What motivated you to run for the office of the vice president of Society for Technical Communication?

Thanks for asking me to respond. As I mention in my election profile, which is available at www.stc.org/election/category/vice-president, I want to give back to the organization that has given me so much in my career. STC has a vital role to play as the profession matures globally, and I want to help educate companies on the profession and help our members worldwide contribute to the advancement of our profession.

STC has given me a lot throughout my career and I believe STC is an important part of a thriving technical communication profession.

I believe I can help provide the leadership we need to strengthen the Society, promote the profession, and deliver services in a cost-effective manner. I also believe I can bring a diverse group together and help build consensus to move forward.

I have served in many leadership roles throughout my career, from managing a team distributed around the world to owning my own consulting company. My focus has often been on improving operations and cross-team integration while providing guidance on strategy and vision decisions. Today, I often help our clients refine their branding and communicate it more effectively. I believe all these skills will help me contribute to the leadership and success of STC.

For STC, I have served as a Director on the STC Board, in several leadership positions for the STC Summit, and as the chair of several task forces, including the Strategic Program Assessment effort which helped refine STC’s Strategic Plan and prioritize our goals and related programs. I have also worked closely with the STC staff on many projects and developed strong working relationships with everyone.

My STC experience will help me understand the way we have done things in the past, and use that knowledge to help identify new ways to support our communities, our members, and the technical communication industry for the future.