SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT CANDIDATE
Kathy A. Seabrook, CSP, CMIOSH
President
Global Solutions, Inc.
Mendham, NJ
BIOGRAPHY
Kathy A. Seabrook is president and founder of Global Solutions, Inc., is a CSP, Chartered Member of the Institution of Occupational Health and Safety (UK-CMIOSH) and received a BS in Chemistry from James Madison University. She is an international speaker, leadership educator, seminar presenter and strategic SH&E consultant known for her work in global SH&E management, having published in the Essentials of Safety and Health Management, Ted Ferry’s Safety and Health Management Planning and ASSE’s Safety Professional’s Handbook.
Kathy’s ASSE leadership experience spans the chapter, region and Society levels, where she served on two Chapter Executive and Region Operating committees, was a founding member of the CoPS International Practice Specialty (IPS - first Administrator) and ASSE UK Section (first chair). She currently chairs the CoPA Sustainability Taskforce, Society Bylaws, IPS membership and WISE Member Spotlight committees, and is an advisory member of IPS, WISE and the IOSH International Specialist Group. She served on ASSE’s Board of Directors as VP CoPS (two terms), Society Strategic Planning, PDC Planning, Business of Safety, Admissions and CoMRA Global committees. She was a member of the OHSAS 18002 and ANSI Z10 committees and chaired the ASSE International Membership Taskforce. She has represented ASSE at the Singapore Institute of Safety Officers, Society of Human Resource Managers and NAEM national conferences, UN Commission on the Status of Women as well as the ANSI Z10 standards committee.
Kathy has received ASSE’s International Practice Specialty SPY, President’s and Charles V. Culberson Outstanding Volunteer Service and IOSH’s Distinguished Service awards.
PLATFORM STATEMENT
ASSE’s future will be determined by how well our leadership raises the bar on the value and relevance of the safety profession. When this bar is raised, greater opportunities will be created for ASSE members. ASSE members and the Society function in partnership and collaboration much the same way ASSE should operate in partnership and collaboration with industry, legislators, regulators, the public sector, academic community and labor. Partnerships and alliances will increase opportunities for individual ASSE members as well as elevate the value and relevance of the safety profession.
It takes commitment and passion to raise the bar on the value safety professionals bring to our employers and communities. ASSE members know how important it is to seek innovative ways to partner and form alliances within our profession, organizations and industries to promote safety and health objectives. The same is true for an ASSE leader.
As Senior Vice President, I will take this leadership role very seriously, so you can count on me to be decisional, committed and a person of integrity, as your representative in ASSE. I am committed to listening to: students, members, sections, chapters, regions, practice specialties, common interest groups, other Society leaders, staff and our external stakeholders in order to understand the issues at hand and make good decisions to further ASSE’s mission and vision.
You can expect a focus on members from me. Similarly, clear communication, strategic thinking, relationship building with ASSE stakeholders, respect for ASSE volunteer leaders and staff, innovation, a commitment to fiscal responsibility and promotion of efficient stewardship and use of ASSE resources are the other key areas of my focus. These are the priorities I believe are important to ASSE and our members:
Member focus – With challenges and changes come opportunities. Our challenge is to find better ways to reach out, via technology, and provide tools to assist members, around the globe, to do their jobs. Networking provides an opportunity to get answers to technical questions and benchmark best practices. The ASSE network is also about keeping our members up to date on new and emerging trends such as Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsible business models. ASSE is the place where passionate safety professionals have built a community that is connected geographically (students, sections, chapters, regions), technically (practice specialties & CIGs) and technologically (ASSE global networking website) to support one another. For ASSE members in job transition, it means access to job leads, contacts and business networks to help them land their next job.
Building and Leveraging relationships – ASSE is a community of safety professionals. Our external stakeholders include domestic and international government, business, industry, standards development, labor and academic communities. Influencing and identifying synergies with ASSE’s internal and external stakeholders creates value and enhances ASSE’s recognition locally, nationally and globally. When stakeholders consistently promote ASSE as a SH&E global leader and resource of choice, we will be on our way to achieving our vision of being a premier resource for those engaged in protecting people, property, and the environment. Continuing to leverage our internal resources to strengthen ties between students, sections, chapters, regions , practice specialties, branches and common interest groups (such as Blacks in Safety Engineering, Women in Safety Engineering, Safety Professionals and the Latino Workforce and Young Professionals in SH&E) will create value for ASSE members and our stakeholders. Together we can create an innovative future beyond that which we imagine today.
Fiscal responsibility – Finding ways to conduct Society business more efficiently and cost effectively is essential. For example, promoting the use of video and teleconference technologies along with other information sharing platforms reduces operating expenses, promotes fiscal responsibility and uses ASSE volunteer leadership’s time and talent more efficiently. For members, use of technology to expand professional development products and service delivery options increases non dues revenues as well as serves ASSE members with reduced budgets and travel time for professional development.
Professional Development – We need to reach more ASSE members, embrace new technology tools and provide educational opportunities 24/7. Creating innovative, virtual educational solutions provides ASSE members around the world with 24/7 access to the “know how” they need to succeed in their new, existing or expanding job roles. Educational opportunities might include how to launch a successful SH&E consulting practice or understand the safety professional’s role within the context of Sustainability or Corporate Social Responsibility business models. The recent, first ever 2009 ASSE Virtual Symposium is such an example. It expanded ASSE’s global reach with speakers and attendees from around the world, while increasing non dues revenues at minimal expense to the Society. More of these types of professional development offerings are needed to augment the excellent offering CoPD currently delivers through venues like Seminarfest, Symposia and the annual Professional Development Conference and CoPS provides through their Body of Knowledge resources.
Communication: Harnessing technology is and will continue to be the key to effective communication internally and externally. Good leaders listen and then communicate. Good listening translates into decisional leadership and effective communication of ASSE’s direction, resources and relevance. Embracing new technology tools and media, such as LinkdedIn, Twitter, Facebook (and others yet to be created) will continue to enhance ASSE-wide internal and external communications.
Conclusion – Opportunities to raise the bar on the Value of the Safety Profession with our stakeholders will position individual ASSE members to positively advance their careers and organization’s safety and health objectives, which is good for the worker, the ASSE member, our employers, the safety profession, and ASSE.
My ASSE leadership experience spans the section, chapter, region, practice specialty, common interest groups, standards development, Society, international and Board of Director’s levels. This, coupled with corporate professional experience and current management and development of a SH&E independent business, provides me with broad perspective which I will bring to the leadership role of ASSE Senior Vice President. I look forward to the opportunity to serve you and continue to make ASSE the strong organization it has been for almost 100 years.