To my DRI family—
We are all living through an unprecedented and uncertain time that has had an impact on every aspect of our lives, both personally and professionally. As we take care of ourselves and our loved ones, I know many of you, like me, are also concerned about your firms, practices and businesses.
That is why I am reaching out to let you know that DRI is here to put the full weight of our association’s resources to work for our members.
First, I want to assure you that we have taken all necessary steps to protect the health and safety of DRI’s valued staff. Even before the current situation, our employees were working from home on a part-time basis, and are now doing so full time. Given they were already experienced with working remotely, this transition has been seamless as all the required supports and technology infrastructure were firmly in place.
As you may have already heard from individual committees, we have made the difficult, but necessary, decision to cancel all in-person DRI events through midMay. This is in direct response to guidance provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and U.S. state and local health authorities. We are actively monitoring the situation to determine when to reschedule and if additional cancellations will be necessary.
We are a resilient and responsive organization, however, and we are actively working on ways to deliver time-sensitive content and information from those events to our members. This will include providing presentations through recorded video, webinars and other means.
DRI is also readying a number of coronavirus-specific resources for our members on the DRI website that will be available in the coming days and weeks. We will be starting with articles offering guidance on working remotely, managing firms in a crisis, how to best serve your clients and other crucial topics. Content will be updated frequently so check back often. Our community pages are also a place where members are sharing their own best practices and advice.
Above all else, I would like to personally pledge DRI’s support to each and every member. We are a family first, and families help each other. Anything that we can do for you right now, we will. Whether that’s solving problems, helping you create and foster business relationships during a time of social distancing or even just a place to talk about your frustrations—it’s all on the table.
I wish continued good health for you and your loved ones, friends and colleagues.
Sincerely,
Philip L. Willman
DRI President