Attention California chapter officers and members! Get to know your Region 3 Board of Advisor, Ronald Gilson, CPP, with this fun Q&A session.
What was your reaction when you were asked to serve on the Board of Advisors?
Immediately, I felt a little overwhelmed. I had great advisors for Region 1, such as Barbara Youngman, CPP and Flora Mojica, CPP to look up to. I wanted to be as helpful to Region 3 as they were to me. Once I learned that I would be working with Liz Herrera, Chapter Relations Manager, and her team I knew it was going to be a grand adventure!
What were some struggles you have experienced and overcome as Board of Advisor?
Communication is always an issue, for how do you successfully engage as many people as possible? Region 3 has so many great leaders, but it can be difficult to gather everyone together at the same time. I’ve learned that by getting a Local Chapter Mailing List from Chapter Relations helps, and it has been fun to connect with everyone via LinkedIn. The Region 3 Board of Advisor LinkedIn page has been a great way to share information.
Please share a fond memory you have made with your region during your term as Board of Advisor.
I have so many great memories with Region 3 members. It’s impossible to pick just one! The Chapter Exchanges at Congress have been so awesome! Many of the past and current Board of Advisors are from Region 3 so it has been great to interact with them during the events.
However, one of my favorite memories has been working with Chapter President, Deanna Crow, CPP, from the newly formed Kern County Chapter. We were able to meet face to face for the first time at the 35th Annual Congress in Orlando, FL, and I have been able to remotely help with their study group. It has been my pleasure to help them as they reach out to the members in their area. I was a Chapter President with a fairly new chapter when I started, and my Board of Advisor was a great help. I’m so happy to have been able to pay that back in some way.
What were you surprised to learn about the chapters in your Region?
I originated from a much smaller chapter than what you would see in Region 3 and was surprised to see that the great leaders in my region struggled with the same things that smaller chapters tussle with: scheduling the best meeting times, membership involvement, officer transitions, study groups, and event organization.
What do you enjoy most about being on the Board of Advisors?
I love meeting the people and helping in any way I can! It has been so much fun to meet all the awesome payroll professionals and to observe such a great diversity of specialties and people.
The second thing I like the most about being a Board of Advisor is having the opportunity to interact with the other Advisors. It is great to network with people that I normally wouldn’t have met and be able to communicate and contribute the APA members’ ideas to the APA executive team. It is exciting to see an idea that one of our members has, see the advisors discuss it, and then have it implemented for all the APA members to benefit from.
Ronald Gilson, CPP, began his 2-year term as the Region 3 Board of Advisor in May 2016. He encourages everyone whether in Region 3 or another region, to contact him with any chapter questions that they may have.
Are you a chapter leader in Region 3? Introduce yourself to Ronn if you haven’t already in the comment section!
