Will DiGrazio - President-Elect:

First, I would like to thank the organization for allowing its membership the opportunity to positively give back to the group. I consider it an honor and a privilege to serve the AGITP in any capacity, as were my feelings in 2000 when I served as the organization's Treasurer. I feel confident looking from the list of candidates that our organization will continue to have strong, motivated officers in the coming years as everyone nominated would make an excellent choice.

With that said, I can offer my thoughts as a means to distinguish between the candidates. Since becoming a member of the GCRC community in 1998, I have heard a common theme concerning communication between GCRCs. Unfortunately, I am unaware of any multi-GCRC collaborative efforts at this point. If I am wrong, please forgive my naivete. I actually hope that I am wrong and there are such ventures occurring, but this would make my point. If indeed these initiatives are ongoing, a mission of the AGITP should be to enlighten the group as a whole and to trumpet such collaborations. My lack of knowledge concerning such efforts represents a communication gap, which would be a focal point to improve. If there truly are no multi-GCRC collaborative efforts, then perhaps the AGITP leadership can provide some direction for the group to take ownership in and produce a successful deliverable.

This last sentence is essentially the basis for my motivation: to produce a successful deliverable. It would look favorably upon our organization if we could present to the NCRR a successful collaborative effort that would demonstrate the AGITP has graduated from the realm of interspersed islands to pockets of island groups merged by bridges that have an AGITP management process capable of effective communication. I am not promising the sky, I just believe we should start to take the first step and keep marching forward. Thus, with your support I pledge to make this agenda a prime strategic initiative for the coming future. Even if another
candidate is chosen, I pledge to assist in any way possible to help this process along as I truly believe our organization's future success is integrally tied to convincing the NCRR the GCRCs are a dynamic group of synergistic research sites.

I welcome any comments concerning these thoughts, as it would be helpful to understand your valuable insights.

Thank you and have a wonderful week-end,
Will