Stronger Together, Moving Forward: 2026 MEMSPA Leadership Retreat & Board of Directors Meeting

On September 10, MEMSPA's Board of Directors, region leadership, and the MEMSPA team gathered for our annual Leadership Retreat, a full-day dedicated to team building, collaboration, and strategic planning work under this year's retreat theme: Stronger Together, Moving Forward. The Board of Directors also met on September 11 and made an important recommendation to support association leadership in the presidential pathway. 

Strategic Plan Progress  

Region and committee leaders shared updates on our three strategic goals. This is our first year of implementation after creating the goals and strategic framework last year. Highlights on progress made to date include the following: 

• Leader Support & Development: Our 1:1 Mentoring & Coaching program has grown in both mentors and supportive leaders, alongside continued outreach to support aspiring leaders. .

• Professional Learning: Cohort programs are being promoted at region meetings and with ISDs/RESAs; we are building our scholarship program fund, and we're deepening national partnerships with NAESP and AMLE.

• Membership Growth & Engagement: A new non-member letter-writing campaign is underway, region boards rosters are nearly full, and each region has its own membership growth goal for the year.

Leaders spent the end of the day actively working on the objectives for each of these goal areas.  

Building Connection and Community

True to our theme, the day included time to connect as a leadership team and participate in rotations on social media engagement, digital storytelling, and a commitment to the Top 10 Ways to Engage resource.  

Looking Ahead: A Recommendation on Presidential Pathways

Part of our day was spent introducing a recommendation that our Presidential Pathways Task Force has been developing since June, and that our Board voted to bring forward to the Representative Assembly for a vote on December 1.  

What's being proposed:

• Add a Vice President role to the officer pathway.

• Phase out the Past President role over time.

• The new pathway would move officers through Vice President → President-Elect → President, with a multi-year transition plan already mapped out so no one's current term is disrupted, and everyone would have a three-year term.

Why the Task Force/Board of Directors are recommending this change:

• It gives incoming leaders more time to understand the presidential role, learn more about the association, and build relationships with the Board and MEMSPA staff before stepping into the presidency.

• It mirrors the structure of our national affiliate, NAESP, strengthening our voice and consistency in national forums.

• It reflects our organization's commitment to transparency and continuous improvement in how we govern as a board and association. 

The recommendation also includes related bylaw updates, including revised language on officer duties, region board composition, mission and adoption dates, membership categories, and Board appointment procedures, to align our governing documents with the new structure.

Important: This is a recommendation, not a decision. Under our bylaws, a change like this requires the support of two-thirds of the delegates made up from each region at the Representative Assembly. The following plan will be used to communicate this recommendation.

• September/October: We will communicate to the Executive Board, Board of Directors, Representative Assembly, and full membership.

• November: Formal communication to the Representative Assembly delegates ahead of the vote.

• December: Representative Assembly vote on the presidential pathway shift and associated bylaw revisions.

We encourage every member to talk with your Region President, Representative Assembly delegates, MEMSPA Board of Directors, and/or MEMSPA Staff about this proposal if you need any clarification. We want this to be a well-understood, well-discussed recommendation before the vote.

A Few Reminders

• Representative Assembly: If your region hasn't yet secured its delegates, please do so soon. Confirm attendance for the December 1 meeting and send names and email addresses to Becky@memspa.org.

• Annual Conference: Join us December 2–4 at Grand Traverse Resort, featuring Jack Berckemeyer, Willow Sweeney, and LaVonna Roth. Consider participating in the region themed silent-auction basket to support the MEMSPA Professional Learning Scholarship Fund.

• Stay connected: Follow MEMSPA on your preferred social media platform. 

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the retreat, and to Michigan Virtual for allowing us to use the building and for sponsoring our evening reception and dinner. Here's to a year of staying stronger together and moving forward.

Lead with us,

Shanna Spickard, Ed.D.