and any fee for use of the meeting room. The PARMA budget will include an amount for program augmentation for the chapters so that educational activities will be available for all members.
The speakers and moderators who participate in the program are not paid a fee of honorarium for their presentation but usually are the guests of the Chapter for lunch/meal.
The chapters are urged to create ad hoc or standing committees as needed to secure input from the membership in order to provide the best possible programs for Chapter members.
The Board of Directors has provided for an advisory committee composed of associate members. It is recommended that each Chapter establish such a committee to assist in its Chapter activities. Each Chapter is requested to recommend one of the Associate members of this advisory committee to be on the Advisory Committee to the PARMA Board of Directors.
