Greg Malaska, Esq. served as CAI Keystone President during COVID & Reflects on Challenges the Chapter Faced & Overcame
I’m finishing this piece a few days after the conclusion of a successful (and exhausting) high school volleyball season. My daughters, Maura and Hailey, starting setters for the Jim Thorpe Lady Olympians (Varsity and JV respectively) just concluded one of the school’s most successful seasons ever, earning a silver in the Colonial League Championship and losing in the first round of the District XI Championships. This year, Maura was ranked in the top 10 for assists in Pennsylvania (Class AAA).
So why am I telling you this? First, because I’m a proud father. But more importantly, to give some context on just how long I’ve been involved with CAI (hint: it was before they were born and even before I met their mother, Mary Kay). CAI has helped define my entire career in the practice of law and I was thrilled when Tony and Mike asked me to reflect on CAI’s 50th anniversary.
For me, it started in 2001 when, a year out of law school, my former colleague, Alan Young, asked me to attend an event at Camelback Resort for “CAI.” I wondered if he meant the federal intelligence agency, but soon learned that there was a whole world out there focused on the common interest community industry. That day, I met Bob Travis, who I consider a friend and confidant to this day.
In the next few years, I became active in the Pocono Mountains Regional Council, serving as
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president for several terms, meeting hundreds of volunteers from dozens of Pocono communities.
Shortly thereafter, I learned that CAI had a Legislative Action Committee. As I originally went to law school to lobby in Washington, DC, I jumped at the opportunity and had the pleasure of working with some of the brightest legal minds in our organization for close to fifteen years.
After the birth of my daughters, I took a few steps back from CAI until I was asked by Tony to join the chapter board. Over the span of six years, I worked with many talented, passionate people and was set to begin 2020 as president-elect.
Then things got interesting.
Around Thanksgiving of 2019, due to a surprise resignation by the then president-elect, I was asked to jump into the president’s office, effective January 1, 2020. I enjoyed the challenge and dove in headfirst. That fall, I spoke personally with every director, staffer, and committee chair to develop an effective agenda for my term as president.
Then March 15 arrived…
Originally, I though COVID was some doomsday hysteria that would pass in a few weeks. Well… it didn’t.
Being president of CAI is a tough job under normal conditions,
involving hundreds of hours of work and dozens of meetings throughout the year. A global pandemic and all the uncertainty that came with it posed a once-in- a-lifetime challenge for the chapter. First, we had to make sure the lights stayed on. Second, we had to prevent a mass exodus of volunteers and programming while being held hostage by ever changing social distancing mandates.
Fortunately, after everyone stopped stockpiling water and toilet paper, we took a deep breath and got back to business. We adjusted to those annoying catch phrases like “the new normal” and learned how to communicate from the comfort (or discomfort) of our own homes. As my fellow board members recall, I participated in many Zoom calls from my cold, unfinished basement, which was the only quiet place in our house.
The biggest challenge of my year as president was the isolation. In- person networking events are such an integral component of what we do at CAI. In 2020, we couldn’t meet for close to six months and when we did, we had to stay six feet apart. Try rallying the troops with a mask on…
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