Jim Moran was elected president in 1990 and Tri-State received its first Superior Merit Award from SHRM. Membership continued to grow, and the 5th annual Tri-State HR Conference was held in 1991. During this time Mike Losey was selected as President of SHRM and Tri-State had the honor of being the first chapter that Mike spoke to as President of SHRM. When Mike retired in 2000 Tri-State was one of the last chapters he addressed before his retirement.

Lauri Plante became president in 1994, and was faced with finding a new home for Tri-State after ten years of monthly meetings at the Cherry Hill Hyatt when the hotel unexpectedly closed its doors. Tri-State’s new home was now at the Radisson in Mt. Laurel. Members of Tri-State’s leadership team traveled to Washington, D.C. for a meeting with Representative Rob Andrews to discuss a number of legislative issues and concerns. Tri-State had now grown to the point where it needed to hire its first administrator.

Jackie Lazarro became president in 1996 as the association continued to grow and progress. The Tri-State HR Conference celebrated its tenth anniversary in 1996.

In 1997 Linda Parthemer became president. Tri-State operates its business year from September to September, and it was felt a planning session before the beginning of the new business year would be beneficial. As a result, the first annual summer leadership conference was held at Linda’s house to plan and discuss the upcoming business year.

Wayne Tarken became president in 1999 and Tri-State sponsored its first technology symposium in partnership with the Saratoga Institute. More than 200 people attended the event to hear futurist Roger Herman. In 2001 the Delaware Valley HR Person of the Year award program was begun with Tri-State as one of the local sponsoring SHRM chapters. Since then, Tri-State members Dorothy Stubblebine, Dan Sell, Diane Wagner, Carol Asselta, Theresa McGlinchey, Monica McClintock, Margie McLaughlin, Laraine Knauss, Judy Baker, John Baldino, Anneliese McMenamin, Donna Jack, Doug Allen, Debbie Deissroth, Tara Edmundson, Rume Joy Azikiwe, and Sue Learn have been recognized as HR Person of the Year. Jeff Backal, Merrick Rosenberg, Lou Lessig, BJ Anderson, and John Baldino have been recognized as HR Consultant of the Year, and Aaron Boucher was recognized as HR Rising Star. In 2006, John Knoop was recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2014 Dorothy Stubblebine, was recognized for the same Lifetime Recognition.

One of the mission statements for Tri-State involves giving back to the communities where its members live and work. The HR 101 Program for

Non-Profits was developed by Theresa McGlinchey in 2001 and is still being presented each year since then. This program provides a one-half day seminar on related HR topics for those members of the local non-profit community who have human resource responsibility in their organizations. The program has been presented for free or for a very nominal fee. Members of Tri-State have volunteered their time as presenters for the program. Tri-State sponsored its first annual golf outing with the proceeds going to the SHRM Foundation. A local charity is identified prior to the December meeting, and Tri-State members at the December meeting have provided donations of items needed by the charities and/or cash contributions.

In 2003 Monica McClintock was elected president, and one of her stated accomplishments was the creation of the Tri-State Comedy Troupe, a collection of Tri-State members who took a different and creative look at the HR profession. In April 2004 members of Tri-State’s leadership team coordinated a trip to Washington, D.C. along with members of the HR Association of South Jersey to meet with each group’s representatives. Tri-State members enjoyed the trip to Capitol Hill and met with Representative Rob Andrews (a high school classmate of Monica’s) to discuss a number of issues and to present him with an honorary Tri-State membership. The bylaws were updated, and Tri-State instituted one membership fee for all members.

Jerry Dropcho became president in 2007 and Tri-State’s membership exceeded 400 for the first time. Monthly meetings moved to a new home at the Marriott in Mt. Laurel, and in 2008 the annual conference moved to the Mansion in Voorhees. Formal budgeting and the use of the balanced scorecard were instituted as management tools to help ensure a clear focus on achieving Tri-State’s mission and vision. The bylaws received another update as three non-voting Board members were added to include the membership chair, the programs chair, and the conference chair. In addition, two new committees (the Finance Committee and the Investment Committee) were established to provide for additional financial oversight and governance for the organization.

In 2011 Joe Giamboi was elected president. Judy Baker and Lauri Plante helped establish the Senior HR Forum for Tri-State members who are in senior and strategic roles in their respective organizations. At a quarterly breakfast meeting the group can share thoughts, concerns, and best practices with their peers. As a means of engaging and recruiting potential members, the Membership Committee began sponsoring two semi-annual member mixer networking events for people in the local HR community who are not currently Tri-State members. These events have been well attended with a number of new members joining Tri-State as a result. In 2013 the annual conference broke all previous records for attendance, sponsors, and exhibitors. Monthly dinner meetings now consistently draw well in excess of 100 people with high marks given by the attendees for the quality of the programs presented. Tri-State was awarded SHRM’s Silver Excel Award for 2011 and Gold Excel Award for 2012.

In 2015 Lou Lessig was elected President. In 2016 Tri-State celebrated the 30th year anniversary of its annual conference and the 15th anniversary of its HR Toolkit for Non-Profits. In November, Tri-State had a community service event on a Saturday morning where Tri-State members and their families built bicycles for kids who never had a bicycle before. Tri-State member Jeff Backal and a group of people from his company, Team Builders Plus, donated their time and ran this as a team-building program. After building the bikes, the group was asked to close their eyes and imagine the look on the kids faces when they saw their new bikes. Then they were told to open their eyes and see for themselves. At that time the kids all came into the room to see the bikes and pick one out. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place. In 2017 Tri-State sponsored its first webinar in place of its February dinner meeting. This continued an emphasis on the use of technology such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Linked In to communicate and interact with the membership. Tri-State was recognized by SHRM with its Silver Excel Award for 2015 and 2016.

In 2019 Karen Roberts was elected President. Within six months of Karen taking office as Tri-State’s President, the world was having to deal with the COVID pandemic and all the disruption that it caused. Tri-State had to adapt quickly and go from in person meetings, programs, and events to a virtual world. In order to continue to meet the needs of its members for information and professional development, Tri-State sponsored various virtual webinars and monthly meetings to replace onsite programs. Different committees such as Career Management and Emerging Professionals also began holding virtual events as well. In May of 2020 Tri-State sponsored its first virtual annual conference. The program was a sold-out event with 90 attendees. In the Spring of 2021, Tri-State held a virtual event for people who might have an interest in finding out more about volunteer leadership roles in the chapter. Several workshops were held with members of the Succession Planning Committee participating to answer questions and provide information. Tri-State was recognized with its Platinum Excel Award for 2020 and was also recognized in 2020 as a SHRM Learning System Champion.

In 2023 BJ Anderson was elected President and Tri-State said good-bye to its long-time administrator, Phyllis Jones of PD Jones and Associates, as she retired to Florida. Tri-State continues to be a vibrant and successful professional organization that embraces its rich history and accomplishments with a focus on the ever-changing future.