Candidate for

IEEE Canada President Elect 2020-2021,

IEEE Canada President 2022 – 2023

The membership demographic of IEEE Canada is vibrant and dynamic; however, the number of members we lose year to year is significant. The Region has done an excellent job of focusing on Students and the Young Professionals. IEEE Canada also needs to focus on members outside of these groups. The opportunity is to promote the value of belonging to IEEE throughout a member's entire career. I believe the focus needs to be here because IEEE Canada remains healthy if the greater organization (IEEE) continues to grow.

I also want to expand cooperation between IEEE Canada Sections and interactions with the industry.

The touch point with the general membership is the local Sections and Chapters. The Region must ensure that every Section has the expertise, resources and tools necessary to effectively deliver: 1) membership value message, 2) worthwhile technical programs, and 3) career related assistance.

In conjunction with the sections and the IEEE Canada Executive, this is what I will lead:

· Review the services being provided by IEEE Canada to ensure they are effective and efficient as they can be.

· Review the communications: What is being communicated? How are communicating? How often we are communicating?

· Review the Region Meeting format: Does the meeting have the right focus? Are we allocating time properly?

· Review the training provided: What is being offered? Are we delivery training at the right frequency? Are we delivering what sections need or want?

· Review the organization structure: Are we set up to meet the needs of the members? Are we best set up to meet the needs of the volunteers? Do we have a long-term strategic vision?

It has been almost two decades since IEEE Canada was re-structured into its current organizational structure. It is time to review this structure to ensure IEEE Canada is best aligned to deliver member value. I want to ensure the local sections have the training and the tools to be better able to deliver the message, products and services of IEEE locally thus retaining more members. IEEE Canada will continue to remain healthy and an integral part of the greater IEEE.

My plan is to carry out a structured review of our current practices to discover new opportunities, address our challenges and transform our ideas into actions.

If elected as Region Director my goal is to ensure our Regions continued growth, maintain the fiscal strength and expand the value to our members.

Questions for the Candidate

1. What do you believe are the major issues facing IEEE?

Membership recruitment and retention continues to be the number one issue facing IEEE. This will shortly become a two pronged challenge: not only will IEEE have to replace the year over year membership loss, but as the baby boomers start to retire and become lifetime members who do not pay membership dues, it becomes a financial impact to IEEE. IEEE has done a good job of focusing on the Student and the Young Professionals members and needs to continue theses efforts, but it is now that IEEE must focus its attention on the Regular member and deliver a solid product that meets those member’s needs. The membership model is not one size fits all. Over the member's life cycle their need changes.

2. What do you think the number one goal is for IEEE leadership?

IEEE needs to get our Value message of belonging to IEEE out to the public better. To accomplish this all volunteers need to understand our Value message and articulate it. The Sections are the touch point the “public” for the majority of the IEEE activities, the Section leadership needs to be adequately trained to deliver our Value message. The Regional meetings are where this training should be delivered. The focus needs to be on ensuring that this training meets the objective, is delivered in a timely fashion and frequently enough so that this message is consistently heard by the “public”.

3. What qualifies you for the job?

My position as a Principal Consultant at Itron has afforded me the opportunity to work in almost all the provinces in Canada, many of the States in the US and Brazil. Through this travel I have a better understanding of regional variations and their different needs. In addition I have been an active volunteer at the Section, Region and IEEE Board level for over 20 years: served 7 years on IEEE Canada (R7) Board, 6 years on MGA Board and the last two years IEEE Awards Board. I understand IEEE operations, the issues and opportunities facing IEEE, and the time commitment required to be successful as Region Director.

4. Why do you want to be Region 7 Director?

Members join IEEE for a variety of reasons; some to gain access to IEEE Standards, some to access to journals or publications, some to publish technical papers, some to gain access to IEEE Conferences at a discount and some to just belong. Initially I joined to because the local PES Chapter chair needed a vice -chair, but as a continued as a volunteer, I realized that just wanted to make a difference in the organization. I want to help make it better for the future. My IEEE activities to date have provided valuable insight to the operations of IEEE. I know what is working, what is lacking and where improvements should be made.

5. Do you have the time to dedicate to being Region Director?

Through my current IEEE Board level activities, I understand the volume of emails, the volume of reading materials generated, and the teleconference and the face to face meeting requirements. As a travelling consultant for Itron, I spend between 75 to 100% of my time away from my home in Calgary. As a result my evenings are spent in hotels, so they are free for me to dedicate my time to an activity of my choice. In addition, I recently became an "empty nester", my last child has gone off to college. This has also significantly reduced my family time commits at home. These two factors should provide enough time to cover the requirements of IEEE Region 7 Director.

The opinions expressed on this website are the opinions of the author and

not necessarily the opinions of the IEEE.