Sometimes you blink and a whole year flies by.
As my tenure as president comes to a close, I find myself amazed by all the good SWE has done these past 12 months, and even more impressed by the people who made it all possible. Their commitment and dedication is an inspiration, and it has been an honor to serve as president for such an amazing organization, to have so many opportunities this past year to speak with so many remarkable people about what SWE does. I can tell you from experience we are viewed as a truly positive force for encouraging future engineers and advancing the current ones, and that is a powerful notion.
During the past few weeks I’ve been going over the moments that stick out the most to me, remembering amazing events like the TIME 100 Gala, which we attended in support of John Oliver. I remember the media frenzy that followed Oliver’s mention of SWE on his show, the amazing generosity of those who donated to SWE, the positive impact for our organization and all the excitement of the gala (the glitz! The glamour! An excellent excuse to wear a fancy dress and meet some famous people!).
Of course my time as president means much more to me than just having fond memories. I truly stand behind our strategic plan and I’m happy to say it is leading our organization in the right direction. At the outset of my presidency I knew I wanted to work on getting SWE on the global stage and strengthening our branding initiative-challenges I’m happy to say have now become accomplishments.
While I feel a bit of bittersweetness about the end of my tenure, I’m excited to continue my work with SWE’s public policy efforts and support the governance discussion. That conversation has only just begun and there will be plenty of work for us in the coming years. I have a passion for government relations and public policy, and I’m excited to continue to channel that passion into my work with SWE.
To Colleen Layman, our incoming FY16 president, I’d like to say get ready for a whirlwind year! (it goes by super fast). And to the rest of you, stay tuned for even more amazing things to come. We have incredible, inspirational leaders and staff, and most importantly, we have amazing members, who are talented, work incredibly hard, and are just so driven to see SWE succeed.
It’s been an honor,
Elizabeth Bierman
FY15 SWE President
