A short ten months ago, I was honored to be handed the gavel at the Milwaukee NASPL Annual Conference to start my term as President of our association.
Every new NASPL President must decide what can be accomplished or started in a short period of time. For me, it was creating a comprehensive guide to hosting the NASPL Annual Conference, establishing a mentorship program for new directors, and increasing member participation.
With the help and guidance of the entire NASPL team – who are simply amazing – this year we worked to create a playbook that future presidents can use to host future NASPL Annual Conferences. I truly believe this will assist the leaders that follow me.
Creating a first of its kind NASPL Director Mentorship Program was one of my major goals this year. I'm sure many of you have read my story about coming in as a new Director and not knowing a thing about lottery except for selling it when I worked at a grocery store. Fortunately, Sarah Taylor, Executive Director of the Hoosier Lottery, took me under her wing when I started as the Director of the Wisconsin Lottery. Working with Sarah made me realize that there are new directors every year who need help acclimating to the job. With the help of the Regional Directors, we have come up with a skeletal mentorship program to welcome new directors and allow them to meet a couple folks before walking into a room for the first time. While we definitely have room to grow – including utilizing our vendor partners in the initiative– it's a great start to a meaningful program. My hope is for new directors to tell us how this program can continue to improve.
Another priority I had for my term was increasing our membership participation. NASPL is only as strong as we want it to be. Directors in NASPL have so much to offer and share; it's one of the best parts of the association. Over this past year, we made it a priority to have open discussions at the directors’ meetings. The content and conversations were second to none, and many directors had some incredible takeaways.
Thank you to all who participated to promote open lines of communication with candid discussions. I am so excited for this to continue! I am a big believer that teamwork really can make the dream work. Lotteries and their vendor partners are a perfect example of that. It's amazing what we can all accomplish as a team, and it has been an absolute honor to continue building on those relationships with you all. We've seen some exciting increased involvement from the Regional Directors this past year, as well as additional collaboration happening within the regions themselves. I have a feeling some pretty great things will be coming as a result. I especially want to thank our Regional Directors, Jay Finks, Adam Prock, Rebecca Paul and Jim Carey, for your partnerships and work this year.
I also want to extend a thank you to the Wisconsin Lottery team. I wouldn't be where am I today if it weren't for their dedication, hard work, innovation, and friendship. I am forever grateful.
Now that I've reflected on the past year's accomplishments, it's time to get excited about the coming year. As the presidential gavel is passed on, I am confident that NASPL will continue to evolve and prosper. Please help me in welcoming our new NASPL president, a friend of mine and the Director of the Illinois Lottery, Harold Mays. Harold, you are going to do an amazing job in this role. We are all behind you and look forward to a great year.
Cindy Polzin
NASPL President
Wisconsin Lottery Director
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