The OPE Board of Trustees created five new working committees in September 2009. These committees allow volunteers to work with board members to develop value-added products and services to our customers. This committee structure allows interested individuals to get involved to shape OPE and work with other professionals who are passionate about continuous improvement and deploy action actions. Below are the five committees with major responsibilities and names of the board members. * Advancement Committee - Fund raising, conference sponsorships, organizational memberships, and social networking --- Frank Perez, Paul Worstell (Charter - Advancement) * Awards Process Committee – Advising, Partnering and Full Examining award cycle, examiner training and judging process --- Tom Baldrick, Dee Hammel, Amy Imm (Charter - Awards Process) * Education Committee - Conference planning, learning opportunities and public speaking --- Vicki Noel, Steve Wall, Bruce Wyngaard (Charter - Education) * Finance Committee – Budget and fiscal issues ---Mike Belter, Casey Mackert, Tom Zaino (Charter - Finance) * Marketing Committee – Branding, web site, newsletter, advertising strategies, and individual memberships --- Rusty Clifford, George McAfee, Jon Williams (Charter - Marketing)   Committee Minutes Marketing_04-09-10 Marketing 01-25-10 Education 01-14-10 Advancement 11-03-09 Marketing 11-02-09 Advancement 10-08-09 All organizations face hurdles, some become great, some stumble and sway, others just fade away. Great organizations are able to create a culture of excellence. They create a way of doing business that sees past the short term day-to-day struggle to a long-term, sustainable vision of excellence.