Message from Cailie . . .

Cailie Currin and her dog, Sasha.

For us here at Currin Compliance, like I am sure for many of you, this does not feel like a typical March. Usually I am preparing for my busy spring conference season, but this year some of that travel has been cancelled and I am waiting to hear about other events that are still technically on, but I have my doubts about whether or not they will happen as scheduled. So instead of preparing presentations, I am trying to reschedule flights.

This has me thinking about the role of conferences in my professional life. Many of you I know only from conferences and meetings. Our dealings are primarily through email, with some phone calls. I feel lucky to see you once or twice a year to catch up on work and personal lives. That personal connection means a lot to me.

Over the years, more and more of us have started to work remotely rather than in a large corporate office building. I hear more dogs barking on calls (I love that, BTW) and more of us call in to conference lines from cell phones instead of desk-based land lines. Many of us are all set up for the “social distancing” we are told is likely to come soon, in the name of virus protection. It really isn’t a big deal to work from home instead of the office – we do it already.

But as I head into a spring in which I may not see any of you face-to-face, I am feeling a bit sad about that. I will miss talking to you and sitting with you for some meal, in some city, at some conference. Compliance can be a lonely career. We are often not the most popular folks at our companies. Our reputation for being the ones saying “No” can mean we experience some “professional distancing.” And that makes getting together that much more important and it makes me that much more disappointed that I won‘t see some of you this year due to the cancellation of the events that would otherwise bring us together.

I hope you all and your families are healthy and stay that way as we navigate Covid-19 in our own corners of the country and in various degrees of isolation. I look forward to seeing you at a conference, and I hope it will be sometime soon! ~ Cailie