The Journey

What a journey. It’s been an interesting year for me – a demanding one but a rewarding one. I did not initially seek this role, but agreed to pursue when asked because I thought I had something to say and could contribute. At the end of this year, I am proud of what I have accomplished with the support of so many. I charged forward with a seriousness that surprised some, and asserted my will to the consternation of others. I am touched by the kind words offered by many about the positive impact I had. Apparently, this was the right time for me and IAC.

Throughout, I remained authentic to myself which made it all easier. I learned that I like public speaking. In communicating with you, I found a new voice for myself. I might start my own blog because I still have things to say on other topics (although readers may be saying my 59 posts are enough!). In trying to inspire others, I inspired myself. I have been rewarded with friendships.

Last comment, balancing the demands of my role as chair and my day job as CEO of InterImage has been a challenge. I knew I had to segregate these roles because while I have a responsibility to my employees to ensure my company's continued success, I also agreed to a responsibility to all of IAC's members to fulfill my role as chair voicing the interests of the community, not mixed with my InterImage voice. My passion for both organizations has enabled me to find a vision and a path for executing both roles. But I am looking forward to going back to advocating for the interests of InterImage, and using my InterImage voice. I will certainly continue to be an active part of this community, my passion for ACT-IAC and our community continues. But now I will do so as a member instead of as IAC’s leader.

So, thank you for your support. I will see you around our community.
Signing off, but not out,

Leslie

Working with the Staff

IAC pursued a number of special initiatives this year – in addition to the staff’s internal initiative of implementing new Association Management and Content Management systems and creating a new portal. These special initiatives on top of ACT-IAC’s busy schedule of regular activities made for a demanding year on the staff. There is no doubt, they all stepped up to the challenge. They understood the importance to IAC-ACT’s future in this year of administration change to support these additional activities.

A comment on the AMS-CMS implementations. This has been on the drawing board for a number of years but finally gained steam during the early part of 2008 when the EC approved expenditure and went into high gear in the fall of 2008 with implementation of selected products. The first step was the AMS. Implementation completed at the end of 2008 and staff had the challenge of learning how to extract maximum value from the new system, while of course doing the rest of their work. Not easy. At the same time the CMS implementation activities started with the goal of completion by Jun 30. Indeed, the project is wrapping up and by early July we will all appreciate the ease with which we can maneuver about the new ACT-IAC portal. I tell you this just so that you can appreciate how overtaxed the staff has been between regular activities, special activities, and internal, operational improvements.

I extend my gratitude to this incredibly dedicated and hardworking team, with whom all are an absolute pleasure to work, and who really make this organization tick.

Leslie

Working with the ACT Board

One of the responsibilities of the IAC Chair is to participate as a member of the ACT Board as well as to work hand in hand with the ACT President. Since the organizations in many respects are intermingled, often decisions need to be approved by both Boards. The Chair is the conduit for that to occur.

I am not going to get into details on the ACT Board. However, I will say that the ACT Board members participate on their own time, which is limited in that they all have demanding jobs. Seeing the Board first hand made me truly appreciate their dedication to ACT-IAC. They are committed; they are believers; they are friends. On the industry side we give a lot and we demand a lot. The ACT Board members see both. We want equal participation – industry and government. They have tried to drive that within the ethics and time constraints in which they operate. They do a spectacular job.

It has been a treat working with Martha and the ACT Board over this past year. Their friendship makes the work enjoyable. Now there is a new Board. I’ve already talked with Prashant about what he wants to focus on and achieve. I know he and the new expanded ACT Board will succeed in continuing to evolve ACT in a positive direction.

Leslie

Governance at Work Behind the Scenes

The primary responsibility of the Governance committee is to ensure the financial health of ACT-IAC. This year, they did more. For example, the governance committee worked with the special task force looking at adding ACT-IAC chapters in regions. Indeed, regional groups in San Diego and Denver have formed. Part of governance is ensuring that the appropriate relationship and procedures are in place with these ACT-IAC regional groups. The committee also put in place a detailed position description for the Executive Director, an oversight that was corrected this year. Finally, the committee is kicking off a special task force to re-look at the business model. The intent is to ensure the organization is appropriately positioned from a financial perspective over the long term – important to do given the changing economic climate in which we operate.

There were some other activities that I put in the category of governance but were not under the purview of the governance committee. I tasked each committee to establish a formal charter describing their mission, operations, responsibilities, activities and success factors. Throughout the year, the committee chairs reported to the EC against this charter. It’s an obvious management best practice that I hope continues. I also initiated this EC blog as a way to be transparent in the organizations’ operations. I hope this continues but the statistics on contribution are not encouraging. Aside from me, 5 members of the EC contributed, with 4 of these members only posting one time. I believe the transparency provided by the blog not only informs but also reassures members that the EC is not operating in a “clubby” behind the scenes sort of way. This was a not atypical complaint voiced in the past that I have not heard in awhile. It’s important that members understand opportunities to lead and participate are open to all.

In sum, my focus in the area of governance was to ensure that the organization applied modern best practices and processes to the management of ACT-IAC. This included giving SIGs and other parts of IAC the freedom to explore social media. Certainly, the principles of transparency and using technology to more efficiently connect and collaborate are consistent with what the government is espousing. Its all the more reason these practices, while a change from the past, should continue.

Leslie

Getting the Word out through PR

At the start of the year, I believed that the EC needed to pay more attention to the IAC brand and to building that brand as the trusted place to go for information and ideas that advance the application of information technology within the federal government. So I created a PR committee with a key objective of creating a strategic communications plan. The committee has drafted a plan. It is going through review by the EC. In addition, the committee made progress on a variety of tactical fronts – working with the staff to create the new website (it will finally be up in early July!), updating the press policy, revamping the newsletter, and designing the challenge coin. While many of these tactical actions were internally focused, ACT-IAC’s many activities have gained increasing press attention. In May ACT-IAC was in the press in more than 35 times in various stories!

The PR committee has laid the groundwork for more to occur next year. I believe it is essential to finalize the strategic communications plan. The PR committee should be the mechanism to:
§ ensure that IAC is communicating effectively to the community about our content and our value
§ proactively reach out to the media and coordinate with the press on special activities
§ ensure our government counterparts get the message on how they can get involved.

I have talked about how ACT-IAC is well-positioned with the new administration. Through proactive action, the PR committee can keep ACT-IAC front and center.
Leslie

Special Initiatives Shine – Part 2: TSG

The Transition Study Group. I probably need to write no more. I think everyone knows how passionate I was about IAC demonstrating its thought leadership to the new administration as a way to ensure the organization’s future relevancy and to more broadly engage the government. I am proud of the level of collaboration – 58 authors representing 46 small, mid and large companies and government. I am proud of what the group accomplished. I had high expectations. They were exceeded. I love the fact that ideas in the papers are now cropping up in speeches/writings by government.

Thanks to everyone who participated. This is a demonstration of ACT-IAC at its best, and ACT-IAC is already reaping the benefit of this work as government reaches out to the organization for support on Cloud Computing. Expect more.

Leslie

Strategic Initiatives – Tackling Tough Issues

I will comment on two activities of the strategic initiatives committee, both of which are on-going. The first is the SIG re-structuring. The strategic initiatives committee was tasked with defining a process and timetable for the re-structuring, and for establishing a committee to follow the defined process and prepare recommendations. That activity is well underway.

The second is an initiative to define and determine how to identify/ capture the intellectual property of IAC and manage that knowledge. When you start thinking about all the IAC white papers, transition papers, conference proceedings, and other documents, there is quite a lot. What does IAC share in? How can IAC protect against mis-use? What is mis-use? We have talked about this for awhile. Now the committee is taking it on.

The strategic initiatives committee has been involved in a variety of other activities and issues over the past couple years, such as formulation of the Transition Study Group and alignment of awards and award criteria. Typically, it’s the place where the tough issues land to be sorted through.

Leslie