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 the chapter this year. While we have certainly missed the in-person networking that has become a foundation of our chapter, we are proud of what we have accomplished despite the challenges associated with the pandemic. It is abundantly clear that our chapter is special when it comes to engagement from our members and sponsors, and this year wouldn’t have been possible without your support. 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:
  • Despite the transition to virtual meetings, our five general membership meetings/programs averaged approximately 90 attendees – essentially the same attendance as our historical in-person events.
  • Programming was customized this year to focus on providing relevant and focused information to our members in the pandemic environment. New program topics this year included our Problem Loan Panel Discussion, Enterprise Risk Management Strategy, and Leadership Strategies as we emerge from the current operating environment.
  • The pandemic provided us with the opportunity to experiment with new programming, including two affinity group sessions focused on leading effective virtual meetings. These events were separate from our general membership meetings and offered to our members free of charge.
  • Our chapter continued to recognize the need to focus on the education and career development of local banking professionals. Three additional virtual events, all offered at no cost to members, were organized by our Developing Professionals committee.
  • The chapter actively engaged in virtual informational interviews with undergraduate and graduate students potentially interested in pursuing a career in banking.
  • Continued partnership with RMA to provide shared updates, content, webinars, and other tools in a virtual setting.

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 Marisol McAllister has been elected the chapter President for 2021-2022. Marisol has been an incredible contributor to our board over the last several years, and I am excited to see where she takes the chapter in the coming year. Please feel free to reach out to Marisol, 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.

Phil Bridge 
2020-2021 Portland Metro RMA President
SVP, Regional Credit Officer at Heritage Bank