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?
The 1984 conference proceeding was my first introduction to CMG. I was very impressed by the quality and how useful the content was. I wanted to attend the conference and meet the people who were writing these articles. The first conference I attended was CMG ‘85 in Dallas.
2. What keeps you there?
CMG continues to add value for IT professionals who are working in the Capacity Management field. It is one of those synergistic situations, the more you become involved in CMG, the more you learn in return.
3. What inspired you to seek national office?
I want to help this organization that has done so much for our profession. I also want to support Cathy Nolan who has done such an outstanding job as Vice President and I'm positive she will be the right leader for CMG at this time.
4. If someone didn't know you well, what would be the 3 things you would want them know, prior to voting?
I've been involved with CMG for over 20 years, both at the regional and national level. I've been the regional chair for the Southern California region for close to 20 years. I've served at all levels in the national conference organization and I've had over 12 papers accepted for publication by CMG. I've also previously served as CMG's Treasurer and as a member of the Board of Directors.
5. If you could make one change to the organization or the conference, what would it be?
I would broaden the charter of CMG to encompass more of the ITIL defined Systems Management framework. I feel the professionalism we add to the Capacity Management area would help these other disciplines as well. It also represents a real growth opportunity for the organization.
6. What is working well now?
Having visited many of the regional organizations this year, I feel they are doing very well in today's environment. For many CMG members, this is their only opportunity to network and learn from others. It is also a good source of attendees and volunteers for the national conference. For the full time Capacity Management professional, CMG is still the organization of record for industry best practices and information networking. It's a benefit that is pretty unique in the IT area.
7. What isn't?
We have a difficult time reaching the IT professional who wears multiple hats in addition to the Capacity Management role. For many smaller IT organizations, systems administrators handle Capacity Management duties in addition to many other areas of responsibility. Those individuals would really benefit from the value our group provides, but they struggle to justify a full week conference that focuses on one of their many areas of responsibility. Reaching out to them in some creative way is another major growth area for the organization.
8. What are the 3 adjectives you would use to describe yourself