ACG: Personal Investment Equals Professional Gain

When all of us were invited last fall to help create the future of ACG we knew the goal was lofty and would require an investment of time. Thanks to the suggestions and efforts of many of you, we have come far and accomplished much in the last few months. We can already see the results of Bill Haynes’ and Judy Iacuzzi’s efforts in the number of local and national media outlets that are picking up our ACG/Thomson Dealmaker’s survey results. Increasingly they are looking to our members for comments on M&A topics as well as other corporate growth issues. We were able to attract an experienced association executive to serve as our first CEO, and 15 minutes on CNBC in his second week on the job is something that Andy Warhol would be proud of. We can now visualize more clearly what ACG can be in the months and years ahead. Articles like Patrick Hurley’s in this issue discussing our efforts in Asia demonstrate our willingness to step out of our comfort zone and penetrate critical new territory as we deliver the value you desire. While each of the individuals in the current working group brings unique skills and experiences to the effort, we know many others of you have ideas that can be explored as well as contacts that can help us accomplish our goals even sooner. We have become a global organization; as 7/7 claimed its place in history, many of us thought of and continue to think of our ACG UK colleagues and hope for their well-being. We also know that much of the value of ACG occurs in our chapters. At this time of year many of our boards are planning for the coming year, looking to expand committee and board membership with individuals willing to lend their talents to ACG. We have the same interests on the ACG board and, as you would expect, most of those helping there were once active at the local level. As you also would expect, the best chapters have the broadest participation in their committees. To the extent that you would be willing to volunteer or think that one of your colleagues would be a good addition to your chapter’s leadership, I encourage you to share this desire in the coming weeks. If you aren’t prepared to serve on your board yet, perhaps you’d take over a project, write an article for the local newsletter or Mergers & Acquisitions, be willing to serve as a spokesperson, or make a call to secure a speaker for your chapter or next year’s InterGrowth Conference – You get the picture! I hope that you agree with me that membership in ACG is a privilege. It was a solid organization when you applied to join, and with your investment of time it will serve you and the rest of us even more. I thank you for considering this request to become more involved in the leadership of ACG. I hope that you have a great month, enjoying the chance to recharge prior to the fourth quarter dash. Peter L. Coffey ACG President Partner, Michael Best & Friedrich LLP [email protected] (c) 2005 Mergers and Acquisitions Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.majournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com