CANDIDATES FOR 2007 TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES VICE PRESIDENT ELECT

J. Roberto Boisson De Marca

IEEE technical societies and councils face significant and immediate challenges that must be addressed in the next two to five years. Some of these challenges are internal to its technical organizational structure, some are due to changes in IEEE modus operandi and yet others, probably the most threatening ones, are caused by advances in technology and a changing attitude in industry. The most visible challenge is how societies can have a viable and healthy future in light of IEEE’s new financial reality. However there are several other threats which have compounded this issue and will require very creative solutions, namely: (i) the shift to electronic media and centralized products such as IEL and Enterprise and the associated threat to the visibility of societies and councils and to the ownership of the intellectual products they create; ii) maintaining society and council memberships when they are no longer required for access to IP; (iii) the growth of open access publishing and the associated threat to publication products and income; (iv) the attitude change in industry where pre-competitive research is no longer a priority and as a consequence IEEE society products and activities are perceived as less critical by industry top management; (v) the need for the IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) to organize itself better so that it can be more effective in achieving its goals within IEEE and in influencing IEEE Board of Director (BoD) decisions and; (vi) the need for TAB to truly act as a single and cohesive entity where Societies/Councils can spontaneously develop joint strategies and foster evolutions, while making sure our members and the engineering community are always provided the best services possible.
It is clear to me that these difficulties equally affect S/Cs of all sizes. Therefore there is a need for a joint and concerted effort by everyone concerned in IEEE technical activities to find the most effective and enduring solutions that will guarantee the collective well-being of the Societies and Councils for many years to come. These solutions will most likely come from ideas and contributions of volunteers representing different S/Cs. If elected I will lead a joint, concerted and focused effort to identify effective and enduring solutions that will guarantee a healthy future for IEEE Technical Activities and high quality, high value member services.
In addition to serving as chair of the Technical Activities Board, the VP- Technical Activities (VP-TA) is a key player in IEEE management structure. I am a firm believer that IEEE must remain a member-driven organization and that volunteers are the organization’s most valuable asset. I have also been a longstanding and vocal defender of the importance of strong and vital Societies/Councils (to attract the world leading volunteers and the IP they produce to IEEE’s success. As an IEEE Board member I pledge to continue to be a firm advocate of these concepts as well as always demand that the BoD actions are guided by fiscal responsibility (please see editorial in IEEE Communications Magazine – Is IEEE strangling its golden geese? -http://www.comsoc.org/livepubs/ci1/public/2001/sep/cipresmess.html). Finally, as VP-TA I will always make sure Societies/Councils concerns as well as member needs are heard and properly addressed by the IEEE Board of Directors.
I have proven management and leadership skills as demonstrated by my achievements as ComSoc President (http://www.comsoc.org/ livepubs/ci1/public/2001/dec/cipresmess.html), including the best Society year ever in terms of total revenue, IEEE Division Director and IEEE Secretary. For the past two and half years, as a very active IEEE Board member I have taken the initiative, or collaborated with other Directors, in sponsoring more then twenty motions, most of them successful.

Harold L. Flescher

My IEEE background: Why I want to serve as VP of Technical Activities
My experiences in industry and throughout IEEE give me a unique understanding of our technical activities needs. Our Technical Societies and Technical Councils produce excellence in conferences and publications; each a successful business that collectively produce over three-quarters of IEEE’s revenues.
IEEE is entering a difficult time where large-scale change will be not a choice but will happen whether we like it or not. I am the right person to help lead us through this change in a manner that best preserves the functioning of our principal IEEE businesses – the IEEE Societies/Councils.
We have a problem with membership.
Full price IEEE memberships and society memberships are slowly declining. Today’s easy electronic access to journals and the steadily increasing cost of membership are significantly responsible. We need to lower the cost of membership by instituting a menu approach to dues – buy what you want to use for a reasonable price not the whole lot whether or not you want the whole lot for a lot more. From our societies perspective, in order to add value to our cost of membership, NPS is giving electronic subscriptions to both of our journals with membership next year.
Our conferences are great
Our 350 conferences IEEE runs each year are second to none in quality. Our conference publications receive as many hits as our technical journals. Conference organizers must have the freedom to manage their conferences without burdensome oversight, and IEEE must facilitate this. I know first hand that our organizational volunteers cherish their independence in running our conferences, and in spite of the requirements of our auditors, IEEE needs to preserve as much of this independence as possible.
Our publications are outstanding
Above all we must keep the quality of our journals outstanding. The multi-governmental push for “open access” threatens our publication income. We must make our electronic product, IEL, sufficiently valuable that it is worth buying even if open access becomes universal.
I won’t bore you with a long list of biographical things I’ve, but here are a few points pertinent to my candidacy.
More About Me
Conferences – My first involvement with IEEE and with NPS after grad school was serving on a committee of the Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference in 1966. I served on or chaired several other committees of this conference as well as serving several terms on the Radiation Effects Steering Committee, and was General Chairperson of the NSREC in 1980. I was technical chairman of a technically allied classified conference, HEART, in 1985. I understand our conferences and the desires of the volunteers that make them so successful.
Publishing – My first paper was published in TNS in the mid-1960s. I remember the thrill of finally being accepted after passing through our peer review process. I understand our author’s desire to publish promptly in a renowned peer reviewed journal, and our society’s desire to have well-respected and profitable journals.
IEEE Management – I was President of NPS in the early 1990’s. I know our technical committees and the things that they need to be successful. Since then I have served on the IEEE Board of Directors and more importantly I am in my second term as TAB Treasurer. I understand the issues IEEE faces today and am currently working to implement solutions that will provide benefit to TAB and our societies. In the last three years I wrote and got IEEE Board approval for the spending rule which permits Societies to budget up to 3% of their reserves for initiatives. Recently I wrote and got IEEE FinCom approval (goes to the Board in November) for a rule which will permit societies to spend up to 50% of the previous year’s operational surplus. Both rules give us more money to spend and less to put into reserves.
I seek your support to add my contribution to those of past Vice Presidents in leading the necessarily multi-level effort towards a bigger and brighter future for IEEE.