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President's Message |
Joe Butler – President, EMC Society |
As I enter my second year as President of the IEEE EMC Society, I'm beginning to appreciate what I don't know about this job. I think by the time my two-year term ends at the end of 2001, I'll have figured it out. I'm fortunate to have the continuing support of Dan Hoolihan, past president, Janet O'Neil, secretary, newsletter editor, and chief protocol adviser, and Warren Kesselman who serves as treasurer and part-time administrator for the Society. The Board of Directors elected them to continue in these roles at our meeting last November. We have a new President-Elect, Todd Hubing. Todd has served on the Board of Directors for several years, most notably as VP Member Services and Associate Editor in this newsletter for Chapter Chatter. Todd will serve one year as President-Elect then automatically assume the presidency for two years, followed by two years as past president. The Society is indeed fortunate that the Board of Directors has made such a wise choice in electing Todd. Todd brings a unique combination of strong technical bearings, very competent administrative skills, outstanding work ethic, and perhaps most importantly, humor to an otherwise potentially droll area of science and engineering. I look forward to effecting this transition year with him.
The Board of Directors also re-elected Don Heirman as VP Standards, Len Carlson, VP Communications Services, and Kimball Williams as VP Technical Services. Andy Drozd was elected as VP Member Services. The November meeting also allowed us to officially welcome those recently elected to the Board of Directors by the membership. These included new board member, Bruce Crain, past board members Dick Ford and Jim Muccioli, and continuing board members, Henry Ott, Henry Benitez, Mark Montrose, and Takeo Yoshino.
In my recent travels as President of the EMC Society I was fortunate to be able to travel to Paris, in part to attend an October 1st, IEEE Region 8, Division I and IV, Chapter Coordination Meeting. Elya Joffe, your Society's Region 8 Membership Chair, also attended this meeting and prepared an interesting report for this issue of the Newsletter. (See page 10.) This event, attended by many European Chapter chairs as well as fellow Society presidents, allowed me to gain some valuable insight into chapter support activities in countries where the cost of IEEE membership is essentially prohibitive. This is an area of discussion that has gotten significant airtime at our Board of Directors meetings and will likely increase. Takeo Yoshino has been looking into potential IEEE Region 10 EMCS chapter formation outside Japan, i.e., China, while Carlos Sartori is doing similar work in IEEE Region 9, i.e., Brazil. Elya Joffe has been looking into such places as South Africa and the former countries of the USSR, and has recently effected a new joint chapter arrangement in Turkey. Further, with the election of Andy Drozd as VP Member Services, Bruce Crain has recently accepted the role of Membership Chair. This entire area of membership development and new chapter formation is likely to be a centerpiece of the Society's future activities.
Following our Board of Directors meeting in November, I attended the IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) meetings. This is the area of IEEE activity in which I am still learning. TAB consists of the presidents of the 36 Societies and three Councils, the ten division directors as well as some TAB elected officers. This organization meets three times yearly in order to address the activities of the IEEE. The topics discussed range from membership development, IEEE publications, Society initiatives, awards, and almost anything else you might think of which is involved in the IEEE. TAB is always looking for a few good men or women to serve on various committees. If you'd like to get more involved in the IEEE activities and improve your global view of the IEEE, please let me know and I can pass your name on to the correct people at IEEE headquarters.
As always, I hope to continue meeting the members of the Society as I travel around and about. If you have any questions or issues, please feel free to contact me at the Chomerics Division of Parker Hannifin in Woburn, MA at phone 781-939-4267 or by e-mail at j.e.butler@ieee.org . EMC