New EC Members!
This post feels bittersweet. It is hard always to say goodbye to those we value, and also so special to welcome new volunteers on the EC. Serving on the EC is no small undertaking, no matter the role. As you have perhaps all gauged, it takes time, commitment, passion, resilience, openness, responsiveness, and a whole lot of other qualities one must unearth as one serves. In this post, we thank those who have given their time and care to SIGCHI, and those with new willingness to do so in the future, alike.
On behalf of the EC, I thank Andrew Kun for being a spectacular Executive Vice-President. Andrew’s kind, generous, and steady leadership is missed by us all, and we wish him our very best on the personal and professional obligations that draw him away from the EC after four years of incredible, committed service. Because the EVP role is so critical for supporting the President, I personally want to thank Andrew for being the 100% wonderful EVP he was — supportive, available, and caring throughout. Thank you, Andrew!
We thank Cale Passmore, Equity Co-Chair, who also had to step away on account of a number of pressing obligations. Cale was so critical in helping the EC run the Equity Talks initiative two years ago, moderating each of ten sessions. He also led the effort for the SIGCHI Code of Conduct, and has always, always been ready to take time out for listening and supporting others, in the community and on the EC. We miss you, Cale!
And now for the people taking on new responsibilities — we love to see it!
Luigi De Russis, prior VP Finance, has generously — and courageously — taken on the role of EVP. Luigi’s deep knowledge of all our ACM obligations, all the workings of the EC, plus his care and attentiveness to people and to detail, all make him an excellent EVP beyond doubt. In his own words, he aims to support the President (thank you!) and the EC in listening, reflecting, caring, and responding to the pressing issues the SIGCHI community has and will have. In parallel, he brings the experience acquired in the last two years around community support, finances, and ACM policies to further make the SIGCHI community welcoming, and to increase transparency.
Hao-Chuan Wang will take on VP Finance in addition to his role as VP at Large. We are grateful for his willingness to take on finance, given his commitment to ethics and fiduciary responsibility, and look forward to his leadership. He will (amazingly!) continue as VP at Large, leading the Best Practices Working Group and serving as liaison for our Asian regional committee, to curate and share mentoring resources and best practices across the entire community, including members located in the Global South and other international communities.
Cayley MacArthur is our new Equity Co-Chair and has served on the SIGCHI Equity Committee since its inception, and on SIGCHI CARES as well. She will be bridging these roles. In her words, she looks forward to bolstering the equity efforts underway by the Executive Committee, and fostering an atmosphere of mutual respect, care, and support in our community. In particular, she will support the CARES committee in further development of policies and procedures that serve to make our community welcoming and safe for all. If you know Cayley, you know that she has already been doing this a long time for our community.
Kathrin Gerling has taken on the role of Hybrid Chair. In this much-in-demand role, she says, she will work with the SIGCHI community and the Hybrid Working Group to consolidate existing knowledge about hybrid conference setups, attendees’ and organizers’ experiences of different ways of going hybrid, with the goal of better understanding how our community can facilitate hybrid conference experiences that are rewarding for all attendees, while remaining manageable for organizing teams.
Niklas Elmqvist has taken on the role of Awards Chair, after having served for three years as Chair of the SIGCHI Outstanding Dissertation Award Subcommittee (and on the subcommittee before that). We look forward to his leadership in this role, which he already seems to have mastered in the two weeks he has been on the EC! Please be on the lookout for his emails as we launch into Awards season!
That’s all the news from the EC for now. We hate the goodbyes but love the welcomes. Bittersweet — as things are. We are also glad that each of the above “new” volunteers has already served in a similar capacity and is familiar enough with SIGCHI structures to ease their way into the new role. That’s what a healthy volunteering structure looks like, or so we like to believe.
