Welcome to the New IAARonline.org

Learning isn't what it used to be. Once, you got your training in classrooms and your news via dead trees. If the local newspaper didn't cover the topics that interested you, that was tough luck. Too busy to catch a flight for a conference or seminar? Too bad.

The advent of the digital age enables us to make the knowledge you need vastly more accessible, more reliable and more complete. On Nov. 1, IAAR took a major step toward becoming the digital and interactive leader among membership associations when we launched the new IAAROnline.org -- a revamped website that will serve as the destination portal for our members and all asset recovery^* professionals. Combining content now offered on AssetRecoveryWatch.com and IAAROnline.org as well as news, analysis, and training material archived on AssetForfeitureWatch.com -- the site will offer visitors an array of new and revitalized features.

Since our conference in Miami Beach in April, visitors to IAAROnline.org and AssetRecoveryWatch.com have already noticed much greater variety in our online offerings. Along with our traditional expert analysis and news articles, we have been delivering aggregated news from multiple sources around the globe, as well as multimedia offerings in the form of videos and Podcasts.

That was only the beginning of IAAR's new online features.

Starting in November, have been offered the chance to become Premium Members, with the key to unlock a wealth of resources, including:

• Expert, hands-on analysis of practical topics
• Videos featuring our conference content and Asset Recovery^* Watch TV
• The Asset Recovery^* Watch Podcast, with audio interviews with top professionals and newsmakers

We also value the ability to interact with you, and we want to enable you to interact with each other. That is why we have begun developing a member map and a new, improved forum for you to meet and connect with each other. IAAR members from the various professions that make up the asset recovery^* field will soon be able to look online and find the help they need to bring their cases to successful resolutions.

In coming months, look for other Web 2.0 features never before seen on IAAR's sites -- or on the sites of any professional legal or law enforcement associations. These will include: informative interactive maps and timelines, comprehensive and searchable case studies, and asset recovery^* databases to help you do your job.

Your professional advancement is our first concern, and we want to help you grow your knowledge and standing. To achieve this end, we have worked tirelessly to craft the landmark Certified Specialist in Asset Recovery^* (CSAR) examination. The new IAAROnline.org gives us a seamless platform to enable you to get certified and move your career forward. From training classes to online certification exam preparation, our new site will free you from having to travel to seminars to acquire and burnish the skills you need.

There is, of course, a larger goal to all of this technical improvement. We firmly believe that with better information and training, you can play a powerful role in increasing the volume of ill-gotten proceeds wrested back from criminals and fraudsters' which now stands at a paltry 1 percent of their take. Asset recovery^* is truly the most lethal blow that can be delivered to financial crime; it is the great equalizer, the single most potent deterrent. Crippling criminal enterprises by taking their loot can suppress corruption and improve our world.

If we can help stem the tide of global corruption by helping you do your job well, we have done our job. Fortunately, in this digital age, with myriad tools at the touch of a button, it is within our capacity to offer the best possible site to aid you in your jobs. So we're pleased to welcome you to the new IAAROnline.org.