Conquering the Divide

Benoit's commitment to the IADD and its constituents did not end with his chapter work. At the Board of Directors meeting in September 1994, the IADD created an Education Committee. Edmund Mucci, Jr., fellow founding committee member, remembers that without a clear mandate from the Board, "No one actually knew what serving really entailed." Nonetheless, Benoit was one of the first to volunteer and, through several three- or four-hour teleconferences, the Committee developed its present mission statement. As Mucci states, "It would have been easy for people who were busy with their own businesses to become discouraged that we were spending a great deal of time without tangible results."