Mid-Year Report to the Fellowship

PREPARATION – GOALS and IDEAS The 2011 ICD Presidential year began for me sometime in mid- 2010. My mind was on the moment and my assignments given to me by then President and my good friend Manfred Seidemann, but in the back of my head, in some little corner, I started to store thoughts and ideas for my turn. By September I had outlined my Goals for the year and they were presented to the worldwide fellowship in my very first President’s Note which I decided to label “IT SEEMS TO ME…” I had also given thought to the content of each month’s column, decided to expand the role of the Executive Committee members, conceived of a Presidential Project and many other ideas which are highlighted below. It was a busy time.

PREPARATION – COMMITTEES, CHARGES AND LIAISONS By October 2010 I was giving thought to our committee structure, committee chairman, and charges for each committee. These took form slowly and I had much correspondence with various Councilors in the process. I decided to make the committee process more efficient and meaningful, that their needed to be some method of oversight to be sure that the committees were indeed functioning and not relying on a face to face meeting at the Annual Meeting of the Council in a last minute effort. Therefore I assigned a Liaison from the Executive Committee to each committee to serve as both a conduit and “taskmaster.” It is working well.

PREPARATION – PRESIDENT’S NOTES Also in October I had decided on the organization of the President’s Notes for the year – the subject and order of appearance: One of my goals was to take information about the College directly to the individual fellow. The subjects for the year are: 1/11 – Welcome and Goals; 2/11 – Meaning of ICD Fellowship to me; 3/11 – Pathways to Fellowship; 4/11 – Leadership; 5/11 – Growth and Development; 6/11 Mid-Year The Report; 7/11 – Ethics; 8/11 – Humanitarianism; 9/11 – Professionalism; 10/11 – Philanthropy; 11/11 – Report to the International Council; 12/11 – Farewell and Year-End Report. I hope you approve of the content and feel closer to your College.

TEAM LEADERSHIP MEETING In early December, 2010 I invited Garry Lunn and Leon Aronson to my home in Flagstaff, Arizona for an Informal Team Leadership Meeting. We discussed many items and made some preliminary plans to take to the full Executive Committee for approval. It was actually a continuation of a concept introduced the year before by my predecessor, Manfred Seidemann and worked well. So many thoughts, ideas, plans of any one President fall by the wayside given the short term of office. If the “Leadership Team” can agree in principal on a course of action, then a project began in one year, can easily be carried forward into future years. It is not and was not meant to replace Strategic Planning by the organization, a process that will introduced in the next year or two. It does, however, allow for short term direction for the leadership.

MYANMAR VISITATION On April 14th I traveled to Yangon, Myanmar for the Annual Meeting of new Section IV – Myanmar. It was a very warm and wonderful experience. I was met at the airport by a large delegation of the Section’s Leadership and taken to the very lovely Inya Lake Hotel. I was pleased to have three luncheon or dinner meetings with President Cho Sitt and Registrar Tun-Tun Thwe and several other Executive Board Members during which we had meaningful discussions about Section business and concerns. Over the next two days I toured several sites in Yangon, including the beautiful Golden Pagoda, a lovely and a sacred site and a replica of the Karaweik Palace, the floating palaces of former Burmese Kings.

I was pleased to present the 2011 International Fellowship Orientation Program (IFOP) to the new Fellow candidates and number of guests. This was followed a short time later by a very formal and solemn Initiation Ceremony during which 10 candidates received the Honor of Fellowship in the College. In attendance were four dignitaries from Section VII Japan, including Councilors Senda and Hashimoto. I presented the Induction speech and President Cho Sitt and the President of the Myanmar Dental Council and Fellow of the ICD Paing Soe also provided remarks. All three of us then presented a College Key, Lapel Pin and Fellowship certificates to each honoree. The Ceremony was immediately followed by a gala Banquet. I left Myanmar the next day.

JANUARY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE The Executive Committee met in Washington DC in mid-January for the 2011 meeting. It is always designed as a bit of a planning meeting, outlining goals and objectives for the year, affirming assignments and dealing with policy decisions passed by the International Council the preceding fall. Our new ICD Treasurer, Clive Ross of Auckland New Zealand, attended the meeting virtually by means of Skype and it worked out very well. He is doing magnificently well in overhauling out financial records. The Executive Committee also serves as a Central Office Review Board. The International Councilors were informed shortly after the meeting that Secretary General J. Terrell (Terry) Hoffeld submitted his resignation and, acting for the Executive Committee, I accepted it. It was a mutual decision and handled on both sides with professionalism and dignity. SG Hoffeld graciously agreed to remain in position until April 30, 20l1 allowing ample time for the Executive Committee to find a well-qualified person to fill the position.

CENTRAL OFFICE CHANGES The President appointed a Search Committee headed by College Vice President Leon Aronson to identify a successor in cooperation and coordination with the Executive Committee. It was also agreed by the Executive Committee that the residence of the next Secretary General would not have to be in the Rockville, Maryland area. With continuing improvements and innovations in electronic communications, costs have decreased and the technology enhanced to the point where a “virtual” presence is a reality. We did feel, though, that should this be the case, reasonable proximity to the Central Office for periodic in person visitations was desirable. Before Search Committee Chairman Aronson even contacted his Committee members, College Editor, Jack Hinterman, came forward as a candidate to fill the position of Secretary General. The Executive Committee was very excited and felt he was a perfect fit to be the International College of Dentists’ chief executive. Dr. Hinterman has a long history of service to dentistry and to the College, has exceptional executive and administrative skills that meet the requirements of the position and a warm, engaging and outgoing personality. Additionally, Jack is well known and respected by both the International Council and the College Fellows worldwide. The Executive Committee gave its unanimous and enthusiastic endorsement to the candidacy of Dr. Hinterman and decided not to activate the Search Committee. We all felt we had the “ideal” person for the position. Vice President Aronson was named to work with Dr. Hinterman on the preparation of the necessary job description and contract documents.

Central Office Administrator Kathleen Bula staffed the office and consulted throughout this interim period, assisted by the Executive Committee as needed. SG Hoffeld remained in office as well, but unfortunately for all concerned, particularly SG Hoffeld himself, sustained a serious back injury and was confined to bed for several months. He has since recovered nicely without the need for surgical intervention. Secretary General John V. (Jack) Hinterman assumed his new position April 1, 2011, a month ahead of schedule.

SELECTION OF EDITOR It was with extreme pleasure that I announced that Sheldon Dov Sydney accepted the position of College at Large Editor after the vacancy created by previous Editor Jack Hinterman being named the new Secretary General. His appointment received unanimous approval of the Executive Committee and I have asked him to begin his tenure effective May 1, 2011. Dov is the current Editor of IC Digest, the Journal of Section V – Europe and the ICD Eurogram, their electronic newsletter. In addition to Editorship of the Globe, he will also be in charge of our electronic newsletter, The College Today, and other publications.

SPEECH, INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP ORIENTATIONAL PROGRAM and SECTION VISITATIONS During the time between the Executive Committee Meeting and the first Section visit, I put the finishing touches on my Visitation Induction Speech, though to be honest, I make alterations at each stop trying to customize it to the audience. I also utilized that timeframe to complete my 2011 International Fellowship Orientation Program, again customizing portions of it to each Section. It is an 80 slide Power Point presentation designed to acquaint the nominees for Fellowship with their College. I also made final arrangements and plans for the Presidential visitations. No one president can visit all the Sections (and some Regions), but we all try to spread ourselves out a much as possible within limitations of time and budget. An ad-hoc (Special) committee is investigating this subject this year and will have a report by the Annual Session for Council consideration hopefully leading to an official policy on officer visitations. This year I have or will visit Sections in this order: Jan. – Sect. XIV-Myanmar; Apr. – Section XIII-China: May – Section XII-Chinese Taipei; May – Section XI-Korea; Jun. – Section V-Europe; Sep. Section III-Mexico; Oct. – Section I-USA; Nov. – Section VI-India, Sri Lanka & Nepal. I sent a DVD copy of my speech and the IFOP to Sections I could not attend: Jan. – Section IX-Philippines; Apr. – Section VIII-Australasia; May – Section VII-Japan; Aug. – Section II-Canada; Oct. – Section X-Middle East; Nov. – Section IV-South America. Japan was scheduled, but Section VI wisely cancelled their meeting because of the terrible earthquake, tsunami and nuclear radiation. President Elect will attend the Section II Induction and Past President Manfred will attend the Section IV Induction. I have asked each to represent the College at Large in my place as they will be in attendance at their home Sections.

PROJECT 55 As mentioned in the first paragraph, I started a Presidential Project, which I soon started calling Project 55, and I started collecting and collating data from the Sections mid-2010. I started with the USA and Canada Sections and used their responses as a model for the other sections. The idea was to collect, collate and list what each Section felt were their best five projects over the last five years – whether they remained active projects or not. I received data from 13 of the 14 Sections and most submitted five, but some a lesser number. If all 14 submitted 5 projects we would have a list of 70, which reflects the best of the best projects we are involved in in recent times. Each Section has been sent a copy electronically, I carry a hard copy with me as I visit the various Sections and it is also available on the ICD Website. It was designed to aid any section that is considering something new to try and if a small Region has yet to start a project something to consider and initiate.

ICD POLICY AND C.O. OPERATIONS MANUALS By early May, I had completed compilation and update of the International College of Dentists Policy Manual and Central Office Operations Manual. I volunteered to compile these documents in late 2009 and completed the first edition by the 2010 Executive Committee meeting. I updated it each time an International Council or Executive Committee Meeting was held and the minutes of those meetings were approved. Each entry reflects approved motions over the years from 1980 to the present and the years 1920-1980 as reflected in the ICD History Book. It is now updated through the 2011 Executive Committee meeting. The Policy Manual was sent to the International Councilors for their information as a resource and the Operations Manual to the Central Office for the same purpose. The CO Operations Manual will be maintained and updated in the future by CO staff – the Secretary General and the CO Administrator. A decision on who will maintain the Policy Manual is yet to be made, but I would recommend it also be done by staff as it is a reflection of approved Motions.

GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT Growth and Development is essential for our College if we are to remain the preeminent dental honorary organization. This includes both numeric growth of the existing Sections and Regions, but also geographic expansion of the College into unserved areas of the world. This geographic expansion has been a deep seeded concern and passion of 2010 International President Manfred Seidemann for all his years on the International Council, and many others including the 2010 and 2011 Growth and Development Chairman Cedric Haddad and me. Dr. Seidemann worked almost single handed in mentoring China Region to Section XIII. He and the G&D Committee worked with the Asia Sector of Section XX to bring Mongolia to Region status in 2010 and are working with the African Sector of Section XX to do the same for five countries in two Regions in 2011. Truly this is ICD action at its very best.

CHINA VISITATION On April 26th I arrived in Chengdu, China for the 2nd Annual Meeting of Section XIII – China. I was greeted at the airport by Registrar Chen and China ICD Administrative Assistant Hong with a handsome bouquet of fresh flowers. By the time we arrived at the elegant Jinjiang Hotel, President Zhou and Assistant Dean of the West China College of Stomatology Shen were in the lobby for more greetings and escorted me to my suite.

Over the next two days while I was resting from the long flight, I was treated to Several Chengdu highlights, including the Jinshu Site, an active archeological site dating to 2000 BC. Many artifacts are still being uncovered today in this once thriving community, including gold, jade, ivory and pottery pieces. We also toured Sing Li, home to Brocade weaving industry in Chengdu and now a lively “hot spot” for the young people of the city. The final place visited, and my favorite, was the Panda Base. It is breeding facility for the preservation of the Giant Panda and is currently home to 96 Pandas. There are two similar facilities and about 2300 animals in all, the majority of which are still in wild preserves.

On Thursday, the day started with the presentation of the IFOP to an audience of about 75 and it was followed by the actual Initiation Ceremony. That began with my induction speech, followed by remarks by the President of the China Stomatology Association, Wang Xing and Zhou Xuedong, Dean of the Dental School, President of Section XIII-China and Councilor of ICD. We then presented the Key, Lapel Pins and Certificates to 42 new Fellows and 3 Masters. It was a very moving ceremony. A 20 course Chinese luncheon then followed with many toasts and photos. I then was invited to tour the Sichuan University, West China College of Stomatology and, following that met with President Zhou, Registrar Chen and three others for an in depth discussion of ICD in China and how it might grow and improve. I departed Chengdu and China the following morning.

CHINESE TAIPEI VISITATION I arrived.in Taiwan on May 21st and was met by Section XII Administrative Assistant Louis Hsieh who provided transportation to the Howard Plaza Hotel in downtown Taipei. The following day the Section XII Induction Ceremony was held at the Taipei Trade Center Club, a 34th story banquet room with a lovely view of the city. 15 new candidates received the honor of Fellowship and three Fellows were named Masters of the College. Section President Wan-Hong Lan and Registrar Hsin-Cheng Liu presided over the beautiful ceremony. A delicious banquet meal followed. I was pleased to give the Induction address and participate in all the festivities. The next day Councilor and Mrs. Koji Hashimoto, visiting from Japan, and I were treated to a tour of the Palace National Museum followed by lunch at the Grand Hotel – a treasured landmark of Taipei built in traditional Grand Chinese style. Later that day, I joined the Section XII Board of Directors for an evening dinner. 2006 International President Chao-Chang Chan was present and sends his greetings. I also met another dinner guest, Dr. How Kim Chuan, who was visiting from Malaysia and is the current President of the Malaysia Dental Association. He advised that he and their new Registrar are working to revitalize their Region 33. On Tuesday, Registrar Shiau and I visited two of the four Dental Schools in Taipei and I was impressed with the very high level of excellence in the facilities, faculty dedication and student enthusiasm. I noted that many of their senior staff were ICD Fellows. On the return trip to the hotel, we toured the Taipei 101 building, the tallest building in the world until 2010 when a taller one was built in Dubai. The visitation concluded with a banquet hosted by Section President Wan-Hong Lan which gave me another opportunity to learn more about dental education in Taiwan as many of the invitees were these same senior academicians. It was a classic opportunity to “foster cordial relations” with colleagues.

KOREA VISITATION On Wednesday, May 25th, I flew from Taipei to Seoul for the Korean Section Visitation and Induction Ceremony. Councilor Woong Yang met me at the Inchon Airport and served as my official host while there and provided transportation to Seoul and the beautiful Shilla Hotel. As the Initiation Ceremony and Banquet were not scheduled until Saturday, we had the opportunity to visit some historic sites and enjoy the local cuisine. Seoul is a very upscale international city. We toured an old Korean Palace (Gyenongbok – 1394-1910) and the National Folk Museum of Korea as well as a local Art Gallery (Ihn – owned by his sister). We also spent some time visiting one of Korea Section’s humanitarian projects – The Smile Charity Foundation – headquartered in the Seoul Dental Hospital for the Disabled. They provided treatment to the indigent special needs patients of Seoul. We had lovely meals at Italian, Korean (2), Japanese, Chinese and French restaurants – all elegant and of the highest quality. I even had time to attend a Korean Folk Ballet. On Sunday, the ICD activities started with a breakfast meeting of the Korean Section Board of Directors. I met with Section President Chung, Registrar Yeo and Councilor Yang for some in-depth discussions. Former ICD International President (1995), Heun-Taik Jhee was present and asked me to convey greetings to his many ICD friends around the world. That afternoon we assembled in the Lilac meeting room of the Shilla for the Induction ceremony. Each Section has their own protocol and, while they vary, each are special and all the candidates sense the honor of and pride in their new Fellowship status. Former Councilor and current President-Elect of the ICD-Japan Section, Yoshinori Satoh, was present and sends his greetings. I was pleased to offer remarks to the Section and participate in the actual Initiation. They had a featured female vocalist for entertainment and later, after the banquet during which I presented a condensed version of the Fellowship Orientation Program, a speaker on a non-dental topic. It was a pleasant evening and everyone left the room feeling good about themselves and the College.

VIRTUAL EC MEETING PLANNING Based on the successful use of Skype for the “virtual” attendance of ICD Treasurer Clive Ross during the 2011 Executive Committee, I felt a “virtual” meeting of the entire Executive Committee was possible and so we will be meeting in that manner later this week. The need for leadership to discuss items in three areas prompted this decision. We all need to have a firm grasp on our current financial status and the state of the 2011 Budget. Remember that the 2010 International Council passed an Annual Dues increase of $5.00, but that implementation was delayed until 1.1.2011. That means we have to balance the budget by utilizing some reserve funds. The second area was the need to assess the status of the various Committees and their efforts based on their initial charges. The Board liaisons to the Committees will provide these updates. The third area was to deal with a number of new items that have surfaced since the January Executive Committee meeting and need decisions prior to the 2011 International Council in New Delhi. Secretary General Jack Hinterman will provide an update to the Councilors shortly after the June 4, 2011 meeting.

FINAL REPORT I am aware that this is considerable longer than the monthly President’s Notes, but much has happened in this first half of 2011. My report to the International Council will be published on November 1, 2011 and the Farewell and Final Report to the Fellowship on December 1, 2011 including my special thanks to many. While lengthy, I hope you get a feel for the many activities of our International College of Dentists.

THIS AND THAT…A favorite quote: “Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.” ~ Max Ehrmann

Downloads: Presidential Notes June 2011 (PDF format 60 KB )