Chicago Urological Society Upcoming Events MARCH 3, 2010 Systemic Implications of Urinary Stone Disease Dr. Marshall L. Stoller Professor of Urology, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine Register online for March's Meeting click here. April 7, 2010 X-Ray Conference Click Here to be included in the program. Deadline February 19th. Complete February's CME Evaluationclick here. Letter From the President: Dear Colleagues, As President of the 2009-2010 Chicago Urologic Society, I want to keep the membership abreast of our status on important issues that have transpired over the past several months. As you may remember, during the 2008/2009 season the Chicago Urologic Society underwent a number of vexing issues, including the loss of our long-term manager (Dorothy Winberg), as well as a fiscal crisis with the Society being almost $50,000 in the red. Through the leadership of Dr. Greg Bales and the Board, we transitioned the Society to the W. J. Weiser Management Group to assist us. As we were compelled to honor our previously signed venue contract at the Chicago Club our costs were substantially higher than our income. Regardless, through excellent management by the Weiser Group, a doubling of industrial support based on a new fee structure, and careful management of numbers, we were able to turn our situation around ending up with an approximate $8,000 surplus at the end of the season. Currently we are financially sound. As we looked forward to the 2009/2010 season, it became obvious that continued cost savings would be required if our Society was to continue to function in its primary capacity as an educational society, and one in which friendly and collegial relations between specialists are maintained. This has required us to rebid the management contract. Over the past 3 months Dr. Jay Kinzler, our VP and former Secretary Treasurer, received bids from multiple management agencies. After careful review, the board decided to leave Weiser Management Group and instead use the very experienced Medical Association Management, a Division of the Illinois State Medical Society. Switching management companies will save the Society an estimated $30,000 in the next fiscal year. Additionally, the Chicago Club – although a beautiful venue – has been very expensive for our society to the degree that our dues do not cover meals, meeting rooms and fellowship hour. It is necessary to reduce our meeting expenses in line with our cost structure, especially facing an uncertain future in which support from industry may not be available. Based on this, the Board made a decision to change the venue to Petterino’s Banquets (150 N. Dearborn Chicago, IL 60601) for the 2009-2010 season. This is at substantial costs savings to our society and acts as a buffer against the future financial uncertainties and permits us to avoid a dues increase. Moving the venue from the Chicago Club to a restaurant will be different, but with precedent, as the Chicago Urologic Society has used various restaurants in the past. We decided to keep the downtown location based on surveys done over the past several years wherein the majority of the membership wanted to continue the downtown location. Movement away from the Weiser Group, who performed admirably, is also painful. The transition means additional work for the Officers and Board; regardless, these tough choices need to be made and they have been done with clarity by the leadership of the Society. With these two critical changes I am confident the Chicago Urologic Society will weather future financial alterations successfully. That said, I am enthusiastic about our future, and especially excited about the 2009-2010 season in which nationally prominent speakers will be visiting our Society in the manner to which we have become accustomed. I think the educational benefit of our Society will continue if not increase in the next years, and I look forward to continuing this unique metropolitan urologic society. Sincerely, Kevin T. McVary, MD, FACS President, Chicago Urological Society Professor of Urology Feinberg School of Medicine Northwestern University Chicago, IL