Q3 Committee Update

GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE Update - by Ryan Spence, Chair

Your AMBA Governance Committee exists to support the Board of Directors, striving to continually improve the policies and practices that govern our association and thereby ensure our membership can clearly understand how AMBA operates.  The committee looks for multiple points of view in order that our recommendations to the Board are balanced and reflective of the many facets of AMBA membership.
 
Over the past months, the committee has focused primarily on the new AMBA Code of Conduct Practice. This policy and practice outline the practical metrics to evaluate a potential breach of AMBA’s Code of Conduct, and to provide clear and transparent steps to be taken if our Code of Conduct is breached.  The Practice sets clear structure so any person involved will understand what to expect during the process, and that any potential breach is held to the same rigor.  As always, once approved by the AMBA board, the Code of Conduct Policy & Practice will be available to all members.
 
At each meeting, AMBA’s Governance Committee reviews a portion of the various policies and practices that make up AMBA’s overall governance framework to ensure these remain modern, effective and representative of the high standards expected by AMBA membership.  While the Code of Conduct Policy and Practice have been our focus, with the election of the new AMBA board this past April, the committee has also reviewed and recommended updates to several policies related to the composition of AMBA’s board and individual director responsibility.
 
I appreciate the efforts of all committee members: Crystal Mamchur, Dean Koeller, Faiz Khaku, Heather Wytinck and Jason Provencher, as they give their time and thought leadership. We look forward to continuing our work through Q4 and into the new year.

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AUDIT, FINANCE, & RISK COMMITTEE Update - by Russ Mendonca, Chair

Your Audit, Finance and Risk Committee has been hard at work over the past few months! With the author of this article being the only new addition to the committee, the committee is full of wisdom and thoughtfulness as we’ve approached the many challenges we’ve seen so far this year! A few of the key items we’ve worked on includes Cyber Insurance for the organization (which included a Cyber Risk Assessment), Directors and Officers Liability Insurance, had discussion with our CEO on changing how our internal finances are handled through staffing and partnerships, approving a new audit firm and reviewing our Q2 Financial report and presenting it and other recommendations to the Board. 
 
A few highlights from our financials:
 
Our new Education course has been created through countless hours from our incredible AMBA staff and member volunteers! The course has been approved and it is now up and running, and its far outperforming our anticipated revenue! This additional gross revenue offset conference gross revenue being lower than anticipated.
 
Through incredible expense management, AMBA was also able to come in below budgeted expenses as well, through thoughtful spending and a few quick pivots at the conference to keep costs down. We anticipated to be at a loss of $54k by the end of Q2 but instead wrapped up the quarter with a net income of $30k.
 
Your Audit, Finance and Risk committee and the AMBA Team is constructed of some incredible individuals that have a level of care, knowledge and passion. We are excited to help the organization continue responsibly towards our future!

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DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION ADVISORY COMMITTEE Update - by Pam Pikkert, Chair

The DEI Committee is a new advisory committee that reports to the Governance Committee. 
The committee purpose is as follows:
Based on the Board goals for a governing year, the Diversity and Inclusion Committee will act as the main discussion and advisory body for AMBA in relation to issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion. The intent of this work is to help AMBA develop and maintain an environment where we recognize the dignity and uniqueness of the individual, and where we meaningfully leverage equity and diversity in our staff, Board of Directors, membership, and community. 
 
We're thrilled to have the following AMBA members as part of our Committee: 
Pam Pikkert, The Place to Mortgage (Chair) 
Danielle Pendleton, Lumos Mortgages 
Anu Reddy, Community Trust
 Bimbola Ayo, TMG Tim Hurlburt, TNT Mortgages 
Hayley Cross, Flare Mortgage Group 
Shay Robertson, AMBA Staff Liaison 
 
To date we have had 2 meetings. At the first we finalized the terms of reference and the annual work plan which was then approved by the Board. We held a generative discussion about what DEI means to the members of the committee after taking the time to find out what called us each to sit on the committee. The second meeting was a review of some of AMBA's documentation, including the Employee Handbook and Code of Conduct, which generated a great discussion about ensuring we're using inclusive language and implementing policies that support our mission. I'm excited to report that we are collectively assembling a DEI resource library of resources within the committee, which we hope to provide to our membership in the coming months.  
 
I'm excited to continue working with this amazing group of members who have a deep desire to ensure the highest level of DEI for AMBA! 

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EDUCATION COMMITTEE Update - by Charlotte Tran, Chair

The Education Committee has had a very busy year! With RECA divesting from offering pre-licensing education, AMBA began the process of working to become a recognized course provider for the new pre-licensing courses, based on new competencies as established by the Mortgage Broker Industry Council at RECA. Though AMBA already offered the second course (Practice of Mortgage Brokerage), new competencies provided us with an opportunity to create new content and make significant improvements on older content.  Following the development of the Practice course, we got to work developing the Fundamentals course as well.  The Committee and additional subject matter experts from our membership worked tirelessly to research and write content for both courses, and I’d like to thank all our committed members who participated in this process! I’d also like to thank the Alberta Real Estate Foundation for their support of our pre-licensing course development work – we were awarded a Legacy Grant which enabled us to work quickly and engage third-party content developers to assist us in our efforts.
 
 AMBA received approval as a recognized course provider by RECA in June, and both the Fundamentals of Mortgage Brokerage and the Practice of Mortgage Brokerages courses were approved for delivery shortly afterwards. I’m thrilled to report on behalf of the committee that we started accepting students to the new MAP program mid-August, and there are over 100 candidates currently enrolled. 
 
Our work isn’t done yet! Up next, we’ll be redeveloping the Mortgage Broker Owner course. As part of our strategic priority to achieve excellence in pre-licensing education, we’ve established a strong group of subject matter experts from within our membership to begin developing this course. Our goal is to submit this course for approval prior to the divestment deadline of December 1.
 
Once our courses are fully operational, I look forward to re-engaging with the Education committee and working closely with them to establish tutoring and mentoring programs for our MAP candidates, as well as developing our continuous improvement and course enhancement project plans for 2023.

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AWARDS & RECOGNITION COMMITTEE Update - by Emily St.Pierre, Chair

AMBA's Awards & Recognition Committee was formed in May this year and has held two meetings. As our first order of business, we reviewed AMBA's historical awards program, and discussed at length what role AMBA's award program would have in the industry at large.  From there, we evaluated which historical awards to keep, and we brainstormed potential new awards for introduction in 2023. In addition, we begin discussion the development of a Volunteer Recognition Program. Project Plans have been completed to outline the expected timeline and processes for the development of the awards program, volunteer recognition program and gala planning.
The Committee has identified the key components that should be included in the Gala events as well as determining the approximate number of awards that will be introduced. Next on the agenda, we’ll be working on establishing criteria for each award, as well as the point system for volunteer recognition.
In the coming months, we’ll be starting gala planning, and forming our sub-committee to assist with judging award entries.  We’re looking forward to formally launching the awards and recognition programs in 2023!
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