December 20, 2023.
I was honoured to be elected as ALCAS President at the ALCAS AGM in late October, being handed the baton from Rob Rouwette. The ALCAS Board is very grateful for Rob’s consistent service to ALCAS for more than 10 years, including two terms as President (2013-2015 and 2021-2023) and many other executive and committee chair roles.
The current Board has a heathy mix of ongoing and new members, and good representation of the ALCAS membership (consulting practitioners, industry, certifiers, researchers). I look forward to drawing on their diverse skills to continue to pursue ALCAS’s mission.
It is a nice time to be stepping into the role of President, on the back of a successful conference at the Gold Coast in July 2023, which attracted a record number of attendees, excellent Government support and lots of enthusiastic young professionals. I feel it marked a turning point for ALCAS, from being a community of practice to being an organisation that supports an important service industry experiencing huge growth.
ALCAS will need to evolve somewhat in the coming years to support the changing opportunities and challenges for its members, in particular, the increasingly business-oriented contexts that LCA is now being used. Fortunately, ALCAS already has great programs and good momentum to build on to make this transition. This includes professional development, competency certification, data development and access, and mechanisms for advocating for and influencing policy and processes for good sustainability outcomes.
Please tap into the services and activities that ALCAS has available, which you can find via the ALCAS website, and consider getting involved in one of our committees, which are the engine rooms of ALCAS.
Wishing all our members a restful festive season to recharge for the year ahead.
Marguerite Renouf
ALCAS President