Welcome to the RFPA
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE July 2025
As I begin my role as President of RFPA on July 1 working Bobbi Owen (Past-President) and Tim Taft (President-elect) and the whole Executive Board, I am excited about the plans we are hatching. Our work has begun, and a lot is happening.
In May the Executive Board began a planning process, building on what we learned from our survey and reviews of similar organizations. We identified some focus areas:
1) Continue our collaboration with the Friday Center and other administrative units to further professionalize our operations;
2) Enhance visibility of the RFPA and our activities through expanding media outreach and improving our website;
3) Structure activities to enable participation by those unable to attend the regular lunch meetings, for example, we will host our first webinar on Aug. 14 with Dr. Jonathan Oberlander discussing Medicare. Watch for details. We are considering additional ways to help members connect through discussion groups and finding others with shared interests.
4) Celebrate the accomplishments and continuing contributions of our members to their professions and the community. We are developing a member directory and exploring other ways to publicize the contributions we all make after retirement;
5) Improve our member services by ensuring information about available perks is easy to access while exploring what additional perks we might negotiate;
6) Expand engagement in the community, for example, stimulating participation in offering courses and discussions. We also will explore development of a speakers bureau to help NC schools access our collective expertise.
Along with considering new ventures, we will continue with 7 lunches starting in September, update the Retirement Guide, collaborate with the Institute for the Arts and Humanities on the Retirement Seminar for spring 2026, and plan for a celebration of the organization’s 40th anniversary in February 2026.
To do all these things will require engagement by many people. Please let me know in what ways, big or small, you might be willing to help. And, as always, share your ideas of how we can serve you better.
Carol Runyan
RFPA President 2025-26
–photo by Jock Lauterer
New RFPA Virtual Program To Launch in August
In partnership with the Friday Center, RFPA will host its first webinar for retirees on Thursday, Aug. 14. Our fall 2024 survey revealed that a number of retirees wanted to participate more with RFPA but either lived far away or had difficulty getting to our lunch sessions because of mobility issues or family care responsibilities.
To ensure we have activities for these individuals, we are offering our first Zoom-based webinar Aug. 14 from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Eastern time. The featured speaker, Dr. Jonathan Oberlander, is a professor of Social Medicine (UNC School of Medicine) and a professor of Health Policy and Management (UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health). Dr. Oberlander, a national expert on Medicare policy, will provide an overview of health care reform under the Trump administration and reflect on how this affects medical care for older adults. He will speak and entertain questions.
This first session will be open at no cost to all retirees, not just members of RFPA. Watch for updates on how to register.