Sponsoring Members:
Dear Members Companies and Visitors:
The Philadelphia Drug Exchange is an organization of Pharmaceutical manufacturers, suppliers, and allied trades. Founded in 1861, the Philadelphia Drug Exchange is the longest continually active trade organization in the United States and is rich in history and tradition.
I want to thank the organization for the privilege to serve as President for the next 2 years. I have been actively involved in our organization since 1997 and truly enjoy working with the member companies. I want to recognize and thank the Senior Council, General Counsel, Past Presidents, Executive Committee, Board of Directors, Committee Chairman, Committee Members, Administrators and consultants for your participation and support. Your efforts make our organization successful!!!
Over my 15 years with the Philadelphia Drug Exchange I reflect on the times when it was common to have 400 members at an Activity or Business Event, over 150 sign-ups for the golf outings (not to mention the exhausting 6+ hour rounds of golf) and to have 10 representatives from one member company participating at an event. For the past 5 years we have witnessed a significant reduction in participation. We attribute this to the change in the economic and business climate, leaner organizations (doing more with less), the change in social networking to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, text messaging, etc. and the industry scrutiny of participation in business social activities.
We enter 2012 with the momentum of the focused activities commenced in 2011 by the Board of Directors and Committees to enhance the services and value of the organization to our member companies. For the past 10 years the Pharmaceutical industry has experienced the effects of consolidation, not only within Pharmaceutical companies, but with supplier organizations as well. This consolidation, combined with the global economic constraints, has a parallel impact to the viability of our organization. These events have impacted the total number of member companies and participation in activities that fund the scholarship programs. As such, our efforts will focus on the following initiatives in 2012 in order to adjust in this difficult business climate and ensure a prosperous organization for the years to come:
· Exploring memberships with Life Sciences, Healthcare, and Educational organizations.
· Building on the educational series started in 2011. Topics are being developed and dates will be published.
· Review of our Mission Statement and branding to support the vision of the PDE.
· Increase member participation at Activity and Business Events.
· Expand communication with member companies to serve as a resource.
· In an effort to consolidate the number of activities we will move the Scholarship Outing to the May 21st activity at Spring Ford Country Club. For 2012 there will be a spring and fall golf activity.
· The board will have monthly meetings and or conference calls to ensure our objectives and strategies stay the course for 2012.
Our end goal is to increase our philanthropic presence and contributions to the scholarship fund. We will achieve this through the creation of our member company value statement, increase in membership and member company participation.
Since our founding the Philadelphia Drug Exchange has sustained itself through the strength and commitment of its membership. Throughout it all our organization has continued to be a forum for member companies and helped bring forward a small space for collaboration to the ever changing landscape. Given our 150+ year history we pledge to continue to promote the sciences, the pharmaceutical industry, and the exploration into Life Sciences, Healthcare, and Educational segments of our interdependent industries. As we gather at our scheduled social and business events throughout the year our organization will provide unique opportunities to network and address some of the issues we have before us.
The Philadelphia Drug Exchange has always recognized the need to demonstrate social responsibility and give back to the membership as well as the community. These efforts include scholarship awards to the exceptional students of member companies, pharmacy students and outstanding local high school science students. Today those awards approach $16,000 annually, made possible through the participation and generosity of our members.
I am enthusiastic about the future of our organization and I appreciate our loyal members who continue to participate and support the Philadelphia Drug Exchange. As your President we will collaborate as a team to ensure our future viability. I anticipate seeing you at future events throughout 2012 and please visit our Activities Calendar at www.pdetrade.org/activitiescalendar for more information.
If you have any questions, please contact us at pdetrade@msn.com
Sincerely,
James Rutkowski
President, Philadelphia Drug Exchange