IT’S A NEW DAY AT TGA!

Terry W. Hammond
Executive Director

For the first twenty-five years of its existence, TGA was managed by volunteers who took time away from their full-time jobs in providing guardianship services to grow TGA and help develop it into the nearly 300-member organization that it is today. 

Five years ago the TGA Board decided to begin compensating part-time staff who continued to devote time to TGA on the side of their regular jobs with guardianship providers and courts. At that time the Board also approved the engagement of a professional conference site selection company and a professional conference planner which resulted in improved conference sites and outstanding conference experiences. 

After surviving two years of pandemic-induced online conferences, TGA returned to the live conference format at Moody Gardens in Galveston in April 2022. The Galveston Conference received rave reviews. 

Even so, TGA staff was exhausted by the remarkably challenging task of orchestrating a major production for about 250 members – especially on top of other TGA-sponsored events which have made TGA a 12-month-a-year management challenge.

TGA is now pleased to announce that it has engaged Olsen & Associates to provide professional staff support to our members as well as enhanced outreach to the guardianship community in general.

Amy Olsen and her team were engaged last year to identify and engage sponsors to help underwrite TGA’s online webinars, which were offered for the first time in March 2022. You have likely seen Fred Eblin producing the webinars every month. We want to thank the Merrill Lynch Special Needs Team and Colonial Surety for underwriting these educational efforts. Webinar attendance has been increasing as more people become aware of the quality of the webinars and the continuing education credits they provide at a minimal expense.

TGA now has the opportunity to more broadly benefit from the management support that Amy, Fred, and their team will be providing. In this edition of the TGA newsletter, you will see a more detailed announcement of the initiatives that Olsen and Associates will be supporting in the coming year.

TGA expresses its gratitude to our members, sponsors, and leadership for advancing the organization over these three decades to the point that TGA can be supported by a professional management company with the caliber of staff that we will have with Olsen & Associates.