Welcome to the New Year and 2010. Every year I set resolutions for myself, I rarely keep them, but at least I try. This year's resolution was to stay in touch with friends. The statistics community in NZ is really like a group of friends for me. We are supportive, we are committed and we do an excellent job in connecting with science, industry, education and management. Statistics is fundamental to almost every aspect of society and we should be proud of what we do.

Can we do more? Yes. One other resolution I made was to raise the profile of statistics in NZ science. Where do we rank in measures of science peer esteem? How many of our members are Fellows of the Royal Society, members of the Marsden Panel, and members of the PBRF panel? I want our profession and individual members to be recognized for excellence. This year let us take every opportunity we can to promote statisticians for their excellence in science.

A new award in mathematical science, initially proposed by the NZ Mathematics Society, will be offered for the first time in 2010 by the Royal Society. The Jones Medal will be for "Lifetime Achievement in the Mathematical Sciences". The intention is to offer this every two years. This year nominations will be called for in April, with a 1 August close date. I hope to see some strong statistics nominations.

One of the changes in NZ science is the reorganization of the Royal Society. For many years there has been a Mathematics and Information Sciences committee. This was disbanded earlier this year. New advisory panels are being established for three discipline areas. We will sit within the Physical Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology discipline. The panel will be chaired by the discipline vice president - currently this is Professor Keith Hunter. The panel will comprise the presidents (or nominees) of the constituent organizations. In addition there will be expert panels set up for specific issues and tasks. There has been little opportunity for involvement from NZSA in deciding on this reorganization despite attempts from some of the executive, however personally I feel the change is understandable and we should view the reorganization positively.

The forthcoming big event for NZSA is the conference at the end of June. I hope you can all attend and help make it a conference to remember. The organizing committee has been working very hard. I think they have designed a conference that will be another example of statistical excellence!