President’s Message

Dear ARMA Oklahoma Chapter Members and Friends!

This is going to be an exciting year for our Chapter! And to kickoff this new year, there are many things to share with you, and even though I wanted to keep this as short as possible, there’s just too much to talk about. For those who may not know, the original OKC ARMA Chapter was founded on 11/2/1988, and the original Tulsa ARMA Chapter was founded on 10/2/1973. In 2020, that changed when the Tulsa ARMA Chapter merged with the OKC ARMA Chapter to form one united ARMA Oklahoma Chapter. Our ARMA Oklahoma Chapter meets monthly - in the capital and landmark city of Oklahoma City with in-person meetings, as well as many ARMA Oklahoma Chapter members who meet virtually in the green country area of Tulsa, and our Chapter even includes members from Arkansas, Nebraska and Texas that meet virtually as well. Our membership has grown from 32 Chapter members in January 2023 to 49 Chapter Members as of August 1, 2024. Great things are truly happening in Oklahoma! 

Having served as Vice President for the last two years, I am honored to be able to begin serving a two-year term as your Chapter President. I joined ARMA in 2014 in Austin, Texas and served on their Chapter Board as Membership Chair, and Programs Chair for about 6 years. My family was blessed to move to the Tulsa area in 2020 when I accepted a position in the RIM department at ONEOK, and my position now is a Supervisor of Operations Records Lifecycle Management at ONEOK.

I would like to take this time and opportunity to recognize the significant contributions made by a group of long-time, steadfast, and committed members of our Chapter. They volunteer their time because they care about the success of our Chapter and ultimately, that means they care about you. 

• Rebecca Arnold, RIM Manager-Paycom, has faithfully served our Chapter as President for the last two years, through the years has also served as Vice President, and she has now become our Immediate Past President. She has been a member of ARMA since 2007.

• Fariba Williams, Assistant Director Records Management-OK State Regents for Higher Education, has been a dedicated Board member for 14 years having served previously as Director, Vice President, President, Immediate Past President and has now moved into the Vice President/President Elect position. She has been a member of ARMA since 2010.

• Chris Thibault, Operations Manager-Iron Mountain, has served with tenacity as the Board Treasurer for the last 3 years, and over his 4 years in the Chapter, he’s held the Board positions of Director and Treasurer. He has been a member of ARMA since 2019.

• Holly Holman, Records Manager-McAfee and Taft, has persistently served as the Board Secretary for the last 4 years, and throughout her last 10 years she’s held the Board positions of both Secretary and Treasurer. She has been a member of ARMA since 2013.

• And this year, we are very excited to welcome a new Board member, Toni Ellington, Director of Legal and Product Compliance-Paycom, who will be serving in one of the newly named positions. She has been a member of ARMA since 2023.

“Finding Your V.O.I.C.E.”  is the 2024/2025 theme ARMA has chosen which is totally inline with the hopes for our chapter. Consider this:

o   V – Volunteers – Where are they? Have you ever given any thought to volunteering to help the chapter? Not enough can be said about how impressive this looks on a resume. Will this be the year you engage?

o   O – Outreach Opportunities – Do you want to make a difference in your community? Each December we spotlight a local charity in OKC (YWCA) and Tulsa (Iron Gate Ministries).

o   I  –  Invite – When’s the last time you’ve invited another co-worker or colleague to attend a chapter meeting (virtually or in-person)? Our field touches many folks in all of our organizations, IT, Legal, Security, etc.

o   C – Collaborative Connections – Also known as “Networking”. It’s always refreshing to have conversations with others who are speaking your language!

o   E – Educate with a Purpose – Our chapter meetings for this year have already been booked and we have some phenomenal speakers and topics lined up for you! 

On August 2nd, the Chapter Board met to organize and plan this next Chapter year, and we couldn’t be more motivated about what this year will bring! We are driven to bring you inspirational, educational and engaging speakers and current information. It all starts with this email and our first meeting of the year on September 19th! And launching our first meeting with valuable information and training from renowned powerhouse will be Andrew Ysasi, who will present, “Unlock the Potential of AI”. Andrew is also bringing this same content to ARMA InfoCon, and RIMPA Global. Keep an eye out for the meeting announcement email coming soon as well as on our Chapter website, www.armaokchapter.com, for more details.

Other items the Board decided was to more clearly define and rename the two Director positions. One of the Director positions has been renamed Business Partner Liaison. The Business Partner Liaison responsibilities will be focused on, 1) communicating closely with our existing business partner sponsors, 2) networking with and offering incentives with new potential chapter sponsors.

The second Director position has been renamed Director of Membership. The main responsibilities of the Director of Membership will be 1) continued growth of the Chapter and the Association by adding to the membership; and 2) retention of membership within the Chapter and the Association. We hope one of our Chapter members will aspire to volunteer just a few hours each month to help our Chapter thrive and grow. If this is you, we need you, please let us know!

Other volunteer opportunities for our Chapter are Marketing/Social Media, and Website. Our Board members are committed to this Chapter and we are currently performing these duties, but an extra pair of hands and collaborative ideas would help more evenly distribute the responsibilities. If this is you, we need you, please let us know!

Why become a Board member? To learn, practice and develop leadership skills in order to advance in your career and be successful in the records management, information management and information governance industry. If you are an ARMA member and volunteer in this capacity, your resume can reflect your accomplishment in this discipline and can potentially improve promotion opportunities. Our Board meets in person at the beginning of the chapter year, and then two short virtual meetings in January and April. Most of our communications are via email and there may be an occasional need to meet for an impromptu virtual board meeting.

In closing, we want you to leave our meetings feeling that you learned something in order to justify your time, but we also need you to have enjoyed yourself in order for you to want to keep returning. We are focused on making this happen this year. Looking forward to seeing you on September 19th!

Sincerely,

Michelle Stafford, CRM

ARMA OK Chapter Board President