January 2016
As the new ICF-NJ Chapter President, I am excited about the opportunities and possibilities we have before us in 2016

In early January, your Board of Directors held its first meeting. Before that, I reached out to each of our active board members to learn from them and explore their thoughts about how ICF-NJ might best serve you.

I'm pleased to say that we all agreed that our focus this year will be on continuing to grow our membership and increase our membership engagement. We believe there's great opportunity to do both. Specifically, we would like to increase membership engagement at our events and on our committees. The key to this will be to better understand your expectations and how you see ICF-NJ serving you. Therefore, a membership survey will be released shortly and we would appreciate your participation. In addition, please feel free to let me or any of our Board members know your thoughts.

In addition, another goal we have is to improve ICF-NJ leadership by building succession plans for our board positions and committee roles. If you are interested in learning more about how to prepare for or secure a board position, please reach out to me directly

MEMBERSHIP CALL TO ACTION

In order to achieve our goals, I invite each of you to complete our upcoming membership survey and reflect on your participation and contribution to our chapter.  Specifically, rate your engagement on a scale of 1-5 using the following criteria.  
 
1 - low engagement (attended 0 - 1 in-person event); volunteered at an event
 
3 - medium engagement (attended 3 in-person events; participated on 1 committee

5 - high engagement (attended 6 events; was an active board member)
 
What did you learn? How satisfied are you with your score? If there is room for improvement, what steps can you take to increase your score by 1-2 points? How can we support you in achieving this goal?
 
Being part of our chapter is an incredible opportunity to network, collaborate with colleagues, develop professionally and gain invaluable volunteer experience or a board assignment.

As we start 2016, I encourage each of you to challenge yourself this year to increase your engagement and contribution to our chapter. Remember "many hands make light work," and we welcome any contribution that you can make

Lastly, I look forward to meeting each of our members this year or at least having a phone conversation with you. Please feel free to contact me at renee@trilogydevelopment.com.



Renée Robertson
2016 ICF-NJ President

 
"Learn from yesterday, live for today,
hope for tomorrow."

~  Albert Einstein

Welcome to the 2016 Board Members
Thank you to everyone who participated in the voting process. We are happy to announce the ICF-NJ 2016 Board.

Renée Robertson, President
Vic Beaudet, President-Elect
Jennifer Smith, Immediate Past President
Brooke Manino, Treasurer
Lynn Schaber, EPD Director
Kim Pisolkar, Communications Director
Sarah Jack, Membership Director
Sharon Stern Sponsorship Director
Erica Loren, Board Member at Large
Ian Coburn, Board Member at Large
Lynn Buschman, Board Member at Large
Karen Sullivan, Board Member at Large

In addition we welcome Karen Delk as the Community Group Director, as a non-board member position.

A great BIG Thank You to our board members from 2015 for their years of service to the community!

Andrea Harvey
Belle Riskin
Jamie Sussel Turner


ICF-NJ Partners with Other Chapters
for Events!
ICF-NJ is excited to announce that we are partnering with other chapters in the East Coast region to be able to provide more virtual education offerings to our members and additional opportunities to earn CCEUs (Coaching Continuing Education Units).

For each event, we will always list who the host chapter for the event is. There will be a link provided to get more information about the event and to register. Sometimes you will register on the ICF-NJ web site and sometimes directly on the sponsoring chapter web site.

Keep an eye on your inbox for information regarding February events!



Ed Antoine's Hero's Journey
Interview by Lynn Schaber
Ed Antoine has always felt the need to help others conceive and achieve a vision. He has been doing this for many years as a Master Certified Coach (MCC), encouraging and challenging the clients and teams he works with to "Dream Big." 

A few years ago he was pursuing his own 'hero's journey," consciously pursuing what his purpose is and how it should manifest. He traveled to Nepal and quickly felt a connection to the land and the people. Ed spent some time hiking in Nepal up to the Amadablam base camp, close to Mount Everest.

He began to dream big and had a vision of bringing clients to the Himalaya region to go on hiking treks, with Ed coaching them to discover their own hero's journey and acquire tools to engage their new vision. The result of this dream was Legacy Odyssey Coaching Trek, an adventure that Ed describes as both internal and external.

Some of our members have experienced a mini version of these coaching treks in New Jersey when Ed has led a half-day hike in the South Mountain Reservation in Millburn, NJ. Attendees have said it has been very inspiring to be in nature and be thoughtful about some particular aspect of their life. Everyone who has attended a coaching trek has been motivated to take some action or move in some new direction.

Ed had planned to spend the first 2 weeks of May 2015 in Kathmandu, this time on a personal journey, when on April 25, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the Nepal region. Subsequent aftershocks happened a week after when he was supposed to be there. Ed took this as a sign to act. Only 10 days after the earthquake, he joined forces with a combination of clients he had brought to Nepal, and others met at a retreat in Vermont to start Altruistic Odyssey.

The group needed to act fast as the monsoon season was fast approaching in Nepal. They organized fundraising through a crowdfunding siteand raised $3500 in one and a half months. They were able to send 6 very large tents and organize the shipment of them to a remote area at 14,000 feet, on the road to Everest.
By September 2015, Altruistic Odyssey was incorporated as a non-profit, with pending 501c3 status. At the same time that this was happening, the group was continuing to establish an alliance with a team in Nepal, as a team was needed in the United States and one in Nepal. Today there is a Nepalese woman on the board and a Nepalese Field operation team with a young Sherpa leader, as well as a team of coordinators both in the Khumbu region (Everest region) and in Kathmandu.

Altruistic Odyssey is beginning 2016 by supporting three projects. One of these projects is to finance a computer room in a monastic school that became a public school this year. The founders of Altruistic Odyssey believe Buddhist monasteries play a major role in allowing kids from poor families to get a free education. Monasteries also play a role in the preservation of the altruistic nature of the Nepalese culture. The group is partnering with a local association - the Dilgo Khyentse Fellowship - on this project. 
 
If you would like to learn more about the work of Altruistic Odyssey, you can find them at http://altruisticodyssey.com/. Please consider donating to the work of this organization which is inspired by the personal journey and coaching work of Ed Antoine. Ed is a former president of the ICF-NJ Chapter.


In This Issue
President's Message
Welcome to the 2016 Board
A Hero's Journey
January In-Person Event
Welcome New Members
Community Group Meetings
  
January 
In-Person Event
 
"ICF-NJ's First 2016 Networking Event "
  
Date
Thurs., Jan. 28, 2015
  Time
6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. ET  
Location
Stoney Brook Grille Inn, Branchburg, NJ 
 
 

Welcome to Our New ICF-NJ Members!
  
Teresa Beattie
Brian Critchley
Wendy Dolber
Kathryn Juric
Mary Kingsley
Alexander Kosnik
Christine Marinelli
Billi Jo Murphy
James Narin
Frederica Peterson
Nancy Sommer
Nancy Soto

Meet Your Fellow ICF-NJ Members at a Community Group Meeting
 
If one of your intentions for 2016 is to up level your coaching skills, build your business or collaborate with like-minded coaches, visit one of our Community Groups:
 
Bergen County 
January 19, 2016
7:00 p.m.

Burlington / Camden / Gloucester Counties
3rd Tues. of the month
7:00 p.m.

Florham Park Area
Date TBD

Monmouth County
1st Mon. of the month
12 - 1:30 p.m.

Princeton Area
1st Mon. of the month
1:30 - 2:45 p.m.

Somerset / Morris Counties
3rd  Mon. of the month
11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. ET

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Sponsorship Opportunities at ICF-NJ!
 
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Sharon Stern 
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Calling all ICF-NJ Members

  

Are you interested in writing an article for our monthly newsletter?

Do you have  GOOD NEWS  to share with our community, such as a recent accreditation or publication?

WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Please contact the ICF-NJ Communications Director, Kim Pisolkar, with your ideas and news at