Originally Posted - 16th December 2007
Announcement: to all members and partners
As many of you know, Advantage West Midlands (AWM), the Regional Development Agency recognised in 2002 the need to support the growth of WMITA. AWM’s continued support has enabled us to become the largest association of ICT SME companies in the UK with over 250 members
To continue this great work we are moving towards a project matrix organisation using member skills to drive the association’s success. We’ve already demonstrated this working method via the very successful e:adoption project.
Our special thanks go to Chief Executive Officer Bob Boyd, who since his appointment in 2005 has achieved a tremendous amount to establish and spread the presence of WMITA in the Midlands and beyond. UKITA now has a presence across the UK including Leicester, Northamptonshire, Nottingham, Derby, Oxford, Portsmouth and Southampton. The most significant initiatives that he has driven to success are the use of best practices established in the West Midlands IT Association to create the UK IT Association (UKITA), and also UKITA signing as a founder member of the European IT association PIN-SME (Pan European ICT & e:business Network for SME’s) on the 3rd of December 2007.
Bob will be relinquishing his role as CEO to pursue personal career goals from January 2008. He has been a key force in building WMITA and establishing UKITA and his presence will be missed.
After careful consideration we have decided that we will not be appointing a new CEO. Instead, over the past few months we have been working hard to set up a more inclusive “Governance Board of Directors”, elected from the branches, to ensure the independent control, transparency of decisions, actions and monitoring and an Executive Committee. This Executive Committee is formed from members of the association, selected by the Board. Each member possesses the skills to ensure that all of the projects are delivered effectively. This Executive Committee can vary dependent on the projects being handled.
With the exception of membership administration, all other activities will be sub-contracted, wherever possible, to member companies. We will also carry out ongoing projects, such as the Quality Mark and Membership and continue to manage specific time bounded projects on behalf of some of our partners, such as e:adoption.
The Permanent Exec Committee (EC) is the Chairman, Vice Chairman and Financial Director plus other co-opted Directors supported by the Company Secretary on any legal matters, or members, who can bring the relevant skills and time to the task selected by the board with specific Terms of Reference on an as required basis.
The EC is empowered by the Board to make day to day operational decisions, any major projects must, after being cleared by the Company Secretary, be put before the Governance Board for approval.
Any questions about these changes can be addressed by your branch representative Director as below or directly with the Chairman or Vice Chairman.
Fred Noble - Chairman
Charles Huthwaite - Vice Chairman & H&W
Helen Brewster - CSW
Nigel Babb Black - Country
Andrew Corbett - Shropshire
Steve Silk - Staffs
Qasim Majid - Birmingham
Flick Wheeler - Quality Mark Director