Dear AIGA Portland,

Thank you for the esteemed role as President of the AIGA Portland Chapter. This is my 14th year as a member of AIGA and my third year volunteering with the Portland Chapter. The opportunity to join the list of great leaders would not have been possible had I never signed up to be a Content Volunteer, to which I owe Joanna Papaleo a big thank you and gratitude for bringing me on board. Over the course of three years, I have learned how AIGA Portland is set in one of the most unique and rapidly expanding creative communities in the country; and despite our member size we are one of the strongest among the 70+ chapters across the nation. We average 30 events a year and deliver promotion and content through six media channels. We live in the expanding Silicon Forest Universe with new organizations, agencies, and entrepreneurs starting up on a monthly basis. This growth powers the ebb and flow of our diverse community to encompass practices between science, technology, art, engineering, and mathematics. As the community expands so does our volunteer Board of Directors and their remarkable volunteer committees. Our mission is to unite, educate, and advance the Portland community to ensure our expanding spectrum of practices is a vital, diverse, and inclusive cultural force. I am certainly not alone on this mission.

Someone who should be no stranger to many of you and joining us as your new Vice President is Monica Mo. Monica is an amazing designer, shaker, and mover, and dedicated member of the community. During her tenure as Programming Director, Monica brought you amazing events such as dMob, dMob dLux, Studio Tours, and Career Tools, to name a few. She will continue to guide our programming strategy, initiative events, special event teams, and share executive duties and strategic challenges.

I’m excited to announce the new board directors joining us this year. Anita Magana is officially our Recruitment Director after serving as Interim Volunteer Director. Joining us as our new Treasurer is Katie Lane, moving from Content Volunteer to the new role of Special Events Director is Marilee Sweeney, and taking over my role as Content Director is Max Radi. Lastly, Steven Tatar will be taking on the responsibilities of Programming Director in the interim. We are looking forward to our new board-member-rock-stars making positive and critical contributions, and providing a long lasting experience and service to the community.

Some strategy highlights. As a member-driven organization we have a declining average. Our chapter is 226 members strong, which is a 9% decrease from the start of 2018 and a 29% decrease since 2016. We mitigate this decline through our local sponsorship and event revenue streams. The Executive Team is initiating a mission to embed your voice within our local strategy and decision making processes. To achieve this, we are developing a volunteer strategic Insight team. This team will carry out creative, fun, and inclusive research tactics with the objective of informing how AIGA Portland can connect with your values, needs, and desires. Joining the insight team will be an opportunity to learn user research methods and drive us toward our vision of social impact through empathy. I invite all who are interested to reach out. At the initiative level, keep an eye out for our upcoming Women Lead event series centered on motherhood launching this Fall. While our Diversity and Inclusion team will be producing a collection of content and resources for individuals and large organizations. Design for Good is planning a special event later this year, and when its ready, make sure you sign up for The MIX in 2019. Connect, follow, and engage in the discourse through any or all of our channels: website, newsletter, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Slack.

For those of you just joining us sign up for our Member Meetups. If you’re new to Portland, visit our Welcome page where you will learn how Portland is small and how big the community is. As an AIGA member you’re not just a part of the Portland Chapter, you are part of a network of over 30,000 practitioners across the nation. Everyday is an opportunity to join this network. Everyday is an opportunity to help us unite, educate, and advance Portland into the future. This is your AIGA.

I invite you to reach out directly at president@portland.aiga.org

Together we will do amazing things,
Salvador Orara
President | AIGA Portland

*Photo by Matthew Taylor