pres ident ’ s message | tom nondahl

Some ThoughtsAboutChange

This is my last columnas president of the IEEEIndustry ApplicationsSociety (IAS), and Iwould like to take this

opportunity to reflect on some of thechanges I have seen during my serviceon the IAS Executive Board. From1998 to 2003, one of the main con-cerns of the board was how to restorethe financial solvency of the Society.IAS had deficits in many of the previ-ous years, and the Society’s net worthwas steadily dropping. Our responsewas to increase various fees and tocharge US$25 for hard copies of thetransactions. Those changes wereenough to restore the financial healthof the Society until another eventoccurred—the precipitous decline ofthe U.S. stock market. The next threeyears were especially challenging, asour net worth dropped to shockinglylow values, and we implemented pro-grams to reduce costs and raise revenue.

However, IAS did quite a bit morein the last decade than respond tofinancial pressures. The IAS Web sitewas initially established by PrasadEnjeti and redesigned a few years laterby Blake Lloyd. Bob Lorenz took thelead in establishing an administrativeoffice using the services of Myers/Smith. Several years later, Lanny Floydled the transition to an IEEE staff per-son, Ms. Lynda Bernstein. The admin-istrative office has provided us withbetter continuity and improved ouraccess to resources at the IEEE. LouiePowell led an effort to modify theIEEE’s paper review system to meetthe unique requirements of IAS and toteach the usage of the system to theassociate editors. The system now pro-

vides the IAS technical committeeswith consistent tools to track paperreviews and provides IAS with statis-tics on the timeliness and quality ofthe reviews.

There were many other changes inthe past decade. The number of IASChapters increased from 95 to 136.We added ten technically cosponsoredconferences. Mostof our publicationstransitioned fromprinted to electroniccopies. We financedthe creation of sev-eral IEEE ExpertNow continuing ed-ucation modules.The Industrial PowerConversion SystemsDepartment estab-lished the GeraldKliman InnovatorAward. The Pulp and Paper Committeeestablished the James A. Rooks Memo-rial Student Intern Program. We set upvarious publications and conferenceagreements with three other IEEE Soci-eties: IEEE Industrial Electronics Society,IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS),and IEEE Power & Energy Society. Wepartnered with PELS to form the IEEEEnergy Conversion Congress and Expo(ECCE).We set up a sister Society agree-ment with the IAS of IEE Japan. TheSociety regained access to the Zuckerfunds that are used to finance variousstudent activities. We set a term limit offour consecutive years for all IAS Boardpositions. The Appliance Industry Com-mittee was resuscitated for a few years.

Some of the other IAS presidentshad a final column that summarizedwhat they learned during their terms.I will end by continuing that tradi-tion. One of the first things I learned

was the wide range of interests withinthe Society. IAS was formed by com-bining over a dozen technical commit-tees that had been holding conferencesand reviewing papers for many yearsbefore anyone even conceived of tech-nical societies. Those committees stillhave many different operating mod-els and traditions. This structure has

financial advantagesfor IAS—a bad yearfor one conferenceis almost always bal-anced out by a goodyear for another con-ference. However,it also means that itis difficult to identifyproducts and servicesthat apply equallywell to all members.

Another thing Ilearned is that our

formal planning process has not beenvery effective. Five years ago, as chairof the Long-Range Planning Com-mittee, I gathered all the past plansthat were available and compared themto our actions. It took several monthsto find the previous work. We hadonly made progress on a few of theitems. A review of more recent strate-gic plans also showed very little corre-lation between the plans and ouractions. Most of our actions have beenresponses to opportunities and events,not the result of formal planning.

However, there is one lesson thatstands out from all the rest: mostprogress occurs when a volunteer decidesthat change is needed and does the hardwork that turns a good idea into reality.We are fortunate to have somany volun-teers with the vision and dedication tochange things for the better.

IASDigital Object Identifier 10.1109/MIAS.2010.938395

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