The Chairman's Corner

By Vince Cardinale

June 2024

Wow! What a fabulous Convention in beautiful Waikoloa Village, Hawaii. The Hilton Waikoloa Village was a great location for our 106th CMSA Convention. 

First, I want to personally congratulate Jesse Chabot on his service and leadership and his outstanding job as our chairman for 2023-2024. I enjoyed reading your insightful and interesting monthly columns.    

The pre-convention activities began Tuesday with the Executive Board Committee meeting, followed that evening by the Mover & Shakers dinner. Thank you to the evening sponsors, Dewitt Companies and Transguard Insurance. It was a beautiful evening outside on the Lagoon Lanai.

Wednesday morning began with our four committee meetings: The Insurance Committee, The Government Affairs Committee, The Membership Committee, and the Military Affairs Committee. All four committee meetings were quite busy with full agendas. The Insurance Committee heard Champion Risk's Casey Meyers report regarding CMSA Health insurance plans.

The big news from the Government Affairs Committee was our CMSA Watchlist regarding upcoming issues, including impacts affecting independent contractors, insurance costs and availability, Marijuana testing Laws, and CARB regulations. The Membership Committee and Military Affairs Committee were also lively with interesting conversations.   

The general business sessions and breakout sessions were very informative. As always, our vendors and associate members' participation was awesome. Thank you to all of our participating vendors and associate members. With your support, we can accomplish so much more as an Association.  

The Legislative luncheon on Friday was quite informative. Speaker Matt Robinson, our legislative advocate from Sacramento with Shaw Yoder Antwih Schmelzer & Lange, spoke about the politics and issues facing our industry today.

The Scholarship luncheon on Saturday has always been one of my favorites. It included the awarding of scholarships and hearing from our Special Olympics Athlete. We heard from a few of the scholarship winners who were present, and we also heard from those who were not present via a video presentation. My personal favorite speech was delivered in person by Scholarship winner James Casey. 

The Annual Chairman’s Ball was held on Saturday night, and everyone had a good time. I will personally remember the evening for many years to come, especially my sister Roseann’s terrific introduction speech on my behalf. Thank you Roseann for the interesting and informative speech.  

Thank you to all Convention attendees and, especially, to all the Committee and Board members for their time and participation in our meetings.

I encourage all CMSA members to participate in this great association, attend local chapter meetings, and consider taking a leadership role, such as becoming a chapter president or running for the position of CMSA Board representative for your local CMSA Chapter.

Use your CMSA membership to the fullest, especially during this economic slowdown. Our association's continued success as an Industry Leader depends on our membership's full participation. 

If you missed the convention in Waikoloa Village, HI, I strongly recommend you make plans to attend our 107th annual convention at Bally’s in beautiful Lake Tahoe on April 22-27, 2025.

Thank you again for your confidence. I am humbled, and it is truly a privilege and an honor to be your CMSA Chairman. I look forward to personally meeting and working with all of you during my year as Chairman. 

June 2024 - CMSA Communicator