As you might imagine, it takes an incredible amount of work for a conference like ours to take place. I want to take some space here to thank our incredibly hardworking and talented site coordinator, Mike Brennan of Chicago for leading his team of volunteers as they make every effort to prepare for the arrival of hundreds of attendees.
This would also be a good time to thank my predecessor and current program committee chair, Don Grayston and the entire program committee for coming up with the theme of our General Meeting, sorting through all the submissions for papers and projects and assembling them into a schedule that will make the most of everyone’s time.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention our resident secretary, Paul Pearson who does double-duty as the director and archivist of the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University. Paul is an enormous help to the Society and all of us owe him many thanks.