Almost 10 years ago we made one of the most important organizational shifts in our history. It was the formation of NISC's Operations Committee or OC as it has come to be known. The purpose of this internal committee was to establish a cross-divisional representation, which was tasked with breaking down what was truly a frustration for all of us. And that was the divisional silos that we saw being built up in our organization. We also asked this committee to address some of the operational challenges that we were experiencing at the time and also to address challenges that certainly would present themselves as NISC's operation and product offering grew and expanded. I remember the Vice President meeting when we kicked this initiative off. All of the Vice Presidents understood that if we were to operate as efficiently as possible, well then we needed to lead by example and demonstrate what it means to remove any divisional or territorial considerations that sometimes caused us issues. The OC has been comprised of members of our Vice President group, including Dan Wilbanks as its chairman, Doug Remboldt, Ed Wolff, David Bonnett, Todd Eisenhauer, Jeff Nelson, and Jasper Schneider with Tracy Porter and Kari Reichert brought into the discussion whenever their expertise was required. I am so proud and grateful for the selfless actions of our Vice President group and how the OC's effectiveness has grown and the respect through this organization of this group has been strengthened. To be honest sometimes it's difficult for me to sit on the sidelines and defer many of the operational decisions to this committee, and I can say that I haven't always agreed with their outcomes and their decisions. But I will tell you this without exception, I absolutely trust the OC, and I know for certain that their decisions and actions are made with only the best interests of the long-term entirety of our organization, our Members, and our employees. Building on their reputation of fairness and servant leadership, we have decided to take the next step in strengthening our organization and that is the formation of a strategy committee. NISC and the industries we serve are moving so fast. In fact, without a doubt, the pace is accelerating and to truly be successful in the future, our organization must be able to place a greater emphasis on the development of strategy and the implementation of innovation as well as strengthening our operations. The operations of our organization going forward is no less critical than it has been in the past. It's making sure that we take care of our Members. It's advancing our products, creating an environment and a culture in our organization that encourages our employees to advance their careers. But strategy - strategy is setting the course for the future of our organization. And when things get hectic, as they often do here at NISC, we seem to postpone our strategic discussions and dive right into the operational concerns. Steve Jobs is quoted as saying "innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." I think all of us want to be leaders. We want NISC to define and to lead the industry, not just to keep up with the competitors with a "me too" mentality. So with this organizational change the operations committee will stay in place with the same objective of improving cross-functional operational issues. But there will be a new cast of leaders serving NISC in this capacity. The initial members of this committee are managers, and they were selected to represent the major operating divisions of NISC. The new members of the OC are Mike Weber, Greg Jahner, Nate Boettcher, Jim Rapp, Rick Willmann, Susan Imm, and Amanda Peterson will join the group as her legal expertise is required. We fully expect that over time we will rotate other employees into this committee, so that they too can contribute to the committee and also grow from the experience of serving on this important NISC management group. The Vice Presidents on the present OC will transition to the Strategy Committee or SC, where they will spend the majority of their time developing strategies for future products, partnerships, staffing, approaches to the market, competitive positioning, and the continual process of fine-tuning NISC's organizational structure. I am very excited to involve more leaders in our organizational-wide operations, and I'm thrilled to have our Vice President team focused on future strategies, laying the course for our organization in a well thought-out manner for years to come. I am certain that these changes will be the driving force in our continual improvement and increase the velocity of our innovation and momentum of NISC's flywheel. I ask your support for this change as it will be critical to both the OC and its important role here at NISC and for the SC to effectively point NISC and our products in the right direction. Like Steve Jobs said "innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." At NISC, we all aspire to be leaders. Thanks for listening. I appreciate you. Vern
