Category Archives: STFM News

Stacy Brungardt, CAE STFM Executive Director

Have you ever become so immersed in a project that you looked past items critical to the initiative’s success? My recent example of this is feedback I received on the STFM strategic plan. There’s nothing specifically wrong with the plan, but when our Foundation Trustees, who had not been involved in creating the document, reviewed the plan, the document failed to communicate the breadth, external linkages, or the importance of the initiatives the goals and strategies listed in the document.

What helpful feedback, particularly since we are in the early stages of communicating the plan to our members! To begin to address this, STFM President Jeri Hepworth, PhD, identified the larger themes that are implicit within our strategic plan. Check it out.

That brings up a key challenge for our staff and leadership. Combined, STFM and the STFM Foundation have more than 40 (yes, I counted) active programs and initiatives. We have liaisons to or are partnering with more than 20 organizations. How do we effectively keep our leaders, members, and even staff current on all these initiatives? That’s a tall order, but it’s one we are trying to tackle. Sharing expanded information on Board meeting discussions is one step among several tactics to demonstrate the important work that is happening within STFM. We’re working to make STFM communications vehicles tell more of our stories. Stay tuned.

Thank you for making the choice to be a member of STFM. It is an honor to serve you and the values you represent.

Stacy Brungardt, CAE STFM Executive Director

We’ve kept your President Jeri Hepworth, PhD, immersed in looking at ways we can improve STFM and our programs. She’s responded to this challenge by creating some teams of highly qualified members to help with this important task. Here are two teams at work for you.

Program Assessment Special Committee: This group is charged with the task of reviewing and evaluating existing STFM programs and initiatives to see if they are meeting member needs in a significant way.

Members of our special committee are:

• Melly Goodell, MD, special committee chair, Franklin Square Hospital Center, STFM Board member at large
• Scott Fields, MD, Oregon Health & Sciences University, STFM past president
• Jeri Hepworth, PhD, University of Connecticut/St Francis FMR, STFM president
• Dave Holub, MD, University of Rochester
• Don Mack, MD, Ohio State University, fellow in the Emerging Leaders program
• Rick Streiffer, MD, Tulane University, STFM secretary-treasurer
• Mary Theobald, STFM vice president of communications and programs
• Stacy Brungardt, CAE, STFM executive director

Strategic Plan Measurement Task Force: This task force will work on defining the metrics for how we will measure our progress and success of the strategic plan. For each priority and its strategies, the task force will be creating global and tactical measures to help us evaluate whether our activities are making a difference or need some help.

Members of our task force are:

• Cathy Pipas, MD, task force chair, Dartmouth University
• Perry Dickinson, MD, immediate past president
• Paul Gordon, MD, communications committee chair

If we don’t define success and ask the tough questions about the impact of our programs, how else will we know if our work is making a difference?

Thank you for making the choice to be a member of STFM. It is an honor to serve you and the values you represent.

Stacy Brungardt, CAE STFM Executive Director

Your STFM President, Jeri Hepworth, PhD, made an important observation following our April Board meeting. Despite a robust discussion on several important issues during the meeting, she noticed that the highlights we communicated in our bulleted list of Board actions in theMessenger didn’t capture the level of thoughtfulness that went into the discussions. She was right.

Added to this, you told us in the recent member needs survey that you wanted STFM to be a primary source of information for you. So, we’ve got some work to do. As a start, we’re doing a communications audit to review what we’re doing and how you want information delivered to you. You can expect to see changes in how and what we communicate to you about STFM and the discipline. A regular column from me is one change.

But back to those Board meeting communications … so what was noteworthy about the July Board meeting? By far, the most important action was the approval of a 3-year strategic plan. “Ho hum,” you might say. Actually, I find it pretty exciting. The plan includes five key priorities and strategies for the Society based on input from not just your leadership, but from the interviews, survey, and feedback we received from you! This plan will be the roadmap to help define where we devote our time and resources. I find that energizing. Get used to hearing about the strategic plan over the next 3 years, because we’re going to be referring to it often. I want to thank those of you who completed our electronic survey, participated in focus groups, and allowed us to interview you! From the Board’s perspective, your time was well spent and tremendously useful. Thank you for making the choice to be a member of STFM. It is an honor to serve you and the values you represent.