June 19, 2007

SCTE Board Elects Gorman President

By Jonathan Tombes

The SCTE Board of Directors elected Tom Gorman as chairman at their meeting on Tuesday. He previously served as secretary and replaces Yvette Gordon-Kanouff, who completed a term-limited, two-year stint as head of the board.

The board also elected Frank Eichenlaub as Western vice chairman, Vicki Marts as secretary, Greg Allshouse as treasurer and Bob Macioch as additional executive committee member, and re-elected Steve Johnson as Eastern vice chairman.

Gorman referred to the notion of "tipping point" as he described the job ahead. "How do you get people to decide that this is a career?"

"It's about knowledge and training; it's also fellowship," he said. The idea is to persuade members of the industry's technical community that they're "part of something bigger than (their) shop."

Gordon-Kanouff placed a premium on getting advanced technologies in front of members and executed a shift in the board's assumption of a more strategic role for the society. "A tough act to follow," Gorman said of his predecessor.

Gorman serves as an at-large member of the board and is vice president of operations engineering at Charter Communications.

At the SCTE's annual membership meeting, which followed the board elections, Finance Committee Chairman Macioch said the Society is "in a very strong financial situation." He and Gorman both referred to the board's decision to budget $100,000 for re-investment in chapters.

Membership Committee Chairman Eichenlaub discussed data indicating that 66 percent of the Society had been members for five years or less. Ninety members have 30 or more years under their belts.

Out of a total database of 13,954, Eichenlaub noted the largest group of members (3,913) were listed as techs, and the next largest (2,787) as managers. The database listed 72 as CTOs. The total membership cited at last year's meeting as 14,539.

Professional Development Committee Chairman Gene White underscored the newly launched IP Engineering Professional certification and the SCTE Cable College at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He said that while about 5 percent of members are engaged in certification, when all of SCTE events and programs are considered, "it's a high percentage that we touch."

- Jonathan Tombes