b'From the President and CEOWow, what a year 2023 was for our organization! First, I want to first congratulate the Class of 2023 - our 30th graduating class - on a successful year. We welcome you into the Leadership Maryland family! We started the year finalizing our new three-year strategic plan and our staff went right to work implementing the various aspects of the plan. I am happy to report we made significant strides forward in all aspects of the plan and are ahead of schedule to complete all of the strategies possibly in the coming year. Many of the accomplishments from the year can be seen on page four but there are a few that I would like to highlight. A major step forward was the development of our updated bylaws to further bring together our organization and better modernize our rules of governance. This was only made possible by a strong committee who powered through the various details in the bylaws. We thank them all for their efforts and their speed in which we were able to navigate this multilayered topic. Speaking of committees, we want to send a special thank you out to all the individuals whoPlease know that your staff stepped up to participate in the various existing and new committees this past year. We hadand board ofmore than 60 different alumni and board members who offered their time and support. Also,directors are committed to we were very pleased that every board member either co-chaired or was a member of a committee, further demonstrating their commitment to the organization. From all this work,improving the organization we are proud to report that every committee made significant strides forward and set theand creating additional foundation for our future.benefits for our members.One of the objectives we had this year was to get out and be more public. We did this byDavid A. Fike 16 (LM)hosting an event in every county and Baltimore City at some point during the year. We reallyPresident & CEOenjoyed the connection to alumni in their home communities and further getting to know them and their markets. Our Alumni Engagement committee is already planning 2024 and we hope all of you come out and participate in the fun. The last item to highlight is this annual book which has changed in several ways. To begin with, we have changed the name to Yearbook and Annual Report. We did this to keep you better informed of everything happening with your organization this past year and a glimpse of what is to come this year. We also have moved the publish time to the first week of the new year to include in the full year worth of activities, most notably the graduation of this past years class. This book is now available in digital form and sent to our entire alumni base. Last, you will see that we did not include the individual listing for alumni in the book. We moved away from this because we found our alumni are on the move, resulting in listings being inaccurate. In place of that is our searchable online directory which is available on our website to our members here: https://tinyurl.com/LMDDirectory. While you are in there, we ask that you review your listing info and update it if necessary. As we celebrate our successes of the past year, we understand there is a great deal of work to be done in the year ahead. Please know that your staff and board of directors are committed to improving the organization and creating additional benefits for our members. Be on the lookout for some major announcements of new programming and new ways to connect with alumni in 2024. We hope that you will join us on this journey by getting more involved or becoming re-invigorated in our various activities around the state, or joining one of our committees. Heres to a great 2024!Sincerely,David A. Fike 16 (LM)President & CEO2 Leadership Maryland 2023'