Let’s take a moment to publicly recognize one of our ABC staff members for his service to ABC and the industry. At the beginning of May, Jim Buikema completed 23 years as director of member services and began his retirement. Through the years, Jim has been truly dedicated to the welfare of ABC members and their employees.
As most of you know, membership is the “lifeblood of any organization”, and Jim has diligently worked to recruit and retain new members. Since 1985, more than 1200 new members have joined ABC/WMC and our average retention rate of 90.3% over this period places us in the top level among ABC’s 79 Chapters.
Jim earned the Certified Membership Professional (CMP) designation from ABC national and several membership growth and retention awards for the Chapter. Over these twenty-three years, he has helped countless members become:
Involved in programs and services of benefit to them
Answered questions on a variety of topics, or
Directed them to others who could solve their problems.
His specialty was placing people in the Health Insurance Programs that fit their situation and helping them to gain coverage in our workers comp program. But, it also might have been encouraging them to attend a meeting or workshop, or providing prevailing wage info to a member. More recently, he restarted our safety program efforts leading us to a viable committee and educational programs.
To send Jim off into retirement, the Chapter recently provided Jim with a rifle and scope that he wanted for his collection. We are also sponsoring Jim, his sons and grandsons in the upcoming Combination Shoot the Chapter is holding in June.
Please take a moment to express your congratulations to Jim for reaching this milestone in life! He can be reached: here.