For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Scott Balthazor and I drew the short straw and got the unenviable task of trying to fill Lew Conner’s shoes as Executive Director of the HEUG. And while filling those shoes is a daunting task, the excitement and energy this organization has, makes coming to the office every morning one of the highlights of my career.
I should start by filling in those of you I haven’t met, and let you know that this is a bit of an exciting homecoming for me. I started my career over 20 years ago in Higher Ed as a programmer for PeopleSoft (on the Advancement product), and later worked on campuses across the world implementing Campus Solutions products. For the past 15 years I have worked with the Lew behind the scenes on the managing and building the systems and services that support the HEUG Board and its mission. It truly is an honor to now be able to serve the members and the board in this capacity after all these years of being around the HEUG.
So to get things off on the right foot…what does our support team here do? Our entire team is dedicated to supporting the needs of the HEUG members and the vision of the board. The HEUG was never meant to be a static organization, but rather an organization that could nimbly adjust to help members in the face of constantly changing technology landscape. As you face new challenges in providing services to your students, faculty and staff, the HEUG will continue to grow and change to help you connect and engage with the greater community. The board sets the direction, and our staff helps implement and support the changes!
This year much of the work we are tasked with on the administrative side, is engaging members and making it easier for all of you to find the solutions you need more quickly. Some of our internal team goals are:
- Making it easier to find information and participate with the HEUG through the website and social media
- Creating new ways to connect with peer members year round
- Exploring enhanced e-learning opportunities year round
- Opening up new discussions between members on products and solutions that can integrate with or replace technologies needed on your campus
- Working with our solution partners to find solutions and training to help you solve mission critical issues
- Revamping the HEUG’s administrative systems to allow our board, committees and advisory groups to work more effectively together
Over the next year I’ll keep you updated on progress we are making towards all of these items but we encourage you to contact any board member or anyone on our support team if there is anything we can do for you. Feel free to reach me at sbalthazor@heug.org
P.S. I am lucky and get to text and chat with Lew Conner all the time – and he says HI! He encourages any of you that miss him to connect to him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lew-conner-783587/