Get Connected Launches New Network, Programs

It’s official.  NABE launched Get Connected at the Policy Conference in early March.The new program for early and mid-career professionals hosted a reception to close the two-day conference and welcome members who joined the new network.  Get Connected will be offering a unique mix of networking and programs designed to enrich careers and benefit the organization in a variety of ways.

The mentoring component of Get Connected will be next, according to the team of NABE members who are organizing the program.   “For this first year, the mentoring will be a pilot program matching about 20 mentors and mentees,” according to Kim Flood, a Get Connected team member. Flood is an economist at the Bank of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. [link to profile of Kim Flood]

Once the first year of the mentoring program is completed and the team reviews its progress, the Get Connected team plans to expand the number of members involved as both mentors and mentees, said NABE board member Chris Swann, who leads the Get Connected team. Watch for news of the mentoring program sometime in the next few weeks, he said.

In March, Swann convened a conference call of NABE chapter officers to discuss options for chapters to reach out to early and mid-career professionals as part of Get Connected, which creates “a community within NABE.”  Membership in Get Connected can be extended to members and nonmembers of NABE or its affiliates.  Pricing will vary for different Get Connected programs and events, depending on membership status.

Swann emphasized in the conference call that chapters can benefit from joining the Get Connected effort as they expand their membership base, potentially drawing from a mix of younger professionals and university groups.  Web-based seminars or webinars and other ways to electronically link the Get Connected members will be available in coming months, he said.

Also in conjunction with the Get Connected launch, NABE posted a revamped Careers Center on www.nabe.com. The new pages include profiles of several NABE members working in a variety of jobs in which they use economics, plus highlights of the latest salary survey and a members-only employment registry.  See the Careers Center at: http://nabe.com/careers/index.html. 

In addition to the mentoring program and chapter involvement, Get Connected’s major components include online networking capability for members and planned sessions or special activities at the 50th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., in October.

“The mission of Get Connected is to provide an entry point for new members to connect to NABE, link up with other NABE members, and find information and activities that are of particular relevance to skills and career development,” Swann said.

The original Get Connected task force included Stephanie Wu, chairperson, Maia Pykina, Kshama Harpankar, and Kim Flood. In addition to Swann, NABE staff members serving on the advisory panel are Bruce Kratofil (webmaster), Melissa Golding (press officer), Susan Doolittle (executive director), and Pam Ginsbach (NABE News editor).  Since the September annual meeting, the Get Connected team has mushroomed and now includes Olga Camargo, Debbie Cason, Candice Hynek, Terrin
Mendivil, Eduardo Martinez, Robert Kleinhenz, and Michael Warner.

Other members who recently joined include: Chad Moutray, Eric Robins, John Sporing, Jr., Chris Varvares, Thomas Young, Scott Murdoch, Justin Satterfield, Adam Haller, Elizabeth Webbink, Laura Dudas, Andrew Krebo, Sviatlana Francis, John Ryan, Kenneth Stevens, Jr., Katja Buckley, David Flynn, Jessica Lee, Heather Stewart, Chun-Wei Shih, Alexander Heil, Carl Tannenbaum, and Laura Fiske.

Get more information or join Get Connected here.  Or you can contact Swann at 202-606-9233 or cmswann@aol.com.