IEEE, the largest and most diverse technical organization in the world, has been the integrating thread of my professional activities for 34 years: a source of colleagues, technical information, opportunities to present results, to help participate in defining different research fields and ultimately providing the possibility of participating in leading different activities within the IEEE.

The strength of IEEE lies in its diversity, incredible volunteers and staff, global membership, and the international reach of its products and services.

However, the IEEE, and indeed, all professional and not-for-profit organizations are facing challenges. Volunteerism is decreasing. The economic climate is challenging the use of discretionary funds for memberships and donations. The open access movement and the availability of technical information through employers, national consortium, and various web resources are challenging professional organization membership as required for accessing technical information. Finally, the diversity and rapidly changing nature of many technical activities challenges the nature of focused member organizations.

My goal is to take the tremendous organization that the IEEE is, and together with volunteers, members and staff, develop appropriate responses to current and future challenges so that the IEEE remains the integrating thread of our professional lives for generations to come.

To accomplish this goal I am proposing five initial actions:

1. Reduce the current membership dues and introduce a menu of member service and benefit options.
2. Introduce a new membership category of Distinguished Member for outstanding contributions to the IEEE.
3. Increase the range of technical areas explicitly supported by the IEEE and IEEE societies.
4. Develop an initiative process that allows Societies to access their reserves for innovative projects.
5. Develop the research tool of choice for the technical professionals in our fields.
   

We are challenging the ability of members throughout the world to participate in the IEEE with our dues and fees structure. Further, member benefits and services are not seen as globally responsive. We must reduce the basic cost to approximately $60 USD and have a menu of options that provide members meaningful and valuable choices at reasonable prices.

Our volunteers are the lifeblood of the IEEE. Some of them give 2-3 months of time per year to the IEEE and are instrumental in evolving the Institute. We, at best, offer a few of them service awards. We need to acknowledge long-term, significant contributions to the IEEE with a new member grade of Distinguished Member. Unlike Fellow, this grade is for contributions to the IEEE, not the profession.

Our profession is changing rapidly and engineering projects are often highly inter/multidisciplinary. We should be open to a wide variety of technical professionals as full members of the IEEE. While we are not a general engineering organization, each of our fields evolves and partners with related fields. Professionals in these areas should be explicitly welcome in the IEEE. Chemist, physicist, mathematicians, physicians, IT workers, biologists, economists, lawyers, various engineering disciplines all use and contribute to our conferences and technical literature – they should be openly welcome as full members.

The IEEE Societies and the technical material and conferences they produce generate 75% of the revenue of the IEEE. Yet with our current fiscal models, the Societies have to compete to access the surplus they are generating. At the same time the Societies are being asked to pay more and more infrastructure costs for the activities of the Institute. This situation is untenable. We must develop an appropriate mechanism that protects the IEEE as a whole and allows the Societies to access their reserves for innovative projects. The Societies have been the leaders in developing new services and we must support this activity.

Our online publications, with the flagship IEL, are the envy of non-profit technical organizations around the world. We have been exceptionally successful in partnerships with academia, industry and government organizations and many of our members can access all our technical material online. We have also developed new member products have launched a small business product. However, this success is being challenged by large for-profit companies, by the open access movement and by access to technical material on the web. To maintain our leadership position and continue to provide service to professionals worldwide we must look beyond our current papers online and develop the premier information research tool for technical professionals in our areas.

This is a time of challenge. I have significant background in Societies, TAB, Publications, the Board, experience in aspects of Regional activities and in academic leadership positions. My IEEE experience has led to identifying specific areas of concern and specific responses. My history is one of working well with diverse groups to identify and creatively solve complex problems. I would be honored to work with you to create the IEEE of tomorrow, based on the proud tradition and accomplishments of the IEEE we know and love. Thank you for your consideration.