A Message From the President and CEO December 2020

As this unusual year draws to a close, I am moved to reflect on my comments from the start of the year. In January, I commented that “When we talk of vision, 2020 refers to clear vision.” As it turned out, that could not have been further from the truth. In January, we had no idea of what was to come. By March, we were all consumed by COVID-19 and our world has not been the same since. We found ourselves talking about being “locked down” and how we could continue to work, train people, and audit remotely. Tragically, some lost their jobs. Our hearts go out to any of our customers who have been affected by this pandemic, be it through loss, illness, or jobs being impacted. Our thoughts and best wishes continue to be with you all.

Despite COVID-19, we know that your wants and needs have changed, and we have done our best to respond. One example of this is the upcoming launch of digital badging to recognize achievements and enhance career development. We have also held three very successful virtual conferences and are enjoying greater participation in these events.

In October, we launched Exemplar LINK in Beta to seek and consider your feedback. This ever-growing suite of services is intended to assist you to continue your professional development in your chosen direction, at your own pace. If you have not already done so, I encourage you to create your profile and review what we have available and learn more about our future intentions.

I am also delighted to finish the year with another new initiative. I am excited to introduce you to Emma, our new digital human colleague. Emma will initially host website tours and answer Frequently Asked Questions, but we are working on developing her further to provide a more comprehensive “concierge” service to assist you. Click here to learn more about Emma.

And, there is more to come. We have ideas intended to assist our customers enhance their development and profiles at all stages of careers. Most services are without cost, some are available fee-for-service, but nothing is mandatory. So, whether you are first-, second- or third-party auditor, a QA Manager, or trainer or consultant, we invite you to join us at www.exemplarlink.org.

While we did not envisage the year that has been 2020, we have continued to pursue our objective of being the best not-for-profit servant to our sector and customers. I would like to thank each and every one of you for your custom, to those who have helped us with presentations for expos, for technical support, and in any other way.

I would also like to acknowledge and thank my team at Exemplar Global. Like everyone else, our team was affected by COVID-19. Every one of the team accepted to work from home (and we all still do!), without complaint or disruption to business activity and customer support. Thank you, team, you are wonderful. I am proud to work with you all.

We are looking forward to 2021 and hope we can get back to a more normal way of life. We wish all of you a happy holiday season. Stay safe, keep well, enjoy the break if you are having one and we look forward to serving you again next year.