PhillyCHI Elections are Open

A statement and bio for each candidate is provided below.

Cast Your Vote

To cast your vote, please visit http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/209588/2010-phillychi-officer-elections by Saturday, November 28th.

Chair Candidate

Michael Carvin

Statement
Over the course of the last 16 months, I’ve found PhillyCHI to be an amazing organization. From helping bring businesses and practitioners together through networking events, to bringing world-class national and local speakers to Philadelphia for our collective benefit, this community does the simplest of things – bringing like minds together. And since I’ve been a part of PhillyCHI, I’ve seen more and more of those like minds participating.

However, these like minds come from a variety of disciplines outside of the historic usability and information architecture disciplines. Today, we strategists and practitioners are being called on to engage in a variety of product development, industrial design, content strategy, and social experience design efforts with business, sales, marketing and IT professionals.

If given the opportunity, I look forward to helping continue the good work PhillyCHI has done over the last 5 years, advancing its position as a regional leader in human-computer interaction and its related fields, and giving back to the community that which it has given me. Thank you very much.

Bio
Michael currently works as the User Experience Lead and Project Manager at Rock River Star, a Philadelphia-based technology consulting and development organization. At Rock River Star, Michael provides usability and information architecture consulting and services towards driving the success of regional and national non-profit and for-profit organizations.

Prior to Rock River Star, Michael worked at Trellist Marketing and Technology as their Usability Engineer and Information Architect, and at Thomson Peterson’s as their Sr. Multimedia Designer.

Vice Chair Candidate

Kel Smith

Statement
There is no question in my mind that Philadelphia has become one of the critical hubs of UX-related expertise, spanning a range of contexts from visual design to mobile development to library science. As evidence of this claim, consider that just about every member of PhillyCHI resides no more than one layer removed from at least one notable industry figure. PhillyCHI itself continues to serve as the principal conduit to superlative thought leadership in the field of digital-human interaction, and our reach continues to grow across usability disciplines. The year 2009 brought a number of key successes: fantastic presentations of increasing variety, several joint collaborations with other CHI/UPA groups, and dozens of new faces in attendance at every event. The intention of my Vice Chair post, then, would be to bring further continuity in supporting the excellent work being executed on behalf of the local UX community. PhillyCHI is dedicated to the professional and social cultivation of its members — a group of people whose talent and altruism remain unparalleled in any other market.

Bio
Kel Smith’s 12 years of digital experience includes leading the 2007 redesign of Yellowbook.com (resulting in 137% growth to 10.4 million users), contributing key opinion leadership to the Georgetown University School of Law and designing scientific applications for GlaxoSmithKline’s R&D division. Kel is a nationally recognized advocate for barrier-free technology whose publications have been cited by the Pentagon Library, Kent State’s Knowledge Management Program and the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. Kel presented on the topic of virtual environments at the CSUN 2009 Los Angeles Conference for Persons with Disabilities and the TechShare RNIB Conference in London, and he is a confirmed speaker for IxDA10 in Savannah for 2010. Kel is a member of the Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA) and the Information Architecture Institute (IAI), and he currently serves as Vice Chair of the Philadelphia chapter of ACM/SIG-CHI for computer-human interaction. Kel earned his BFA in photography from the Maryland Institute College of Art and studied cognitive science as part of the MS program at Philadelphia University. He lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with his wife, Chris.

Secretary Candidates

Jessica Ivins

Statement
I’ve always been interested in professional development opportunities and networking. I also enjoy planning events in general, whether they happen to be simple team lunches during work hours or family reunions. I especially enjoy contributing to UX community events in the greater Philadelphia area.

I was honored to be a part of PhillyCHI this year as the organization’s Treasurer. I would like to take on the role of Secretary for the upcoming year.

Bio
I am a User Experience Architect currently employed with G2 Interactive, an interactive advertising agency located in Hatboro, PA. Shortly after graduating from The College of New Jersey in 2004, I began my career as a front end Web developer at Traffic.com (now owned by Navteq). At Traffic.com I learned the basic principles of user-centered design by assisting with usability testing, information architecture, etc. I then moved onto a development position with Perficient, a small software consulting company located in Exton, PA. While at Perficient, I advocated for user-centered design and gradually took on more UX work. I then moved onto an Associate UXA position with G2 Interactive. In April of 2008 I was promoted to the UXA position, where my responsibilities include everything from user research and usability testing to interaction design and information architecture.

Michael Stancato

Statement
Would like to connect with the community of User Experience Designers to understand their methodologies, challenges and opportunities.

Bio
Graduated from Tyler School of Art with a BFA in Graphic Design. 10 years experience in motion graphics for film and TV. In the past three years I have expanded my skills progressing from interaction design further into User Experience Design. Currently working as Creative Director and User Experience Designer for my company Motionista.

Treasurer Candidate

Dave Cooksey

Statement
PhillyCHI has really grown in membership and activities over the past 3 years. I would like to continue contributing to the organization over the next year by acting as Treasurer. In the role of Treasurer, I would seek to expand fundraising opportunities, administer the membership process, author PhillyCHI’s annual report, and support the other officers in scheduling and holding events and socials. Thank you.

Bio
Dave Cooksey is Founder and Principal at saturdave, a user experience consultancy specializing in informing design through user research, crafting and validating taxonomies, and delivering strategic information architecture services. He has worked in the e-commerce and pharmaceutical industries and provided strategy and architecture for experiences ranging from transactional websites to social networking sites. Dave has been Chair of PhillyCHI for the past 3 years.

Cast Your Vote

To cast your vote, please visit http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/209588/2010-phillychi-officer-elections by Saturday, November 28th.

PhillyCHI Call for Officer Nominations

It’s that time of year again — election time! PhillyCHI has grown significantly in the past few years in meeting attendance and membership. We are looking for officers and volunteers to lead PhillyCHI through 2010. Being an officer of PhillyCHI is rewarding as it allows you the opportunity to foster greater communication and interaction of the UX community in Philadelphia while increasing your visibility to the community at large.

If you are interested or know someone who would do a great job and may want to get involved, we want to hear from you. Help us keep up our great momentum. Nominate yourself or someone you know.

Officer Positions

All officer positions are up for election.

Chair

• the principal officer responsible for leading and setting the direction of PhillyCHI
• manages activities in accordance with the policies and procedures of the ACM and its bylaws
• presides at all meetings of the Chapter

Vice Chair

• presides at meetings in the absence of the Chair
• assists the Chair in management of the Chapter
• performs other duties that may be assigned by the Chair

Secretary

• maintains records of Chapters activities and communications
• responsible for all print and electronic communication of Chapter meetings and announcements
• assists in coordination of meetings and events at direction of Chair or Vice Chair
• manages and maintains PhillyCHI website, LinkedIN group, email list, members list, etc.
• performs other duties as assigned by the Chair or Vice Chair

Treasurer

• prepares and submits the annual report to the ACM
• collects all dues, sponsorship fees, pays bills and maintains Chapter’s overall financial records
• completes and submit the Annual Financial Report to ACM Headquarters
• perform other duties as assigned by the Chair or Vice Chair

Note: To hold an officer position, you must be an ACM SIGCHI member; however, membership is not needed until the start of the 2010 term. All new officers will have the full support of retiring officers throughout the upcoming year.

How to Nominate

To nominate yourself or someone you know, send the following information to phillychi@gmail.com by Friday, Nov. 13th.

Nominee:
Position:
Reason for nomination:
Recommended by:

Volunteer Positions

If you can’t run for office, there are many ways to volunteer for 2010. Please contact us at phillychi@gmail.com if you’re interested in any of the following:

Presenting
Giving a talk or lecture, or organizing a group exercise.

Scouting
Helping us find locations for upcoming meetings and happy hours.

Refreshments
Purchasing refreshments for our meetings and setting them up (our treasurer will reimburse you).

Greeting
Greeting people at events and/or taking attendance.

Website
Helping maintain and improve the PhillyCHI website.

A/V
Taping, editing, and posting event videos.

Socials
Planning and coordinating monthly happy hours.

We look forward to 2010 and your help in keeping our great momentum!

Thanks!
PhillyCHI Officers