Message from the 2010 President

"This Thing of Ours"

Bill Mesa
OB Sports Golf Management

I am honored to serve as the 2010 HSMAI Arizona Chapter President and it is with great pride that I intend to grow, lead, and most importantly have FUN with our membership.

I grew up in Chicago and was taught many life lessons in the town of Melrose Park, llinois. My dad's family owned a Cuban grocery store in a prominent Italian neighborhood so I learned early in life the importance of respect, honor, and loyalty. It is based on these life values that I came up with my theme for 2010: "This Thing of Ours."

"This Thing of Ours" is a term normally used to describe certain waste management and construction organizations like in the "Sopranos"; I felt that there were many positive qualities that can apply to our own "organization."

Respect: I was able to experience the level of respect other chapters have for the Arizona Chapter when I attended the HSMAI Leadership conferences in both Memphis and Washington D.C. The Arizona Chapter is highly regarded as "Best in Class" in many categories.

Honor & Loyalty: These two qualities go hand in hand. Our chapter is blessed with a membership that displays their "Honor & Loyalty" year after year. We have many members who get involved and take great pride in making our chapter the best it can be. We are always looking for additional members to get involved in "This Thing of Ours."

Fun: In these current economic times I believe is very important to find a good time in whatever you do. In the spirit of fun I have given all of our Leadership members nicknames, for example, Penny "Bag of Donuts" Allphin, Melanie "The Yankee Clipper" Volkers, and Angie "Numbers" Belknap just to name a few. I have changed the term of board liaisons to "Capos" and committee chairperson to "Street Bosses." I also renamed all committees to "Family" names, for example, Gambino, Sopranos, Corleone to name a few.

I'm looking forward to continuing the great tradition our chapter has of education and networking excellence. I appreciate the respect, honor and loyalty of our membership and would like to make those members who are not yet involved in our organization "an offer that they can't refuse" to please join a "crew", aka committee, and help us make "This Things of Ours" the best organization it can be!

I look forward to having a "sit down" with each one of you!

With Great Respect, Honor, and Loyalty,

Bill "The Godfather" Mesa