Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
By Apryl Motley, CAE, Communications Consultant, InCommon
With the Call for InCommon Advisory Committee Nominations currently underway, we are highlighting some of our current volunteers from the community. (You can volunteer too! Submit your nomination by October 10.)
Derek Eiler, MS, CISSP, principal systems engineer with the Nevada System of Higher Education, currently serves on the InCommon Technical Advisory Committee and is vice chair of the eduroam Advisory Committee. Learn more in the following information about Derek and his experience volunteering with InCommon.
More About Derek
- Best Advice He Ever Received (& from whom): One of my first managers told me the best way to really learn something is to teach it to someone else
- Number of Years in Current Role: 5 years
- Total Years at His Organization: 11 years at our system office, 20+ in the system
Volunteering seemed like a good way to stretch myself professionally and give
back to the broader higher ed community as my role at work was changing. Colleagues in the community
convinced me to contribute some of Nevada’s system and smaller institution experience and perspective, so I
threw my hat in the ring.
Even if you aren’t the world’s foremost expert in a particular topic, your
perspective, experiences, and skillset may be just what a committee is missing. Whether you have a full
career’s worth of experience to share, you’re looking for professional development and growth opportunities,
or you’re passionate about a topic relevant to an InCommon committee or working group, please consider
volunteering.
Volunteering on different committees and working groups with people at very
different institutions/organizations has given me a broader perspective and greater appreciation for the
different technical and strategic topics we’ve convened over.
It is invigorating to work with others who are trying to solve some of the
same challenges I face in my neck of the woods (or desert, as the case may be…).
Yes, many hands make light work, and if you can only move the
proverbial ball a few yards down the field, those few yards are more than it would move without your
contribution.
Join Your Peers
Be like Derek! Make a contribution to the research and education community and have fun while you’re doing it.
These committees are seeking new members:
- InCommon Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)
- Community Trust and Assurance Board (CTAB)
- Community Architecture Committee for Trust and Identity (CACTI)
- eduroam Advisory Committee (eAC)
For more information about these groups, refer to these descriptions or visit InCommon Leadership.
We hope that you will consider joining one of our advisory groups to help us drive forward the progress that shapes our collective future. Submit a nomination.
If you have any questions about the nomination process, please contact the committee contacts listed or Romy Bolton, Acting AVP, Trust & Identity, at Internet2.
