August 2022 President's Message
Energized
Setting goals has become an integral part of our professional and personal lives. From an early age, we are encouraged to set career, athletic and personal goals. Goals have to be both measurable and attainable; otherwise they serve no purpose. Setting personal goals is much easier than setting goals for an organization and the reason why is simple: goalsetting for an organization requires buy-in and commitment from many individuals. IAWA’s primary goal is to fulfill its mission to cultivate and advance women leaders in the aviation and aerospace industry through a global network. I am happy to report that the IAWA board, advisory board and its committees are actively engaged in many different activities to collectively further our mission. As a testament to those efforts, the word that I chose for this message is energize, which means to give vitality and enthusiasm to.
IAWA’s global network is expanding and energized. IAWA targeted Europe as an area of particular focus for 2022. Europe has traditionally been one of IAWA’s largest sources of members outside the United States. We have made great progress towards that goal. First, on June 10th, IAWA held its European Leadership Forum at the IATA Conference Center in Geneva, Switzerland. IAWA and IATA have a strong affiliation and IAWA is grateful for IATA’s support. Women and men from more than seven countries attended. I was honored to participate in the Forum alongside the two most recent past presidents, Bobbi Wells and Alina Nassar. On June 9th, IATA hosted a cocktail reception where many of the attendees gathered to connect in advance of the event. The Forum was amazing and kudos to Forum Chair Tina Collier and to IAWA VP of Europe and Asia, Marita Lintener, for their tireless efforts. We heard from a diverse group of speakers and panels including Willie Walsh, Director General of IATA, and Maya Ghazal, the first female Syrian refugee pilot. Focusing on the global network provides a unique perspective about how each region deals with and overcome issues that impact us all.
IAWA’s leaders are energized. On June 28 and 29th the IAWA board and advisory board met for an in-person meeting in New York City at Condon and Forsyth. During that board meeting, we heard about all the work that IAWA and its members had accomplished to date, but more importantly, we heard about what we could expect in the next 6 months. There were many accomplishments that I was both grateful and proud of, including an increase in membership (22% of which was European members), the award of an ISTAT grant to fund IAWA’s mentoring platform, and the fabulous annual conference program that is being planned by VP of Annual Conference Sheila Remes and conference chairs Jackie Gluck and Kaaren Cramer. When you get to Lisbon, please make sure you thank this trio for all the hard work they are putting forth for what promises to be a fabulous annual conference. Our newest board members Connie Avery, Karen Ellis, and MC Ernst brought new and fresh ideas to the meeting and have already accomplished a lot during their short tenure.
Reflecting on all that IAWA has planned for the remainder of 2022 and all of the initiatives that are being studied to grow and expand IAWA, I am energized. See you in Lisbon!
Kathleen M. Guilfoyle
President, International Aviation Womens Association