Happy new year! I hope your holiday season was filled with good health and much happiness. As so many do, I have put together a brief list of new year’s resolutions for 2014. Here are my top three.
1. Build ABC into a dominant organization that stands out from all others as the single best association in the blood industry.
Your ABC board of directors, supported by ABC senior leadership, has been heavily engaged in strategic thinking exercises and will conduct a strategic planning event in February to develop the organizational roadmap to position ABC to be viable, valuable, and vibrant through 2020. Watch for the ABC strategic plan to be shared with members in March. Look for a new alignment of ABC roles, responsibilities, and resources consistent with the strategic plan.
2. Establish personal credibility with our members and create organizational momentum.
As ABC’s new CEO, I am eager to get to know each of you to better understand your business environment and your relationship with ABC. We must develop member benefits that help to solve the problems you face and eliminate those programs that do not provide you value. Watch for one-on-one phone meetings with me, CEO office hours at ABC meetings, small group lunches, and regional focus groups. Look for online communities to better access ABC’s offerings through technology.
3. Evolve the ABC Data Warehouse (DW) to 100 percent-member use withadvanced big data applications that members may customize for their center.
The ABC DW Project is moving forward on time, on quality, and on cost. The processes to assure the data integrity are nearly complete with excellent results, and we have made improvements to ensure the data’s security. As one of our early adopters, Martin Grable, president and CEO of Community Blood Center of the Carolinas, observed, “The ABC DW is fundamental to our core interests in regulatory and legislative advocacy, scientific and medical affairs, and education. Data is powerful.”
Watch for an invitation to begin contributing to the ABC DW Project. Look for a call to join the DW Requirements Advisory Committee to design analytics that will provide you with actionable intelligence to view data, improve processes, and obtain a clearer picture of your blood center’s performance. Let’s work together to harness our collective intelligence of donors, products, and our environments.
The past year was one of transition for ABC, and I am incredibly proud of our blood center leaders and staff as well as the ABC team. This year will continue to bring change; I look forward to the year ahead and to working with you to advance our ability to provide safe and sufficient blood products for patients who rely on us.
Christine S. Zambricki, DNAP, CRNA, FAAN, Chief Executive Officer; czambricki@americasblood.org