George Wescott (NJ)

January 2015

As I begin my tenure as President of NISOA, I’m very grateful for the opportunity presented before me. Having come up through the NISOA training camp and working on many of the behind scenes duties such as hospitality, booth coordinator, region rep, among other things, throughout the years, I have had the privilege to attend almost every meeting that was held with Ray, Mario and the board. Being in this unique position to attend these meetings both while Ray conducted them, and in the more recent years without Ray, I have four major points that will be the cornerstone of my presidency.

Ethics is number one and personally my biggest concern. With that being said, I will be appointing an ethics chairman who will form a committee to deal with issues as they arrive. This committee will be a separate entity than our grievance committee, and will hear issues that come from within our NISOA organization itself. In addition to and separate from ethics, we will be rewriting the grievance policy to make it more enforceable.

Accountability is another concern of mine. We have some of the best programs and policies for the education and accreditation of members, however at times quite honestly accountability and follow through becomes an issue. I understand that we are a board that consists primarily of volunteers, however if any one of us accepts a position within the organization we must be certain that we can fully participate and execute the role that has been entrusted to us. Through the RACI format that was instituted under Todd’s presidency, we know who we are and what our job entails. That is a good start, however accountability and follow through must accompany this as well for it to work within the confines of this organization. We owe this to the 5000+ members of NISOA. I want accountability to start at the top and to set an example for others to follow. As president I will personally be holding everyone responsible for their job and position accountability and follow through.

Communication is of course the main ingredient in achieving any goal or change especially in and organizational or team setting. During my presidency I would like to see us remove communication barriers, seek different viewpoints, support other team members to meet our shared goals and eliminate personal agendas. To enable us to begin this process we will communicate through a “bulletin board” where we all will be able to see what the viewpoints, opinions, suggestions and perspectives of all of us are. This brings me to the last of my four points, transparency.

Transparency is the key to working toward a common goal of maintaining NISOA’s reputation as a top notch and respected organization. As I have stated in many of my communications, my presidency will be one of transparency and I hope to foster as well as build strong relationships by being transparent, reliable and delivering on commitments. As I said it starts at the top, and as your president I am up to the challenge.