The biography and position statement of the 2024 IEEE Secretary is below.

Forrest (Don) Wright

Forrest (Don) Wright

Forrest (Don) Wright

IEEE Secretary

Mr. Wright is the President of Standards Strategies, LLC, an ICT Standardization consulting firm. He is the retired Director of Worldwide Standards for Lexmark International and was previously employed by IBM. He has over 40 years of experience in standards, engineering, software development and marketing. He holds BS and MEng EE from the University of Louisville (TBP, HKN). He is a life senior member of the IEEE, 2023 IEEE Secretary, a past President of the Standards Association, a member of the SA CAG, and the SA Standards Board.

He was recently IEEE Secretary (2023), President of the IEEE Standards Association (2017-2018) and member of the IEEE Board of Directors (2017-2018, 2023). He has served on or chaired the Governance Committee (2019-2023), Tellers (2021, 2023), PSPB (2020), PSC (2020), EBCC (2018-2019) and vice chair of EBCC (2019), the Strategy and Alignment Committee (2019, 2023), the Computer Society VP of Standards (2015), Member of IEEE FinCom (2021-2022, 2007-2014), IEEE A&A Committee Chair, IEEE Awards Board, IEEE N&A, IEEE SA Awards and Recognition Chair, IEEE SA Standards Board Chair, SA VP Products and Services Innovation, SA VP Technical Innovation and Engagement, SA VP of Strategic Finance. He is a member of the Computer Society, ComSoc, CT Society, SSIT, and TEMS.

He served on the 2021-2022 IEEE Ad Hoc Committee on Election Practices and Oversight and was the 2021 chair of the Subcommittee on Election Policies, Processes, and Procedures. He is currently serving on the 2023 IEEE Ad Hoc Committee on IEEE President-Elect Campaign Pilot Program.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the IEEE-ISTO and previously served as Chairman. He previously served as Chair of the INCITS Executive Board and the US Head-of-Delegation to JTC 1. He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of ANSI.

 

Significant IEEE Activities

As the 2023 IEEE Secretary, Mr. Wright drove completion of a number of GovCom projects including updating the BoD position descriptions, the Guide to the Classification of Documents, creation of a Style Manual, and a number of OU/Committee reviews.

While President of the Standards Association, Mr. Wright's leadership drove major engagement with Chinese governmental agencies, academia, and industry causing a massive increase in Chinese participation in the development and governance of IEEE standards. Chinese membership in the SA's entity membership program has increased nearly exponentially.

Mr. Wright served as a member, then chair and then past chair of the IEEE Admission and Advancement Committee. During that time, Mr. Wright had significant impact on the process of soliciting, reviewing, and elevating members to senior members. Automation and new tools were deployed to smooth the process. The resulting improvement in membership retention by senior members is significant.

Mr. Wright served as the chair of 7 IEEE standards working groups that drove significant improvements in the Personal Computer and Printer industries. These improvements in connectivity and security positively impacted millions of PC and Printer devices.

Relevant Experience

The Secretary's role is to work with the IEEE President and other leaders to assure the smooth order of business. IEEE governance documents at all levels need to be clear, consistent, and specific. It is the responsibility of the Secretary, with the help of the Governance Committee, to work across the Institute to achieve those goals. Over the last year as Secretary, I have consistently achieved those goals by competing work on BoD position descriptions, updating the Information Classification Policy and Guide, creating a Style Manual, and the review of IEC.

I served on the Governance Committee in 2019-2022 and as Chair in 2023. I am fully engaged in the activities of GovCom especially the IEEE Committee/OU Review teams and was typically one of the more involved committee members in identifying issues and offering improvements to proposed BoD agenda items brought before the committee. I've demonstrated substantial leadership and made substantive contributions in GovCom including defining a methodology to begin to conduct reviews of the major OUs, In 2020, as a part of my role on the Governance Committee, I chaired the review committee responsible for reviewing the effectiveness and efficiency of the EOC.

In addition, I served on the 2021 IEEE Ad Hoc Committee on Election Practices and Oversight, I served as the Chair of the Subcommittee on Election Policies, Processes, and Procedures. That subcommittee performed a meticulous review of and subsequently proposed and had approved updates to the IEEE Bylaws and Policies controlling the annual election process.

Why should we select you to serve in this position?

I have served on multiple IEEE SA committees responsible for setting and interpreting policies and procedures for the Standards Association. These include multiple terms as a member of the Procedures Committee. I have also served multiple terms as chair and as a member of the Patent Committee, where the SA sets, interprets, and manages policy related to patents in standards.

I have served on multiple committees responsible for setting, maintaining, and interpreting policies and procedures for other organizations such as IEEE-ISTO, ANSI, and INCITS. I have a long history of leading and serving as a member of a team. I work well with staff and believe a strong partnership between staff and volunteers is the best way to get work done efficiently and effectively.

Having served as a member of the BoD, IEEE Secretary, President of the SA, a Society Officer, chair of an MGA committee and in other IEEE leadership roles, I have an understanding of the depth and breadth of IEEE. Having had the responsibility of running IEEE and other meetings, I understand the advance work needed to construct an agenda, develop and provide supporting material, read and act on governance documents, and ensure proper maintenance of those governance documents. I have significant experience at the BoD level and in the SA in keeping governance documents current, updating them when necessary, and in making sure they are understandable by all. Many in SA leadership roles consider me to be the OU volunteer expert on policies and procedures.

Position Statement:

As I've experienced, the Secretary performs an essential function for IEEE leading GovCom in its on-going work to keep the IEEE governance documents up to date, performing reviews of the IEEE Committees and Major OUs, and thoroughly reviewing proposed changes to governance documents headed for the BoD agenda. These responsibilities are critical to proper governance and to the success of IEEE.

In addition, as Secretary I have worked with IEEE Board leadership,other leaders, and staff across IEEE corporate and OUs to place appropriate items on the BoD agenda, to have them addressed by the BoD, and then communicate results back to the submitters.

As 2024 Secretary, I will continue to provide overall supervision of the keeping of records of meetings, activities, membership and any other records required by law and will oversee the preparation of the IEEE Annual Report on membership, meetings, and IEEE activities for submission to the Board of Directors.

In the Secretary's role as chair of GovCom, I have led GovCom's review of proposed governance documents, updates for grammar, consistency, and other quality characteristics. I will continue to lead GovCom to identify proposed governance practices that might not be consistent with NY state not-for-profit laws as well as governance practices that might not be appropriate for IEEE. These reviews and the recommendations are key inputs into the BoD as it considers the full value and impact of governance changes. As 2024 Secretary, I will continue to lead GovCom with that mindset.

Description of IEEE Officer Positions
Learn more about the qualifications, roles, and responsibilities of the IEEE Officers, and other members of the IEEE Board of Directors.