TranslateISPSO President’s Letter
August 4, 2009
Dear Colleagues,
It is a great pleasure to write to you as your new President following a truly excellent Annual Meeting in Toledo, Spain, a few weeks ago. We owe a big thank-you to Manuel Seijo, Annual Meeting Chair, and Matilde Hernandez, Professional Development Chair, and their hard-working team for a magnificent conference in a magical setting.
As I take up the role of President of ISPSO, Burkard Sievers, who has been Past President, leaves the Board after 10 years’ service; Susan Long, who has been Professional Development Director, leaves the Board after 13 years’ service and Nicola Wreford-Howard and Judy Levy leave the Board after 3 years’ service each. On behalf of the Society, I would like to thank them all for their excellent contribution to our work.
Now to the new Board; Stan Gold, who has been a Board member, steps into the role of President- Elect. He will join me and Ernest Frugé, Executive Director and Webmaster, and Thomas Hoffman, Treasure and Secretary, as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board. The EC manages the day- to- day work of the Society, with the Board as a whole focussing on strategic developments and issues. The new Board is constituted as follows:
Clare Huffington - President Stan Gold – President- Elect James Krantz - Past President
Renate Grønvold Bugge - Professional Development Director (Appointed role, 3 year term from 2009)
Carole Eigen - Board Member (3 year term- elected 2008) Larry Hirschhorn- Board Member (3 year term- elected 2009) Mannie Sher - Board Member (3 year term- elected 2009)
Claudia Nagel - Board Member (2 year term, replacing remainder of Stan Gold’s term – elected 2009)
Ernest Frugé - Executive Director and Webmaster (Appointed role)
Thomas Hoffman - Treasurer and Secretary (Appointed role)
If any of you would like to consider running for the Board in the future, please talk to Jim Krantz, Past President, who will be managing Board elections.
Minutes of Board meetings and the budget will be available on request from Thomas Hoffman until we have a Members’ area on the website when they will be posted there.
The Board and I are beginning our work in the context of the Society having celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2008. This occasion is marked with the publication of our first ISPSO book, ‘Psychoanalytic Studies of Organizations’ edited by Burkard Sievers, Halina Brunning, Jinette de Gooijer, Larry Gould and Rose Mersky and published by Karnac Books. We have to thank Jim Krantz, who was, incidentally, a founder member of the Society, for the way in which he has both honoured the past, in the form of organising interviews with key thinkers in our field, and pointed us in the direction of the future, in the form of encouraging the development of our website and regional activities respectively. The context of the ongoing recession has had the effect on us, as on all organisations, of making us think hard about how best to use our resources whilst still doing new things.
I think, therefore, that it is an ideal time for us to review and renew the vision and strategy for the Society for the future. There is a real challenge for us to come up with new thinking and research in the field to build on the legacy of the founders so that we can continue to attract new members to the Society and influence a potentially large community of interest in our approach to studying and working with organisations. It would be good to think that, in the years to come, our Society via its website, annual meeting and regional and other activities would be the first port of call for anyone wanting to access high quality psychoanalytic thinking and practice with organisations. Work on our vision and strategy will be a key topic for the Board in our December 2009 meeting and we welcome any input or ideas from members to help us in this task.
In the mean time, there is work for the Board to do to bring greater focus and energy to areas of development which are of importance to the Society. Stan Gold and I, thinking about our combined Presidencies over the next 4 years, propose to set up a number of Board Sub- Committees to work on these areas and, in due course, to come up with their recommendations to the Board. These will be chaired by Board members and will include other Board members and general members who are interested in, or have expertise in the relevant areas. The Board Sub- Committees will be;
e ISPSO Sub- Committee, Chair: Clare Huffington
Regional Activities Sub-Committee-Chair: Carole Eigen
Professional Development Sub-Committee- Chair: Renate Grønvold Bugge
ISPSO Research Awards Sub-Committee- Chair: Larry Hirschhorn Organisational Liaison Sub-Committee- Chair: Mannie Sher Public Relations Sub-Committee- Chair: Claudia Nagel
New Membership Sub-Committee- Chair: Stan Gold
We are currently working on clear definitions of purpose, scope and membership of these Sub-Committees. If you have any questions or would like to be involved, please contact Sub- Committee Chairs.
Our next Annual Meeting is to take place 14th to 20th June 2010 at Elsinore, Denmark. The theme is: ‘The Angel of History and the Ghost of the Future- Psychodynamics and Organisational Change’. The call for papers will be out shortly. In response to concerns expressed about the paper selection process for the Symposium, we will be continuing to work on improving this process and the way we communicate it to members. Members’ Day will be on 17th June 2010. Please let me have your suggestions about how the day could be organised to make it both fun and valuable for members as the Board will be discussing this in December.
Last of all, please continue to keep in touch to let me and the Board know of any ideas, requests, suggestions or concerns you have to improve the way the Society works.
Very best wishes Clare Huffington