Candidates have been listed in alphabetical order. For information on the AIfIA election process, please visit the Elections page. Please direct any questions to elections@aifia.org.
Samantha BaileyPosition Statement:
Thank you for the nomination to participate in this year’s AIfIA Board of Director’s election. If elected to the board I will tackle the work with a great deal of enthusiasm and bring an array of professional and personal strengths to the position.
AIfIA is at an important juncture; the initial "thrill" associated with starting any new endeavor may have passed, yet there are still significant challenges ahead for our organization. We must continue to demonstrate credibility and value to our membership and the IA and web design communities. We must communicate the value of information architecture in general, both through leadership and by providing practical tools for our membership to use in internal and external marketing efforts, making the case for investment in IA and demonstration of ROI.
With eight years of experience in the IA field, I bring a solid "historical" perspective and a number of strengths. My ability to break complex problems into manageable pieces without losing sight of the larger context will help AIfIA define and achieve its long-term goals. I have the ability to build and maintain momentum in group undertakings.
Finally, I believe my perspective as a practicing IA in a large corporate setting would be a valuable addition to the board’s make-up. I spent the first half of my career as a consultant, and then made the leap from "outie" to "innie" thus enabling me to draw heavily from both experiences. I have substantial insights into the issues facing information architects practicing internally and my current role makes me uniquely qualified to represent issues around the ongoing quest for both legitimacy and visibility that many IAs face on a daily basis.
Bio:
Samantha Bailey is Vice President, Information Architecture of Wachovia Corporation, the fifth largest bank in the U.S. As the lead information architect at Wachovia, Samantha provides strategy and direction for the information architecture and interaction design of the corporate website, bringing a user-centered design philosophy to shaping the site’s classification, navigation and labeling. She led the redesign of the wachovia.com site, merging two pre-existing sites brought together when First Union and Wachovia merged in 2002.
Prior to joining Wachovia, Samantha was Vice President of Operations at Argus Associates, a pioneering information architecture firm whose approach to user-centered design was based on applying principles of library science. She played a critical role in building a world-class information architecture operation, contributing to the development of an industry-leading methodology and process. Her clients included AT&T, Procter & Gamble, Ernst & Young, Vanguard and the Weather Channel.
Professional pursuits outside the office include making regular presentations at professional conferences, writing and editing IA related articles, leading the AIfIA job board initiative, and coordinating an active IA discussion group in Charlotte, NC.
Samantha graduated summa cum laude from Ripon College with an undergraduate degree in philosophy, and earned her master's degree in library science from the University of Michigan. When not lavishing attention on her little black dog, she can be found at the library or at the movies.
Livia LabatePosition Statement:
Support AIfIA's mission internationally, expanding AIfIA's reach worldwide AND bringing the work of information architecture from other countries, cultures and languages to the more consolidated IA groups.
Bio:
Lívia Labate has a background in business and foreign trade and has
been involved with experience design on the Web since 1997. She got into information architecture when she was four, organizing her toys by colour and
size. She still does it, but now with business goals and user information. Livia always says 'student' when asked for a job title. She lives in her her
hometown, São Paulo, Brazil.
Victor LombardiPosition Statement:
As a co-founder and present member of the board of directors, I'm proud of what we accomplished in our first year. But there's a lot of important, exciting activities left to do and I would like to help bring them to fruition. Of our goals during this past year - Advance the Field, Provide Value to Members, and Create Sustainable Infrastructure & Operations – we made the most progress on the last, out of necessity to get the Institute established. The first two are more difficult, requiring more long term and focused efforts to achieve results of lasting value. Now we have the resources and momentum to pursue these goals, and with the experience I've gained in the past year I believe I can contribute in substantial ways.
Bio:
Victor actively participates in the fields of information architecture and interaction design. He is a founding board member of the Asilomar Institute for Information Architecture. At Razorfish Victor led design teams and practiced information architecture on projects that included a full range of activities from business strategy through technology implementation. During his tenure he engaged in research, process design, information architecture, interaction design and usability testing. He recently became the Information Architect Practice Lead in AIG's corporate eBusiness group.
Marcia MorantePosition Statement:
Watching the growth of AIfIA over the last year has been inspiring and personally gratifying. I’m long past the point where I question whether things will happen; I now ask when and how we can make them happen. So, it’s with a very positive attitude toward AIfIA’s future that I offer a few ideas for the coming year and the hope that I will be able to serve you on the AIfIA Board of Directors. Thank you for nominating me.
This year, I believe that AIfIA will mature in many ways (some unforeseen), and as it matures, its personality and structure will become more complex and demanding. I anticipate the formation of SIGs and perhaps chapters based on geographic areas. As this happens, it will be important for the Board to let go of the immature offshoots, but at the same time provide the proper guidance and a strong support system. As a Board member during the year to come, I would like to set this process in motion by organizing a working group to examine the issues associated with decentralized structures.
I am a strong proponent of local action. AIfIA will grow as an organization when individuals in countries and cities form networks to promote our cause. As a precursor to local chapters (and perhaps a trial run), I would strongly encourage and promote additional programs on the local level, ranging from casual get-togethers (along the lines of F2F) to local business outreach to educational or informative programs and more. Joint programs with related groups (such as UPA or STC) could be a source of additional members and additional revenue, both important goals to pursue.
It will be important in the coming year to determine how we can maximize membership numbers and growth rate. It would be worthwhile to examine the growth patterns of like-minded organizations that have been around for a number of years. Are we offering enough differentiated value to people who already belong to 3 or 4 organizations? As a Board member, I would initiate a short term study to examine these issues and make recommendations for additions or changes.
Outreach to the business community should be an important goal this year. As a Board Member, I would encourage initiatives that touch the organizational bottom line. The Metrics project with its emphasis on the evaluation of IA is a good example of such an initiative. IA Tools will serve a similar educational purpose as would some of the business leader outreach plans that were hatched when AIfIA was born. These include (1) ongoing research of analyst quotes, (2) testimonials from business people, and (3) IA Case Studies.
Last but certainly not least, I would continue to look at what we can do for individual members. Work on an IA curriculum initiative is underway, and the library project will provide valuable resources. In addition, we might consider a self-assessment tool (where do I stand in relation to others in my profession and what can I do to alter my standing?). The Mentoring Initiative would be a natural fit here. It might also be time to for an international study of attitudes toward IA professional certification
Bio:
I’m presently working to make a success of KCurve, the company I founded in 2001, after working for over 20 years as a consultant to organizations in the design and delivery of information systems and as a corporate technical manager, overseeing many people and projects. KCurve provides services that help organizations effectively manage their Intranet and Web site content; For more detail, check out our Web site – www.kcurve.com/.
Before founding KCurve, I was the Director of Professional Services at Sageware (a small, Silicon Valley dot com now defunct), where I built a core practice around taxonomy development. Prior to that, I was associated in technical and managerial capacities with product companies such as Verity, Hummingbird/Fulcrum, and Autonomy, and have lots of hands-on technical expertise with both Intranets and Web sites.
During my initial months with AIfIA, I volunteered for the Technology Management initiative and soon after, was asked to join the Leadership Council. I’ve been doing both ever since. My roles with AIfIA include inventorying, documenting and recommending infrastructure software, participating in Board meetings and taking on oversight responsibilities for initiatives that require technical support.
I have a Masters degree in Library and Information Science from Drexel University. This year, I’m a Fellow of the Montague Institute, and I’ll be developing courses, teaching and writing articles related to content organization. I’m on the Advisory Board of the NYC Usability Professionals Association, and in my "spare" time, I speak and write about content organization for various publications and conferences. My next speaking engagement is at the Internet Librarian conference in Monterey (November, 2003) where I’ll be talking about Tools for Taxonomy Development.
Shane WinegardPosition Statement:
I’m pleased and grateful to accept the nomination to run for the AIfIA 2003-2004 Board of Directors. It’s been a busy and productive year for AIfIA and I'm proud to have helped us achieve many of our key goals.
I’ve worked with the current Board of Directors during my tenure in AIfIA's Program Management and Technology Management to help prioritize, kick-start and manage several core AIfIA initiatives. Using my organization and managerial expertise, I’ve helped AIfIA launch the Job Board and Member Directories, create a formalized volunteer process/position, and develop a productive web operations process/team.
My goal is to build upon these successes to date by focusing more energy on providing you with the tangible membership benefits you've been asking for, such as:
Online IA-related tools, templates and methodologies to enhance the work we perform.
Local chapters established and supported to help foster a deeper sense of IA community.
Enhancements to the Job Board and Member Directories existing tools.
New membership tools to simplify access to AIfIA-related information and resources.
To accomplish this goal, I plan on leveraging lessons I've learned during my eleven years of professional practice and principles that define my dedicated work ethic and approach:
I will strive to understand and fulfill your needs – the needs of the AIfIA membership. An organization is only as good as the services it provides its members, so those services must provide a high return on investment while meeting user needs and expectations.
I will seek new perspectives from the membership to ensure every decision is made in the best interest of the organization.
I will continue to appreciate and learn from those I work with. One of the strengths of the AIfIA membership is its diversity. With our differing backgrounds and experiences, our aggregate skill set is an incredible asset waiting to be leveraged.
I will continue to let process guide our path, but not dictate our actions. Flexibility, not force, will allow us to grow our organization successfully.
AIfIA is more than an information architecture collective. AIfIA is a real community of global professionals, each with a deep stake in – and passion for – the world of information architecture. As a member of the Board of Directors, I would be dedicated to advancing all aspects of who we are.
Bio:
Shane Winegard is a Principal at Inforte, a customer and demand strategy consulting firm headquartered in Chicago, IL, where he’s responsible for building and managing the company's Design and Technology group. Prior to joining Inforte, Shane worked at Accenture where he designed and developed information architectures and technical infrastructures for Fortune 500 companies. Shane has been architecting information spaces and mentoring future IAs since the early nineties.