A strategic planning session in March for members of the Executive Board, Long-Range Planning Committee, and AVMA staff, and guided by a facilitator, led to a consensus—the AVMA needs to redesign its long-range planning process.

The first step came in May when the board approved the Long-Range Planning Committee's recommendations to discontinue that committee and establish Strategic Planning and Governance Performance Review committees in its place.

Executive Board member Dr. Henry E. Childers, District I, said, "I think this change is called progress, and it's a decided change in the right direction."

The reason behind the restructuring is the realization among attendees that an entity is needed that will focus directly and exclusively on the strategic planning process, in close collaboration with the board and staff. That will be the Strategic Planning Committee.

Those in the strategic planning session also recognized the importance, however, of the LRPC's charge to review and monitor the performance of AVMA entities. This will become the work of the new Governance Performance Review Committee.

A few of the guiding principles for those redesigning the AVMA planning process will be the need for unified involvement of the Executive Board, House of Delegates, AVMA entities, and staff in developing and implementing the strategic plan, and the need to integrate the plan into the decision-making process and allocation of resources.