June: Message from the President

Dear member,

I hope you will consider joining us this summer for one of the MER Brown Bag events. We will be hosting them at the lunch hour at several downtown office spaces. If you would like to host a brown bag, please contact me. This month’s digest provides basic information about chapter member of the year winner, board election results, and other important news for you to use.

Andrea Bettger, Greater Seattle President

Chapter Member of the Year- Dean Koga, Stoel Rives
Congratulations to our Chapter Member of the Year, Dean Koga! If you didn’t know the greatness of Dean Koga read all about him. Dean is the current Program Director for the Greater Seattle Chapter of ARMA. He attends chapter functions regularly, and has attended both the Regional and International conference. He volunteered at this year's PIP Day and managed the vendor procurement for the Tri-Chapter Seminar. He help's facilitate the Seattle Area LISG - Legal Industry Specific Group meetings. Dean has been a long time member of the Chapter, and has participated in several Leadership roles over the past several years. Finally, he volunteered to host the June Chapter meeting at his home.
CONGRATULATIONS DEAN!

MER Brown Bags
The Greater Seattle Chapter purchased Cohasset Associates MER streaming presentations and we have been hosting one or two a month. Cohasset Associates annual MER Conference is an internationally renowned event on Managing Electronic Records (MER). These one hour webinar presentations are available for you at the local level to experience MER experience. MER brown bags will continue throughout the rest of the year, so our chapter members can receive great electronic records management education. Next event will be July 15, at Seattle City Hall 600 4th Ave, from noon to 1 p.m. 3rd floor, room 370. We are planning on presenting-- Mock Deposition: IT Takes the Stand. I hope to see you there!

If you would like to host a MER brown bag, please contact me.


2009-2010 Greater Seattle Board
On May 21, 2009 the Greater Seattle Board elections were closed. The final results were:
· President: Andrea Bettger, City of Seattle
· Vice President: Andrew SanAgustin, Foster Pepper
· Treasurer: Meaghan Kahlo, PEMCO
· Secretary: Kirsten Zielke, Providence Health and Services
· Membership Director: Nishan DeSilva, Watson Wyatt Worldwide
· Programs Director: Dean Koga, Stoel Rives and Paul White, City of Redmond

Due to a resignation, the Greater Seattle board appointed Nishan DeSilva from Watson Wyatt Worldwide as the Membership Director. Congratulation and Good Luck!

Membership Survey
I will be sending out a Membership survey very soon. Please take time to respond to the survey. This will ensure the board dedicates time and energy in the areas that are interest to our members. Your responses will assist the board in planning the 2009-2010 year.


ARMA International Registration Now Open!
Registration is now open for ARMA International's 54th Annual Conference & Expo in Orlando, Florida! The Conference & Expo is a must-attend event for RIM professionals and individuals associated with the field. The conference and expo will be held October 15-18, 2009. The 2009 conference features more than 100 education sessions, seminars, and workshops. These sessions will be presented by the top thought-leaders in their respective fields, you can learn the skills you need to move forward in your profession and help your organization rise to the many emerging challenges posed by today's economic and technological realities. Also, remember to invite legal, IT, and others on your corporate compliance team, because good records and information management requires a cooperative effort among all the key players. Andrew SanAgustin will be speaking in Orlando—congratulations!

Electronic Discovery: University of Washington Extension Course
The UW Certificate in Electronic Discovery gives paralegals and law professionals a competitive edge with specialized skills to manage digital data for litigation. Understand the laws that govern electronic discovery, and develop the techniques to identify, collect, and present electronic evidence in the courtroom. This extension course was developed with assistance from Greater Seattle members.

National Association of Government Archivists and Records Administrators (NAGARA)
NAGARA conference will be in Seattle from July 15-18, 2009 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel (1113 6th Avenue). If you are unfamiliar with NAGARA it is the National Association of Government Archivists and Records Administrators and consists of individuals in the archives and records management field in any government organization (federal, state or local). For program session information, please see the NAGARA website (www.nagara.org).