We wanted to make the members of AIIM and ARMA aware of some strategic discussions that have been occurring over the past few months between the two organizations.
In December 2005, the AIIM Executive Committee, with the full support of the AIIM Board, contacted ARMA's Executive Committee about AIIM's interest in meeting to discuss whether there might be ways to more closely align the two organizations to better address the needs of their respective members.
The AIIM and ARMA Executive Committees eventually met in Chicago in June to discuss the possibilities. They agreed to meet again in August, prior to ARMA's Strategic Planning Committee and to include the entire ARMA Board. At the August meeting, AIIM's Executive Committee presented its ideas for a possible closer alignment, including consolidation or combination of the two organizations. It also proposed forming a joint AIIM/ARMA Task Force. The job of this task force would be to meet with an external facilitator selected by both organizations and determine whether a possible consolidation or combination of AIIM and ARMA would be: a) feasible; and b) in the interests of the members of both organizations. The ARMA Board agreed to discuss the topic further during its Strategic Planning Committee meetings.
On September 6, ARMA's Board advised AIIM's Executive Committee that the Board and Strategic Planning Committee had discussed the proposal at length and decided it was not necessary to form a task force. The ARMA Board stated that it was not interested in pursuing the possible consolidation or combination of the two organizations; however, it was interested in identifying other opportunities on which AIIM and ARMA could work more closely.