My current roles are also at ICCSSA as CEO and SACNASP as a council member. These concurrent positions are valuable for SASA’s progress in South Africa and the symbiotic relationship between SASA, ICCSSA and SACNASP can be nurtured going forward. 

As I already mentioned at the SASA 2022 conference, I have some visions I hope to get in place for SASA. One of these is to promote a working group structure within our interest groups, to extend their roles further than a few seminars a year. The interest groups will act as (virtual) meeting points for research groups in that field, and encourage more in-depth collaboration. The executive will also shortly send out a request to HODs to nominate a SASA representative for each department in order to facilitate communication in small departments and departments that are hybrid. This was an excellent suggestion made at the 2022 AGM. 

Let me conclude with an invitation. My ideas are not the only way to do things, neither are the rest of the executives’. We volunteer our time because we are passionate about Statistics in South Africa. However, all views are needed to effectively build Statistics in South Africa. We are still a field in crisis, with a constant need for more lecturers as class sizes increase faster than we grow, while simultaneously needing to take ownership of Statistics in a world where Data Science is anybody’s playing ground.  I welcome all comments and suggestions so that the executive can serve the community.