President's Report - June

President's Report - June 2012

Members:

This represents my final report as President of CALI. It has been a great honor serving the association the past two years. We have been blessed with many positive accomplishments and your support for our agenda has made it possible for CALI to continue providing more member benefits and education to a greater number of investigators in California. I have tried to report on our many successes each month in this column and won't try to repeat them all again.

My goals as your President were to restore confidence in leadership, and return to the basics that make any trade association successful---education, legislation and member benefits. In working to achieve these goals I strived to promote cooperation, communication and fairness at every level of the association. Good leadership starts with being a good listener. I believe we are hearing our members and responding more to their needs.

Education and legislation are the cornerstones of CALI. In the past two years CALI established and sponsored NLITE, (New Licensed Investigator Training), a free basic training program open to any newly licensed investigators. This program has connected CALI with the people who really needed direct training to get their businesses off the ground. Since March 2011 we have trained over 250 newly licensed investigators. I believe our industry has been well served by our efforts. In addition, our conferences have continued to see increases in attendance (West Coast Super Conference attendees are close to 200) and the programs are getting stronger. The Super Conference in San Diego in June should be our largest and most successful event in over a decade.

Next year we expect to introduce a more advanced training program (ELITE) that will be an extension of NLITE. Stay tuned for more exciting news about that program; it will be more intense and focused on specific types of investigations.

Legislatively, CALI sponsored one piece of legislation during my term, (gated communities) that passed the assembly on the consent calendar (a CALI first). This step means our organization's credibility and reputation allowed our bill to move directly to a floor vote without the need for a hearing process. Our reputation for being honest, candid and straightforward on legislation made it possible for this type of success. Also, we are continuing to follow our new policy of reaching out to members and potential groups in opposition in order to resolve possible conflicts on a bill before that bill is introduced; so far, the system is working. Our strong grassroots lobbying has resulted in the modification or elimination of many bills that could have negatively impacted your profession. We are continuing to build coalitions against bad laws and unfair practices. We are continuing to help members with the State Fund issues and that process has been stalled for many months after SEIU joined the battle.

The next Annual conference (2013) will be in Northern California and we have our eye on Silicon Valley. Sterling Strategic Management will tasked to secure a location as quickly as possible. The following year (2014) we are considering a Palm Springs conference location.

I want to express my gratitude to the board of directors who have trusted me to help guide our organization the past two years. It was important that we try to reach consensus on every issue presented for a vote. I am happy to report that almost every motion brought forward in the past two years was passed with an almost unanimous vote of support by the board. This is a testament to how well our board worked to understand and learn about the issues before casting their ballots.

Please continue to work cooperatively and respectfully with each other. Michael Julian is excited to be our new leader and I trust you will show him the same level of respect you've shown me. Continue to strive to make CALI the strongest association of its kind in the world—you deserve the best!

With much appreciation,

Chris Reynolds

CALI President 2010-12