Throughout my tenure, our VACB chairs have provided great leadership across every area of association life, of which the authoring of inspiring and enjoyable magazine columns is a small part. Again, in this issue, the column from our chair, Joe Witt, has provided us with great focus on both the “what” and the “why” of community bank association engagement.

I’m going to continue that theme, going a little deeper. We have a busy spring calendar filled with important and fun activities — activities that benefit you and your bank as well as your association.

Be sure to register your leadership, and especially your directors, for this year’s VACB/VBA Directors’ Symposium. We make this outstanding program available in two locations: on April 16 in Blacksburg and on April 17 in Richmond. These programs have been well-received and highly rated by attendees for many years. Make plans now to attend.

Then, be sure to take advantage of a day full of fun and fellowship at the 24th Annual Golf Tournament, to be held at beautiful Spring Creek on Monday, May 13. The tournament sells out, or comes close, almost every year, so gather your golfers and plan to join us.

Finally, I’ll second the chair’s encouragement to take part in the ICBA Capital Summit, set for Washington, D.C., April 28-30. If you have participated in the past, you know how valuable it is and how necessary. If you have not participated in the past, please consider attending this year. The issues for community banking have never been more pressing, as there are many headwinds in many different directions. We need larger numbers to be more fully heard across the Virginia delegation.

In fact, we are currently engaged on no less than 15 issues, and only one of them is an issue on which we hope to gain ground. The rest all involve “playing defense,” stopping or modifying bad initiatives. Here’s a partial list of the goals for our federal advocacy:

• Permanent closure of the Industrial Loan Company loophole.
• Restriction on credit reporting agencies from selling consumer mortgage data.
• No credit card routing mandates.
• Hearings on credit union tax status, CRA exemption, disclosures, etc.
• A safe harbor for cannabis banking.
• No Central Bank Digital Currency.
• Denial of access for cryptocurrencies to regulated financial processes without safeguards.
• Less check fraud through increased megabank accountability.
• Support for agriculture through strong farm bill provisions and rural tax breaks like ECORA.

As many of you know, this is my final year working for you at VACB. My fervent hope is that you will dive in, engaging with your association as never before. I look forward to greeting you at each of these great activities and at additional opportunities along the way.