Keeping an Eye on Technology Futures, No Hidden Agendas, New Attitudes, No Platitudes!
Executive Director Pat Gouhin, who joined in January 2006, has excellent related experience with the dynamics of volunteer-driven organizations. He has clearly developed a strong relationship with the volunteer chain-of-command, which now has a consistent vision focused on the future.
While originally an "instrumentation" society, ISA is now involved with the broader aspects of "automation" and aims to be a catalyst for creation of the automation profession of the future.
The original name was reflected in membership (about 29,000 total) being overwhelmingly American - 65% in the US, 10% in Canada. To be a successful global organization, the membership percentages should be the inverse of the current ratio, about 75 % from outside North America. If one makes the reasonable assumption that domestic membership has stabilized, then international membership should generate growth of at least 300%, to well over 100,000 members.
Next week, at ISA Expo 2007 in Houston, society delegates will vote to change ISA's name to International Society of Automation, reflecting the two important differences in focus: "International" and "Automation". I heartily recommend this change.
