This page is the candidate's personal website and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IEEE.
Technical Activities creates the intellectual property that defines the IEEE brand. Societies and Councils, represented by outstanding volunteers and staff, have managed growing publications and conference businesses, and have drawn strength from a growing global membership base. Likewise, the S/C′s have been effective custodians of their share (roughly 90%) of IEEE reserves, and have met the significant financial challenges of 2001-2002. While these specific challenges have subsided, changes in IEEE's business environment constantly re-define our tactical and strategic roadmap, and will test our flexibility and ability to innovate and work together.
Here are my thoughts on the environment and challenges of the businesses that are managed or influenced by the Societies and Councils of Technical Activities:
Conference activities are currently the most autonomous of our three businesses − in some instances isolated from the Administrative Committees of their parent Society/Council leadership. Changes in conference reporting requested by independent auditors, initiated in 2004, will establish a uniform reporting basis for each conferenceat the S/C level, a small, but important step in sharing data and experiences in a common format. Additional events on the conference business horizon include:
So we have competent and eager competition, a significant (and growing) revenue stream at risk, and urgently need a volunteer forum for sharing opinions and establishing strategy.
Society membership has shown a gradual, but steady decline since 2001, and in October 2004, for the first time in over 20 years, there are fewer Society memberships than total IEEE memberships.
A number of membership issues are Publication- and Conference-related: Exit polls conducted in late 2004 from those who did not renew S/C memberships indicate that Society publications, conferences, services and fees were not satisfactory. Renewing members stressed the need for continuous improvement in publications and services, such as:
Individual and collective efforts by the Societies and Publications directed at these issues include:
But − are we moving quickly and broadly enough? Given the rapid growth of convenient desktop access to IEEE intellectual property through institutional subscription, the value of Society membership has diminished. It is therefore imperative that we quickly identify and implement other means of offering value to Society members, including conference discounts, educational products, online communities, and other personal and career benefits. In so doing, we must remember the global extent of our membership, and the cultural and economic diversity of our members and volunteers.
The IEEE Electronic Library has grown impressively in the past 5 years, was a major IEEE asset during the years of financial stress, and is the envy of other not-for-profit (as well as for-profit) publishers. (And let's not forget that this project grew from the ideas and persistence of Society members who wanted to increase member value!) At the same time, the Open Access movement, and increases in technical literature and capable search engines on the open (and closed) web pose threats to our existing publishing (and membership) business models. Strategies for dealing with Open Access have been identified and will be prioritized in coming months as part of Publications' strategic planning activity.
My view of the task before TAB is to manage the challenges facing the three businesses above, realizing that there are important threads, all with human faces, feelings, and points of view, that link them together. You, the members and volunteers of the Societies and Councils, are the necessary elements of IEEE′s vitality.
Thank you for your consideration.