Last year I wrote about my trail and errors as a novice apiarist.  As I have written in the past about the difficulties of being a new apiarist, it takes a lot of hard work and foresight to ensure the hive is working and prospering.  As this year kicks off, we as a society have to work together to instill camaraderie within our organization and promote our missions within the industry.

As the Region’s new President, I want us all to work together to foster positive relationships and name recognition. We must focus on building upwards.  What does this mean? It means interact more with our members and affiliates.  As I see it, there are three pillars that ensure the continued success of our region: expansion, marketing, and involvement. Each of these three items cumulates to instill our region’s growth.

My goal as president is to expand our Student Association Council (SAC) to universities throughout Florida and engage our members through webinars, socials, and other outreach measures.  We will focus on outreach that adds value to our society such as our newsletter, annual meeting, and symposiums.  We must be willing to reach out to other professional societies, and develop new partnerships that increase our brand recognition. Working together we will continue to build our region, and increase our membership.
I look forward to making 2014 successful.

Ekaterina Fitos, GISP
President, Florida Region