January'22 Message from the President
Burcin Turkkan
Skål International World President 2022
My Fellow Skålleagues,
I am truly honored to be elected as your World President in 2022.
It has been an election with the highest participation ever and votes cast as we have conducted an online election using the ElectionBuddy system. The best part of the elections was being elected by you not once but twice! I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the trust you have in me. I will do my absolute best to be worthy of your trust in my ability to lead our wonderful organization and take it to the next level.
In the first 20 days at the office, I have initiated the significant steps en route to accomplishing the three main goals we set for the year: restructuring the governance, better fiscal policies, and strategic growth of membership. We have initiated the eight committees and selected 18 co-chairs to manage the committees in collaboration with their Skål International Executive Board Liaison. We already have 95 members signed up to the committees recommended by Committee Co-Chairs and the Executive Board members, and we expect several more volunteers to sign up before January 26th. These committees will kick start their work as of February 1st.
It is fascinating to see Skålleagues being excited with this movement, taking charge of the future for their organization. I am humbled by the love and support I have received from our members from all around the Skål International world, seeing them agree with this year’s theme Skål International 2022- WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER AS ONE.
Our biggest challenge right now is the continuing pandemic; it is continuing to hit our industry, our members, and their business in most parts of the world, and many are struggling more than ever. Globally within the industry, there is a shift from the HR perspective from the travel industry to other industries, leading to significant changes in the operations. We will be continuing to follow all these changes closely and discussing how we, as Skål International, can have a better impact in supporting our members professionally while increasing our global partnerships to create opportunities to advocate with partnering organizations to help with the recovery of our industry.
Your Executive Board is meeting in person after two years of no in-person meetings. We are meeting in Little Rock, AR. We are holding meetings for three days to discuss many topics and strategize further for 2022. Last week I met with Area Committee and National Committee Presidents to share the goals for the year, listen to them, and make a note of any concerns or suggestions they have to take with me to our Executive Board Meeting that is taking place between January 26-29.
Skålleagues, in 2022, I invite you all to stay positive, work together, collaborate, and make sure to continue to do business among Skålleagues to support each other more than ever and strengthen our friendship and amical.
As always, please know that your Skål International Executive Board, Skål International HQ team, and I are always here to support you and assist you in any way we can with your questions, concerns, or suggestions.
Always in Friendship and Skål,
