New SIPA President Looks for Larger Footprint

Strafford Publications founder and president Richard Osoff has succeeded Oakstone Publications' Nancy McMeekin (at left, obviously) as SIPA president, pledging not only to attract new specialized information enterprises, but to inspire involvement from greater numbers of people working for today's member companies.

Nancy enthusiastically and intelligently managed SIPA through a major transformation, acting as much like a CEO as any of our presidents. "Her leadership and dedication were inspiring," this blogger said to himself with no one there. "Richard will take the next step of securing greater involvement," I added. Evoking the name of the legendary and, some say, mythological mega-ped Sasquatch, Richard wants to see the strength and relevance of SIPA's offerings encourage more participation more deeply in member organizations.

"For those people in our member companies who don't attend a major meeting, about all the contact they have with us is Hotline," Richard wrote after the meeting. "So that means the sense of benefiting from membership is pretty much limited to conference attendees, a small number active in chapters, and some listserv users. I'd like us to have a bit broader base of advocates within member firms . . . or at least a broader base of people whose contact with SIPA is more tangible, in hopes that they will perceive (and hopefully communicate internally) a sense that they benefit from their company's membership."

"Easy to say, hard to do," said Mr. Osoff, who has a full board of talent chomping at the bit to build on recent progress in branding and offerings -- including the highly successful "New Rules" Conference this month.

If you have ideas or want to participate in building a better SIPA, please get engaged! There are many ways. Just ask.