News (blog)

In September, we held our first annual SFPE-NEC Golf Tournament to benefit the A.L. Brown Scholarship and we are pleased to announce that it was a success raising approximately $3600 for the scholarship!  We would like to thank all of our sponsors and golfers who braved the weather conditions.  We hope that everyone had a great time - we know that we did!  Our sponsors were: Siemens, enGauge Inc., Fenwal Protection Systems / AirSense, Marioff, Norel Service, Rolf Jensen & Associates, WPI Department of Fire Protection Engineering, The Protectowire Co., Robert Benedetti, Xtralis, Fike Alarm Systems, The Pappas Company, and SimplexGrinnell. 

We would like to congratulate our winning golf team: Jeff DeMaine, Thomas Garbedian, Peter Brooks, and Ron DeMaine!  

Winning Team: Ron DeMaine, Jeff DeMaine, Thomas Garbedian, and Peter Brooks

We also had two teams tie for second place: Team 1 - Lance Harry, Carla Pizzarello, Mike Beatrice, and J.J. Schoenrock; Team 2 - Mike Theriault, Ralph Tiede, Dave Hague, and John Dellogono.  The longest drive winner was Peter Brooks and the closest to the pin winner was Chad Binette. 

Second Place Team: Mike Beatrice, Lance Harry, J.J. Schoenrock, and Carla Pizzarello

Second Place Team: Dave Hague, Mike Theriault, John Dellogono, and Ralph Tiede

On June 17th the board held its first meeting of the 2009-2010 chapter year.  This year should be a very interesting year for our chapter and we hope to increase our attendance at upcoming chapter events.  The board is trying several new initiatives including a golf tournament, a new technology night, and the changeover to an integrated online management system.

Our program chair, Jeff DeMaine (program@sfpe-newengland.org), is working on developing the fall program and potential topics including mass notification, home sprinkler systems, seismic bracing, sprinkler pipe corrosion, and the fire protection issues relating to green technology.  The board approved an increase in the price differential for guests from $5 to $10 to be more in line with our current chapter dues.  With the previous price differential, it was less expensive to pay the differential for all monthly meetings than to join the chapter.  This price difference helps support the A.L. Brown scholarship; therefore, we voted to increase the differential.

Our membership renewal process began June 15th with your first membership renewal notice being distributed by email.  Additional reminder emails will be distributed on July 15th and August 1st.  We will not be mailing invoices for membership dues this year.  In accordance with our by-laws if you have not paid by August 15th, your membership will be considered inactive and you will not be able to receive the member only pricing for upcoming events.  Your membership dues pay for the chapter administration and the costs for students and AHJs to attend our meetings for free.  As always, free memberships are available to full time students.  If you have any membership related questions, please contact the membership chair, Ed Orzine (membership@sfpe-newengland.org).

Financially, the chapter was very strong last year and the online meeting registrations improved the cash flow.  Last chapter year we had a total income of $41,353.80 and total expenses of $45,993.94 for a loss of $4,640.14.  Since our chapter year is June to May, we paid several expenses last year that occurred in the previous 2008-2009 chapter year, which had a $19,000 net profit.  Over the past two years, we had a net income of $14,400 showing the strength of our chapter.

The golf committee has been busy since last winter working on organizing our first annual golf tournament that will be held on Friday, September 11th at Blackstone National Golf Club.  The registration fee will be $130 per golfer and will include breakfast, 18 holes of golf, a cart with GPS, and lunch.  We are also soliciting prizes and companies to sponsor this event.  If you are interested in registering or becoming a sponsor, please visit the event webpage for details.  Like all of our events, all of the proceeds will be used for scholarships or deposited into the scholarship fund.

At the meeting, we voted to not pursue a new contract with the Engineering Center who previously provided management services for the chapter.  We will instead be using a web service as a management tool, which provides access for all board members and manages the day to day membership renewals and event registrations with minimal intervention from the board.  For example, no intervention is required for renewing members that pay online by credit card.  Another important feature is the ability for members to review and update their contact information, which we hope will improve the strength of our membership by keeping up to date information.  In addition, our address has changed due to the management change, so please update your records. 

Our future board meetings will review and improve the AHJ program, prepare for the scholarship application process, revamp the corporate sponsorship program, consider filing for 501(c)3 status, and discuss the best method to handle the numerous requests that the board receives for job postings.

Have a great summer and I hope to see you at the golf tournament or one of the meetings in the fall.  If you have any concerns or questions about the chapter, please do not hesitate to contact me by email at president@sfpe-newengland.org or phone (617) 349-9295.  Thank you for your continued support.

The 2008-2009 chapter year for the New England Chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (NEC-SFPE) that ended May 31st was spent preparing for some significant changes to how the chapter is administrated.  The past year was very successful for the chapter with high attendance at the monthly meetings and a record number of 95 attendees at our annual seminar.  In October, we will be awarding $7,000 in scholarships to five students and have transferred $5,000 to help replenish the A.L. Brown Scholarship Fund.

LAST YEAR’S ACHIEVEMENTS
This past chapter year we used an on-line shopping cart service to secure your credit card information and facilitate meeting and seminar registrations.  While this system made it easier and more flexible for our members to register for events, it did not provide an integrated on-line system that managed the membership and event registrations.  By increasing the number of on-line credit card transactions, our cash flow was improved and the time required to perform the financial management of the chapter was reduced.

Last winter we investigated several options to integrate the management of our membership and event registration.  The board decided that an on-line service would meet our needs and be the most cost effective solution.  Over the course of the past several months, we have reviewed our membership records and collected updated e-mail addresses for most of our members including those that we have lost touch with in the past few years.  We hope this initiative will reduce our management costs by 85% and the cost savings will be used to provide additional financial support to the A.L Brown Scholarship Fund.

OUR NEW WEBSITE AND ON-LINE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Our new website will allow you to change your contact information, pay your dues, and register for an event at any time.  We will continue to accept MasterCard, VISA, American Express, and Discover credit card payments and we have added PayPal payments.  All payment information is securely transmitted and encrypted for your safety.

We will continue to accept check payments.  When renewing your membership or registering for an event, select the manual payment method during the transaction process.  Once you confirm your registration, an e-mail will be sent with information on where you should be mailing your payment.  You may also pay with an electronic check with a PayPal account that is linked to your checking account.

Please take a few minutes to explore our new website, setup a password, and verify your contact information.  Details on how to how to setup a password can be found below.  If you have any problems please send an email to info@sfpe-newengland.org.  Note that you must be logged in to renew your membership and receive member only pricing for events.

How to setup a password to our new website:
1. To setup a password, please visit http://www.sfpe-newengland.org/Common/Password/ForgottenPasswordRequest.aspx, enter your email address, and click submit.  You should receive an e-mail with a link where you set your password.
2. Log in to your account by entering your e-mail and password and clicking the Login button.
3. Please take a minute to review the information that we have on file by clicking the 'View profile' link on the left side.  If you need to modify the information, click the 'Edit profile' button at the top.

THIS UPCOMING YEAR
As noted in previous correspondence, this coming year all chapter communication will be distributed by e-mail from the email address info@sfpe-newengland.org, please add this email address to your safe sender list.  In the middle of June, you should be receiving your first reminder that your annual membership dues are due August 1st.  Dues will remain steady at $40 for the upcoming chapter year.

On September 11th, we will hold our first annual NEC-SFPE golf tournament at Blackstone National Golf Club in Sutton, MA.  Registration information will be distributed this summer.  If you are interested in sponsoring a hole or donating a raffle/auction item, you can contact the golf committee (golf@sfpe-newengland.org). 

We will continue to hold our regular dinner meetings on the first Monday of October, November, December, February, March, and May.  Our annual seminar will continue to be held in March and in April we will hold a field trip to a location of interest to our members, similar to the tour of the FM Global Research Campus last year.

We will begin the planning process for these upcoming events at our board meeting on June 17th and meeting topic suggestions are always welcome.  Please e-mail the First Vice President, Jeff DeMaine (program@sfpe-newengland.org) with your ideas.

Updated contact information for specific board members is available online at www.sfpe-newengland.org/ExecBoard.aspx.

Thank you for your continued support of NEC-SFPE and I hope to see you at an upcoming chapter event.

Wayne Moore, past president of the New England Chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers and Fellow of SFPE International, will receive the NFPA Standards Medal at the NFPA Conference & Expo in Chicago.  For those members who would like to attend, the medal will be given at the Opening General Session on Monday, June 8^th at 1:00pm at the McCormick Place Convention Center in the Arie Crowne Theater, Level 2, Lakeside Center.

Please join the Board in congratulating Wayne on this honor and achievement.