President’s Report

Hello friends,

I hope everyone has fully recovered from the great conference we had in Austin. This was the largest turnout we’ve had (at least in this decade) from a non-Houston conference site. This year 544 attendees from 17 states were entertained, educated and challenged by a great lineup of speakers and trainers. I think everyone agreed that Mac Fulfer, “The Amazing Face Reader”, was indeed amazing. Nancy Friedman, “The Telephone Doctor”, was extremely informative and Danny Cahill was…well, Danny. How he continues to evolve, grow and change as a trainer is, again, amazing. While I’m on this topic, be sure to save the date, April 2nd – 4th for the 2009 conference at the OMNI in Houston. Helene Cavanaugh, Sheila Crawford, Laura Shebay, and Lynne Von Villas have promised to improve on the great job they did on the ’08 conference. It should be our best conference ever.

I’ve been talking to a number of our members in the past few weeks asking them if they’re seeing any economic softening in their business. Although this represents a small sampling, what I’ve heard is: Clerical and Light Industrial Temps – somewhat softer than second quarter ’08, but still good; Direct Hire – depends upon niche, with Engineering and IT – still strong, Administrative/Clerical – strong, Accounting/Finance – still soft; Contract – still very strong, though some downturn in job order volume reported; Medical – still strong in all sectors. Clearly we’re all fortunate to be working in Texas. Our market overall seems much healthier than national norms.

This has also been a good business time for your Association. In ’06 we had 162 member firms. In ’07, with a tremendous effort from Helene Cavanaugh, we grew TAPC to 224 members and in ’08 that number has grown to 260. Along with that, your Association has moved from a decade of financial difficulties and limited services to expanded offerings, revitalized relationships in Austin via our lobbying efforts and a healthier bank balance.

In closing I would like to thank the people who got us here, the 2007-2008 Board of Directors, under the vision and the leadership of Rick Marshall (thank you Rick for two great years – you really made a difference!) and the day-to-day blood, sweat and tears of Helene Cavanaugh. Helene has really been fantastic! The TAPC is going to have a great ’08 – ’09 year; we hope you do too.

See ya,

Bruce Whitaker