We are coming up on a year since the world changed. I don’t know of any industry or organisation that has been untouched in 2020. Our own CASE journey has been challenging, remarkable, and ongoing. Amid these challenges we have been squarely focused on three objectives: sustaining this valued association; providing relevant services for you and the global advancement community we serve; and ensuring the well-being of our staff. These objectives are in service of our strategic plan, Reimagining CASE 2017-2021, and its four pillars: global engagement, membership service, talent management, and thought leadership. Moreover, they are intended to help CASE support our members as we, together, advance education to transform lives and society. 

For me, the last few months have involved digging deep into the essence of CASE, and asking as many people I can some variation on the question: “What does CASE mean to you?” What I hear is: “people, relationships, connections, together, education.” CASE, like your institutions, is revisiting what we do, what is essential, and how we are living our values in every aspect of our work. When times are good and relatively easy, mission creep can happen. When times are tougher, we see organisations look to their core purpose to gauge its ongoing relevance, and whether the work underway is the best means to achieve the mission.