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Member
of the APAP Transition Task Force Reflects on
Its First Meeting
By Sherry Stolberg, MGPGP, PA-C
Member, APAP Transition Task Force
Associate Director, Central Michigan University PA
Program
Can you imagine the future of APAP? Reflect on the
Association’s successes and shortcomings? Visualize APAP’s
potential for growth and member involvement over the next five years?
Consider the Association’s mission and whether it reflects our
collective vision? These were some of the considerations facing the
members of APAP’s Transition Task Force, which is charged with
investigating the Association’s move to independent management.
Over the weekend of January 10–11, I found myself
part of a group of APAP’s senior leaders engaged in candid and
thoughtful discussion of these questions. APAP President and board
liaison to the task force Paul Lombardo convened the meeting. Patrick
Knott, APAP president elect and chair of the task force, was present
with members Lisa Mustone Alexander, David Asprey, Dawn Morton-Rias,
and Dana Sayre-Stanhope, also a member of the APAP board. Other board
members were Jim Cawley, Walter Eisenhauer, Justine Strand, and Jennifer
Marquez. Committed to the challenge and fueled with bottomless cups
of coffee, we appreciated the occasional bursts of laughter that punctuated
the discussion and provided some perspective.
With skillful facilitation by John Popoli, president
and CEO of Lake Forest Graduate School of Management in Illinois,
we considered the “state of the Association,” our vision
for the future of APAP, a mission statement check-up, and processes
for action and contingency planning. For a day and a half, plus many
conversations before and after the formal meeting sessions, we discussed
everything from the basics to the lofty. Who are our members? Who
speaks for PA education? What are the advantages and disadvantages
of our management contract with the AAPA? What does consensus mean?
How can the Association encourage participation of its members? How
effective is our leadership mentoring?
My personal barometer of the meeting? Despite what seemed
to be an endless plane ride Friday night to Puerto Rico, where the
meeting was held, and just two hours’ sleep, I felt wide awake
and fully engaged the entire weekend (with the assistance of only
a little more caffeine than usual). I had listened to the discussion
of independent management at the APAP business meeting in October
with some skepticism, but came to this January meeting with an open
mind. Through the weekend’s discussions, I moved to a position
of full commitment to the transition.
I’ve been involved with APAP since my first job
in PA education in 1977. Since then, the growth of the PA profession
and the Association has been astonishing. I truly believe that the
Association’s future will be best served by moving to independent
management, and that it’s time in the evolution of APAP for the
development of an action plan to achieve that goal.
Why? To maximize APAP’s ability to represent and
speak for PA education. For the most effective use of our volunteers
and staff. To develop systems appropriate for APAP.
I feel honored to be working with the APAP Transition
Task Force. Its leadership will undoubtedly direct the task force
to undertake hours of fact-finding, due diligence, and discussion
in order to come to the best decision for our membership and the Association.
Cheers to the Association, and keep the coffee flowing!
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