Hi There! - A Welcome Message from the New President

by Fei Min Lorente, President

I'm Fei Min Lorente, and I'll be president of this chapter next year. I've been hanging around this council for almost six years, and before that, I was working for the Alberta Chapter. I'm jumping in with both feet, though, as we have some serious work to do in a short time.

Financial Crisis

If you're on the STC mailing list, you know that the STC has been a victim of the recession (like so many others), and has to pay off $500,000 USD by the end of this year. The Society would like to raise that money through personal donations, corporate donations, higher membership dues, and surplus money in chapter treasuries. Of course, this situation and its solutions are extremely controversial, so I will be doing my best to see our chapter through this difficult time. If you are an STC member, you can find more information about this situation at http://www.stc.org/LCR/state-of-the-society.asp. It provides the history, the steps that have been taken to cut cost, suggestions that have been made, and where to send your ideas.

Registering as a Non-Profit Organization

The STC began a campaign to have all the chapters register with the appropriate governing body as a non-profit organization so that the council is regulated by non-profit laws, and the chapter council is protected from liability. This registration requires a set of bylaws that will formalize roles and responsibilities, and financial accountability in the chapter. The end result will be a chapter that is managed with more accountability and transparency.

Reaching Out

Our chapter is so spread out that some of our members (possibly you) cannot make it to events in person. Many others have family responsibilities or other obligations that conflict with STC gatherings. Let's face it; we're all busy. To mitigate this common situation, our team will be investigating digital videos of our events, conducting council meetings via teleconferencing or messaging, interactive web seminars, and blogging. If you have any expertise in any of these areas, or would like to learn with us, raise your electronic hand - email president@stc-soc.org. I hope to see all of you, in person or virtually, some time over the next year. If we can't meet, you can always drop me a message at president@stc-soc.org.

About Fei Min Lorente

Fei Min Lorente (feimin.lorente@onsemi.com) is a senior member of STC, and a Senior Technical Communicator at the medical division of ON Semiconductor. Her work experience encompasses technical communication in the database, banking, automated pipeline control, and defense industries. She maintains a fondness for software and considers herself a programming dilettante.