Charlotte Sutton, Southern Management Association President.

What an honor it is to serve as president of such an outstanding organization!  When I look at where SMA started, what it has accomplished and where we are headed, I am very proud of SMA.

Our web site speaks to our history.  The idea for a Southern association was born 70 years ago, but it wasn’t until 1960 when we elected our first president.  The following year we formally organized as the Southern Division of the Academy of Management.  I remember stories of really financially lean years in the 1970s when receptions consisted of cans of peanuts.  But in that same decade we persevered and took the chance of introducing a new journal, the Journal of Management, in 1975.

Look at us now.  From the seed of an idea 70 years ago, we have grown to a record membership of more than 1,000.  We are one of the, if not THE, largest regional groups associated with the Academy of Management.  Our journal is consistently ranked as a top-tier management journal and its circulation, online usage, and impact factor continue to rise dramatically.  And from those lean days in the 1970s, our bank account has grown to a comfortable $470,000. 

All of this provides us great latitude in how we can best serve our membership and our discipline.  As you have already heard, the SMA Board had a strategic planning retreat last year where we carefully crafted a mission to guide our decisions. 

SMA Mission:  We create value for our members, organizations, and society through professional development, high-impact scholarship and teaching, engaging programs, and deliberate, socially responsible acts. We do this while maintaining a sense of community that involves nurturing members, building collaborations, enhancing life-long friendships, and making a difference with our activities.

From that we developed a number of initiatives that we are continuing to implement.  For example, this year’s program will encourage innovative sessions and will even offer a prize for the most innovative session accepted for the program.  We will also be offering a developmental session which will include guidance from mentors who will help selected authors nurture their papers through to publication.  Our thanks to our 2008 program chair Peg Williams for seeing those ideas through to fruition.  (Watch the web site for details on both sessions.)

We also are investigating opportunities for those who are interested to “give back”  through a volunteer activity at our 2008 meeting in St. Pete Beach, Florida. Further we are working with the conference hotel to identify means by which we can leave a smaller footprint from our annual meeting.   These are just a few of the ideas we are working on.  The Board also invites ideas from our membership that will further the objectives of our mission statement.

The past few years have set records for us financially.  In 2006 and 2007 we not only hit record membership highs but we also hit new highs in paper submissions for the conference. And we continue to set new standards with the Journal of Management. 

SMA’s success rests on the contributions many.  I’m not going to attempt to name all who have contributed in the past year.  I would surely leave some out.  However, there are a few who simply must be recognized. 

Last year’s wonderful program was put together by Allen Amason.  It takes an enormous amount of time to coordinate sessions, assign them to rooms, plan receptions, etc.  Allen did an excellent job on a quality program that seemingly came off “without a hitch.”

I also need to recognize the largely behind-the-scenes efforts of Geralyn Franklin who has served as our Meeting Coordinator since 2001.  This is a year-round task: visiting potential sites, negotiating terms with hotels and vendors, and coordinating the minute details that make our meetings run smoothly.  Geralyn stepped in with the dissolution of the ASBA to coordinate our conferences and to help us establish our own conference procedures.  She has extended her term numerous times at the Board’s request.  This year she will begin limiting her role to site selection and hotel negotiation. Geralyn has made tremendous contributions in helping to make our conferences so successful.

We had several people who rolled off the board last year following years of dedicated service.  Sherry Moss completed her term as secretary and membership chair.  It was largely through her efforts that we have reached back to back record years in membership numbers.  Thank you, Sherry.

Sharon Topping also completed her three-year term as treasurer.  Not only has she kept track of our spending and investments, but she has coordinated and handled registration each year—a task that often prevents her from attending other sessions of the conference.  It has been a generous gift of time and sacrifice.  We also need to thank her husband Tom Lindley who faithfully gave of his time to our organization, even though he is not a member. 

We had three board members (Ben Tepper, Melenie Lankau, and Ethlyn Williams) who also rolled off the board this year.   Each has made valuable contributions to SMA and all were willing to serve in any capacity needed.  Their willingness to contribute stands as a model for future board members.

I also want thank Russell Cropanzano who will be completing his term as editor of JOM this summer.  Each editor of JOM has left his or her thumbprint on what the journal has become, and Russell is no different.  Under his leadership JOM subscriptions have grown, especially internationally.  The impact factor, which indicates how frequently JOM articles are cited, has also increased.  (That number is frequently used to judge the quality of a journal.)  Russell’s enthusiasm is contagious, and I know he will pass on that enthusiasm, along with his valuable knowledge, as he begins working with a new editor this year.

Finally, I want to thank all those who have contributed to making SMA what it is today–both in the past and during the past year.  We have been blessed with great leadership in the past, including Bill Gardner who just stepped down as president of SMA.  We are also blessed with countless people who are willing to review, serve as session chairs and discussants, and work on numerous committees.  Thanks to all of you for your generous gifts of time and talent.

As people move off the board, new opportunities become available for others to step in.  This year we have an unusually large number of places where people can plug into leadership roles.  Specifically we are seeking:

• Program Chair Elect
• Three New Board Members at Large
• Communications Coordinator
• On-site Conference Coordinator
• Doctoral Student Consortium Co-Coordinator

Calls for all of these positions can be found elsewhere in this newsletter.  We hope you will consider applying for one of these positions or nominating someone you think could make a valuable contribution.  Just as SMA has grown into what it is because of great leaders in the past, it will continue to need leaders who will step up to lead it into the future.

Charlotte Sutton
SMA President