Committees
How to get involved:
There are two ways you can get more involved in IAWA on a regular basis. Volunteer for one of our committees or become a facilitator for one of our communities.
Committees:
Volunteering for an IAWA committee provides the opportunity to get involved and network with IAWA members and fellow industry leaders. It also provides members with the opportunity to develop skills in various areas of the industry in a safe environment, mentored by other professionals. It also gives IAWA members the opportunity to give back, support and further the cause of women in the industry.
Our Committees help to realize the many programs, ideas, and development areas where our members find value A committee is a group of IAWA members appointed for a specific function, topic or region that drives action that contributes to the progression of the IAWA mission and vision. These committees will consist of approx. 4-10 members and all members will be required to be active and drive action. Each committee has an appointed chair/s and reports to a defined Board Member. We have 7 committee areas where members can get involved as described below:
Annual Conference
The Annual Conference Committee is responsible for planning the IAWA Annual Conference. IAWA’s Annual Conference is the must attend conference for women in leadership and management roles in the industry. It’s renowned for its interactive and lively panels, varied program and excellent networking opportunities. This committee requires dedicated team members who are skilled with logistics and organization. This is a richly rewarding committee to be a part of.
Events and Communities
The VP of Events is responsible for the Connects committee and the Community facilitators, detailed as follows:
- The Connects Committee is responsible for working with the regions to identify opportunities for and to plan the regional Connects, Forums and Receptions and other outreach events.
- Community Facilitators: are responsible for the facilitation of their respective communities – see more details below.
Marketing & Communications
The Marketing & Communications Committee is responsible for leading external communications and includes developing and executing strategic marketing and communication plans to grow membership, to implement the programs and goals of IAWA and to support the Connects, Forums and Receptions hosted by IAWA. This Committee is responsible for social media, the newsletter and our website.
Membership
The Membership Committee is responsible for developing and overseeing programs to grow and retain the membership of IAWA. This Committee will coordinate the application and approval process and will identify and address the needs of our members. This committee will also identify advocates and develop areas where they can become active in IAWA.
Leader Development
The Leader Committee plans and manages our annual scholarships, the IAWA mentoring program, internships and awards and the Executive Development program. This Committee will identify opportunities to engage scholarship recipients and applicants in development activities.
Association Development
The Association Development Committee is responsible for raising funds for IAWA through sponsorship by individuals, organizations and companies. This Committee is also responsible for executing and shaping our value proposition for Alliance Partners and Affiliates.
Regional Committees
The VP of Americas, Europe, Asia and ME/Africa will have an appropriate number of committees with their region to manage localized support and provide cross functionality with the above global committees. For Example, Americas has 1 North American committee and one Latin American committee. Each committee has a focal for membership, leader development, association development, events/communities and MarComm.
The success of IAWA is solely based on the volunteer efforts of our members. If you are able to commit time to be involved in one of our committees please complete the application found here.
All committees have open positions currently and we welcome your applications. Further information about the application and selection process is below.
Communities:
In an effort to provide a place where our members can network connect regularly, we are creating private communities on LinkedIn. A community is characterized by an area of aerospace where you share common interests and goals and you would like to deepen connections with other professional women. Contribute to advocating for others in your community, mutual professional growth and general day to day support. This is an area for sharing of industry news and information to enable accelerated growth of women in the community and facilitate networking and has no restriction on the number of members. Each community is appointed 1 to 3 facilitators who report into the VP of Events.
We are looking for 2-3 facilitators for each of our communities. The Facilitator Role for Leading a Community is defined as follows:
A Community Facilitator will have a passion for her Area of Interest, which will define and assist in identifying the scope of who may participate in any given community. An Area of Interest may be a sector of the aerospace industry such as Space, OEM Manufacturing, Business Aviation, or Airlines. It may also be a facet of professional growth, such as Public Speaking, Communications, Leadership, or Personal Branding. The Facilitator will leverage her network to engage a base of community members and work with those members to jointly develop the goals of the Community that align with the IAWA Community mission of:
- Member engagement
- Advocation of others within the Community to external stakeholders
- Acceleration of professional growth for Community members through information-sharing and networking
- Day-to-day support
The joint development of Community goals will be key to ensuring community member engagement. Goals may be complex, or simple. Examples include: jointly collaborate on publishing a white paper on women leaders in Space, meet monthly for a virtual water cooler discussion on current events, commit to attend an industry conference and meet while there, take a free online public speaking course and debrief together after classes, or develop a job postings discussion board on LinkedIn for Business Aviation opportunities. The Facilitator will then identify strategies for accomplishing Community goals, and will engage her Community members to drive implementation. Successful Community Facilitators will maintain a consistent group of engaged members who derive professional and personal value from the Community’s work toward their goals.
Participation on IAWA Committees is open to IAWA Members Only.
Committee/Community Facilitator selection process
All our committee members and community facilitators are vetted through a selection process to ensure that the skills of members are well-matched with open roles. This process also allows members the opportunity to meet the respective VP and ask questions before fully committing to the committee or community facilitator position. We believe that this ensures that members understand the commitment before they start.
The process is as defined below:
- Applications are reviewed by the past president.
- Interviews are conducted by the past president/applicable VP
- Selections are made.
Guiding principles for the selection process are:
- Generally, we recommend that members only volunteer for one position.
- The selection process may identify a better suited position for a member, this will be identified and discussed during the interview process.
- We ask that volunteers sign a commitment form, acknowledging that there is a time commitment involved and that the applicant will make every effort to meet that commitment.