As PPMT President for the 2017 year, I am honored to serve this organization and its members. I look forward to an exciting year working on your behalf with a great board of directors. PPMT has meant so much to me over the years both personally and professionally.

As we reflect on the past year, I believe that we have many reasons to be proud of our accomplishments. In 2016, we brought numerous experts and industry leaders to our monthly meetings who inspired us and taught us so many wonderful things. Our sponsors generously provided hundreds of products and services for our monthly door prize drawings.

We launched our new website in October to better serve our association’s membership. With a clean, fresh and more modern design, our website is easier to navigate and much more functional in communicating with our members and community of professional photographers. As a result, a new member benefit has been added in 2016: an advanced customizable membership profile and directory system.

These accomplishments would not have been possible without the continued commitment and service of our leadership, our valued members and sponsors. It truly was a great year for PPMT.
With that, I ask you to join me in thanking the 2016 PPMT Board of Directors and our immediate past president, Dana Lunden, for their dedication to making our association a success.

We have an exceptional legacy as our foundation as we work together to build a better association and a better community. With the start of the new year, your board of directors is working diligently behind the scenes to provide the education, support, and activities that you want.

Our 2017 goals are to improve member benefits, to grow our membership, to form specialized committees, to organize new events, activities and opportunities for professional camaraderie and growth. However, maintaining a great organization requires the dedication and hard work of many. Every member can make a difference and I urge each of you to continue your active participation and ardent support. Make it a goal to attend as many meetings this year as you can and encourage other photographers you know to join PPMT.

Often, we do not realize how important we are to each other and to the community we serve. Our everyday routines may seem mundane and miniscule, but what we do profoundly impacts the lives of so many around us. What we can accomplish together as a team, as The Professional Photographers of Middle Tennessee, is also extremely important and full of potential. We have to be the spark in our community. We must never let the fire of our passion for the people we serve and for the industry grow dim. If we build a fire, then merely sit and watch it, it will burn out. We need to feed it fresh tinder and stoke the ash. Every fire needs fuel: the flames of our passion, inspiration, knowledge and creativity. Together, we can build a big fire.

I look forward to fanning the flames of our creativity together, to share inspiration, ideas and to help each other as we continue our journey along the path we have chosen for ourselves – to be the best professional photographers that we can be. At PPMT we strive to be the local organization that does this, through our monthly meetings with guest speakers, mentoring, photography critiques and competitions, fellowship opportunities and networking. as well as opportunities to strengthen and grow our organization.

Thank you for your continued support and your friendship. Let’s make this a great 2017 for the Professional Photographers of Middle Tennessee.

Donna Butler
PPMT President