From Bob’s Desk: Wishing you all a happy and wonderful season!

By Bob Bacon

Mark Twain, the writer, is quoted as saying: “You know, I’m all for progress, it’s the change I object to.”

My writings this past year have been pretty serious topics, and — in particular — how Elm has continued to evolve through the past several years and will continue to change into the future. But not everything needs to change! The holidays have always been a time when Elm slows down a bit and relaxes, and we take time to enjoy the seasons and those who are special to us. This year is no different. Andrea and I want to wish you and your loved ones a happy and wonderful season!

What hasn’t changed

We held our 27^th holiday party last Saturday at Springfield Country Club. 185 people were in attendance and smiles were all around. Kudos to the committee Matt Vella, Deana Casamento, Bob Houghton, Holly Lurgio, Rose Daley, Mary Silva, Nikki Puza and Steve Slapski.

*Nikki Puza’s son, Carter, and Steve Slapski’s daughter, Kaelynn, helped Can-Struct the tree for the party.*

In case you weren’t able to join us, here’s a look at the video we played at the 2023 Elm Holiday Party:

The Elm leaders gathered on December 7 for the first time since COVID. This is a session that allows us to review successes, negatives and strategies. It is a forum to discuss folks’ opinions on initiatives we are considering.

We voted for our first Elm leader of the year. We’re happy to announce that Tim Williams was unanimously voted as the inaugural recipient of the “Elm Leader of the Year Award”:

Hopefully you found a die-cast Ford Van in your mailbox. Elm vans have been blue for as long as I can remember. We thought it would be fun (and good marketing) to get exact replicas made and share them with all of you and our clients.

What is changing

“Ugly suits” seem to be replacing “ugly sweaters” at holiday parties and our party was no exception. But our coworkers Devin, Nick, Dan, Kyle and Caiden looked amazing in theirs:

*From left to right: Devin Hoagland, Nick Mulveyhill, Dan Dubchak, Kyle Quinn, and Caiden Boscher.*

Judy is retiring on (January 31^st after 37 years) at Elm. Judy has long been a cornerstone of our success as a company and she will be missed. She exemplifies integrity and service in all she does and we wish her only the best in her well-deserved retirement. We put together a video recognizing her achievement. Click here to watch.

Deana and Brian Doyle continue to make progress rolling out the feedback tool and we anticipate reaching 100% in the next few months.

Shoutout

Finally, I would like give a big shoutout to T.J. Auclair. T.J. is responsible for making sure this newsletter is delivered on time and the content is properly edited. In addition, he pulls together our video content, website activity and our other media activities. He has persevered through our initial resistance to help us realize how important communication is. He’s become skillful getting content and pacing us all to deliver, too.