ISA has, in the past few days, made two really important moves.
The first was the selection of a Managing Director for the new Automation Federation. The new guy is Bruno Kisala, new to ISA, that is. In fact, he was one of new Executive Director and CEO Pat Gouhin's troops at AIAA. Both Andy McDonald, of OMAC, and Maurice Wilkins, of WBF, are very high on Kisala.
In talking around, the past few weeks, it has become increasingly obvious that the Automation Federation may eat ISA, instead of the other way around. This is potentially a very good thing.
Now, ISA has announced the second really important move-- the hiring of Tim Feldman from NEMA for a brand new position, "Global Operations Manager." At NEMA, Feldman was responsible for relations with member companies, program management, sales and customer service functions. In addition, he enhanced NEMA's operations in Mexico, Brazil and established NEMA's presence in China.
Feldman also served as Vice President of Government Affairs at NEMA. He directed advocacy of industry-specific issues to the executive branch,US Congress, state governments, federal and state agencies and international governments.
Prior to joining NEMA, Feldman was Manager of Legislative Affairs for Oracle Corporation, where he advocated issues to members of the US Congress and other key stakeholders. He drove software industry involvement in consortia of technical companies on issues important to the industry and established Oracle as a reliable source of quality information on Capitol Hill.
So, hey friends, what we have here is a high-powered lobbyist who might actually be able to bring home the longtime dream of Tom Stout, and your not so humble editor, that one day people in responsible charge of process plants might just have to be licensed to do that, either as technicians, engineers, or automation professionals.
Having pushed ISA hard to remove the prohibition on lobbying from the sacred bylaws, and having helped to force lobbying onto ISA when its executive director, Jim Pearson, absolutely did not want to do it, I am damn close to uttering the Canticle of Simeon ("Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine...").
