The meeting combined a conference call with a web conference held to review and vote on the membership changes put forward last February by the National Membership Committee.

GDC members will recall receiving communications this past spring from the National Executive about the proposed membership changes, as well as a direct survey from their local chapter. I’m pleased to report that the meeting was well attended, with the exception of one chapter, and that your National Council made decisions that will help the GDC grow.

These weren’t easy decisions. In fact, they were very difficult because they affect many, if not all of our members. The GDC is streamlining our membership categories such that Graduate and LGDC membership will no longer be available.  These two categories will be amalgamated into the new Provisional category.  The Associate category will become the Affiliate category and it is no longer a category to which practicing designers will be admitted. And while these decisions were very important, they were the least contested of the four membership changes. The fourth change was the change from MGDC to CGD certification.

I’m hopeful all our members will rally around our decisions, embrace our Society, and spread the word about the value of certified professional membership.