Education and Training

 

A Q&A Session with Susan Burton, STC's Executive Director

 

 

The May 2007 issue of the Management SIG’s newsletter, Directives, featured a Q&A with Susan Burton, STC’s Executive Director. The interview contains helpful advice for managers or potential managers.

Below is an excerpt from the interview. The Q&A was prepared by Jan Lowry, managing newsletter editor, and this excerpt is reprinted with permission. To read the rest of the article, please visit the Management SIG’s newsletter.  

Jan Lowry: What do you want your legacy to STC to be?

Susan Burton: I want the officers, members, and staff to look at STC programs and services and know that these are wonderful, relevant, and make a difference. I want technical communication to be recognized as a highly valued profession that adds value to the bottom line and has an ethical underpinning to the good of society. I want STC to be an emotionally healthy place where everyone can share ideas in an atmosphere of trust and enthusiasm and focus on what’s best for the common good. And, paraphrasing something from Lao Tze, one of the Taoist masters, I don’t want people to point to me and say how great I was; I want the people to say, “We did it ourselves!”  

Susan Burton, CAE, has thirty years of experience managing trade and professional associations. She has experience with every major functional area in association management, including chapter relations, membership, marketing, meeting planning, finances, education, certification, publications, advocacy, awards, and competitions. Susan has a BSB in American history and education and an MSB in Chinese history. She earned the highest score in the nation when she became a Certified Association Executive (CAE) in 1984. ­