Blog Viewer

Continuing Our Success

SRAI has definitely been led by some great presidents. I am certainly not running for President Elect because I want to make drastic changes to SRAI or do things radically different. Rather, I’d like to humbly try to continue the great work they’ve done. At the same time, SRAI can’t just plan to ‘stay the course’ in an ever-changing environment and our leaders have recognized that and they’ve adjusted accordingly. That’s the kind of leadership I also offer to SRAI. Just like premier research, we need to remain the leader, innovator and trailblazer in research administration and support our members to do the same in supporting their researchers across the globe. To do that, we’ll need to be both strong and nimble in an environment that is fraught with uncertainty and change.

SRAI membership includes a wide variety of people from all over the world with varied experiences and are at institutions with varied resources and missions. It’s that variety and commitment to service that makes us the premier research administration organization in the world, and why I’ve truly enjoyed serving in a variety of leadership roles over the past 15+ years with SRAI. That’s exactly what SRAI is all about. We’re a volunteer-led organization serving each other. I believe we have a duty to serve and share. That’s why I’ve served in a variety of roles in SRAI. Besides, I enjoy it, and like most of you, have met some great friends.

I’ve previously served as an elected SRAI At-Large Board Member and as an appointed Ad-Hoc Board Member. I’ve been on the Executive Committee and Nominating Committee and chaired the Board’s Technology and Innovation Strategic Planning group. I’ve also been President and Treasurer for the Midwest Section. I also co-chaired the Distinguished Faculty Committee and the Clinical & Translational Working Group. In 2016 and 2022 I received the Annual Meeting Best Concurrent Session Awards.

This is how I see the future of SRAI: meeting significant challenges from a position of strength and adapting through the latest technology. It could be using artificial intelligence (AI) to align a proposal with a request for application, using AI in our educational opportunities or using AI to evaluate our own vulnerabilities as an organization. I want to see SRAI reducing international borders even further than we already have. I want to see us being even more relevant than we already are to the profession of research administration outside the of the United States. We will all benefit from further expansion and relevancy. Our LevelUP program, virtual conferences, Intensive Trainings, Coffee Talks, podcast, our Connect platform and much more, enabled us to not only survive, but grow during and after COVID. These all helped SRAI to be the premier research administration organization in the world, and we need to make sure we continue to lead by example in a transparent manner and grow these initiatives.

In my current position as Senior Business Director at Cincinnati Children’s, I oversee a variety of research grants and clinical trials from a diverse group of funding agencies at the nation’s second largest pediatric research institution. I think this perspective is important at the board level as we both represent and serve a variety of institutions. I have a bachelor’s degree in business administration/marketing, and an MBA, and have served on the boards for five different 501(c)3 organizations in the past. All of this, I believe makes me a good candidate and I humbly request your support as President Elect for the SRAI Board.

Authored By: