September, 2007
by Denise P. Kalm
Denise Kalm has 30 years experience in IT including application programming, enterprise systems management and performance management/capacity planning at Pacific Telephone and Bank of America. She moved to vendor land in 2000, spending 5 ½ years with BMC on the EPA product line, then recently became the senior product marketing manager for enterprise job scheduling products at CA, Inc., formerly Cybermation. She is a regional officer of CMG, has held many volunteer positions within that organization and is a frequent contributing author. Prior to entering the IT profession, she was a biochemical geneticist. Her hobbies include flying, Jazzercise, writing and scuba diving. Her book, Lifestorm, on the Oakland Hills fire, is available on Amazon. She is an executive and personal coach as well, offering phone and in-person coaching.
About the Author
Denise P. Kalm, CA, Inc. formerly Cybermation
1. What drew you to CMG in the first place?
I heard about the CMG International Conference from several of my IBM colleagues, but never had a chance to attend. Then, in the late 1990's, Jaqui Lynch invited me to attend as an invited speaker, and I have been attending and speaking ever since.
2. What keeps you there?
One of the favorite parts of my job at IBM is speaking at conferences. And one of my favorite conferences is the CMG conference, because of the quality and breadth of information presented, but especially because of the people. I have made some great friends through CMG, and I look forward to seeing them every year. The networking is terrific! Plus, I have had the opportunity to visit a number of regional conferences, which are also excellent.
3. What inspired you to seek national office?
I believe that sooner or later, after receiving value from a volunteer organization year after year, it is time to take your turn serving. I have a lot of experience developing, organizing and producing conferences through my job at IBM, and I would like to share that experience with the CMG organization.
4. If someone didn't know you well, what would be the 3 things you would want them know, prior to voting?
I am probably best known to the CMG membership as a technical speaker. But beyond those skills I have management and financial business experience through various job assignments at IBM. Going back to college days, I have served in a leadership position for a variety of volunteer organizations, including industry, community and church-related. But I bet most people do not know that in my private life I am an actor in an improvisational theater troupe, and have even performed stand-up comedy at a few clubs in the Chicago area. 5. If you could make one change to the organization or the conference, what would it be?
There needs to be flexibility in building the conference agenda between submitted papers and making sure that hot industry topics are being covered by invited speakers. CMG-T is a great example of creating the agenda in a flexible manner, with sessions of different lengths and purposes. The conference needs more of that sort of thinking.
6. What is working well now?
As a whole, the international conference is excellent.
7. What isn't?
New ways need to be found to promote CMG among IT performance professionals. I am always surprised at how many folks I meet who have never heard of CMG, or are barely aware of the organization. I include in this thought not just the international conference, but also the regional events around the world.
8. What are the 3 adjectives you would use to describe yourself