Howard L. Funk
funk@vnet.ibm.com
Nominated Candidate

Work Experience

I would like to apply the considerable experience I have had in
professional society and conference management to ISOC. My interest
in professional societies started when as an undergraduate  I 
became president of the student chapter of the American Association
of Electrical Engineers. It has continued ever since as detailed
below.

My specific interest in Internet began about 8 years ago when I was
working in a staff position whose mission it was to promote
technical vitality. It seemed to me then that technical insularity
was the status quo in the development laboratories of my employer.
As they say, the rest is history. In May of 1990 I opened up an
Internet gateway for all employees of my corporation. The growth
of the gateway has been spectacular. At this writing, March 1993,
we have over 25,000 users and the growth rate continues at over
1200 new users per month. The widespread use of the Internet in my
corporation has led to profound changes in the culture. A paper on
this topic was presented at INET '92 in Kobe.

Professional Society Management Experience

     o    American Federation of Information Processing Societies
               President, Vice-President, Director, Chairman of the
               Government Activities Committee
     o    International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP)
               General Assembly Delegate, Trustee, Chairman
               Marketing Committee,  Vice-president (with special
               responsibility for conferences)
     o    Internet Society (ISOC)
               Regular contributor to the Newsletter (for IFIP)
     o    Society for Information Display
               Local chapter vice-chair and chair; Director; Chair
               of Inter-society Committee; Chair of New Chapter
               Formation Committee; Long-range planning committee;
               Monthly Patent Column in Journal; International
               Display Conference, Seminar, and Exhibits; Executive
               Committee; Seminar Chair; Best Paper Awards Chair;
               Technical Program Chair; General Chair

Statement of Acceptance

If elected to serve as a trustee of the Internet Society I would
apply the skills and judgement learned during my 41 years in
industry and professional society management. Because the environ-
ment in which Internet operates is changing at such an incredible
rate, it would be foolhardy to set out an a priori agenda. ISOC
could provide a moderating influence in this environment.

Whereas government interest and support for a national
communications infrastructure is welcome, government control is
not. We should not forget that the Internet is international and
our efforts should continue in support of the international
aspects. As the commercialization of the Internet and its service
grow we should remain sensitive to the large user community for
whom commercial services may not be affordable. The one concrete
proposal which I do feel comfortable in making is the establishment
of a Government Relations Committee, not as a lobby but as an
information channel such that our legislators can operate with more
complete and more accurate information.