Portland Metro RMA Chapter Members, Sponsors and Friends:

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Portland Metro Chapter of the RMA, I wanted to express our gratitude for your involvement with our chapter. This year marked a sometimes chaotic and harrowing transition from virtual programming to several successful in-person events culminating in an amazing program with banking industry leaders in May.

We are proud of what we have accomplished despite the challenges associated with the ongoing pandemic. Our chapter could not have done anything without the continued engagement and support from our members and sponsors for which we are forever grateful.

Before we pause for the summer season, I wanted to share with you some of the highlights that I believe are reflective of our success as a chapter this year:

  • Our four general membership meetings/programs continued to attract exciting presenters and engaged audiences.
  • Programming was customized this year to focus on providing relevant and focused information to our members in the changing technological, post-pandemic, and banking environment. New program topics this year included The Future of Money in a Digital World, FinTech: Reshaping Banking, and The Information Environment in CRE Markets.
  • We continued our partnerships with other organizations and co-hosted a networking event in April with CCIM to highlight downtown Portland’s recovery after the pandemic: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, the “Burbs” and Downtown Portland.
  • In addition, we recognized the need of our membership to connect again after the long-standing lock-down, and we held an in-person networking event in April.
  • Our chapter’s long-time standing focus on education and career development of local banking professionals continued with our Developing Professionals committee hosting a virtual town hall for finance professionals in November to share their experiences and responses to the pandemic.
  • Lastly, we continued our partnership with RMA national to provide shared updates, content, webinars, and other tools.

Please watch your inbox for a survey from chapter leadership in the next few weeks. Your candid responses to this survey are an important part of the planning process for the upcoming year as it relates to events, discussion topics, and educational events. As usual, we intend to restart our programming calendar in September after the summer break.

Finally, I am excited to announce Alex Gosline has been elected the chapter President for 2022-2023. Alex has been an incredible contributor to our board over the last several years, and I am excited to see where he takes the chapter in the coming year. Please feel free to reach out to Alex, myself, or any member of the Board of Directors with your ideas or if you have an interest in getting more involved with our chapter.

Once again, thank you for making this year a success. Best wishes for a safe and enjoyable summer, and we look forward to hopefully seeing all of you in person once again soon.

Marisol McAllister

2021-2022 Portland Metro RMA President

Attorney and Shareholder, Farleigh Wada Witt