Hi everyone, I thought it was important to say what an honour it is to be President of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. I hope I can bring my wealth of insight and experience to the role.
I have worn many different hats working in IT including technical roles, sales, strategy and marketing to name just a few – so I should be OK.
In more recent years I set up my own organisation ‘Tectre’ to help make my passion a reality by encouraging more women into STEM careers, and working with employers to cultivate an inclusive culture that will help to attract and retain women at their workplaces.
So – as I become the 63rd president of BCS, it’s important that I use the opportunity as a platform to address the topical issues of the day, for both myself, and on behalf of members of the Institute. Hopefully, I can weave in some of our passions; (key industry issues such as bias, the digital divide, sustainability and digital transformation.) As BCS is a professional body we recognise the increasing importance of professionalism and having a code of conduct for those already working in the sector. A key area of focus for me throughout the year will be helping to build public trust in tech through ethics and standards, and frameworks of professionalism. The team here at the Institute are working on areas which combine ethics and professionalism with exciting topics of interest such as beauty tech and gaming (and those are just our first thoughts on what to cover in the year).
Having been an active volunteering member at BCS for a considerable time, I feel that I know the organisation really well. My roles have included Chairing BCS Women, working for six years on L&D Board, the Trustee board and being a Council member, and indeed a member of a number of Specialist groups and branches – so I have met with lots of you! But let’s not stop there - throughout the year I would like to meet as many of you as possible (virtually or in person). I am happy to visit branches and specialist groups and to do talks and discussions at your events. Give me plenty of warning though – I need to squeeze in my day job too! Contact jenna.griffin@bcs.uk if you would like to arrange this.
I’ll keep this particular blog short and sweet, but my presidential blog will be a regular channel of communication from me, talking about hot IT topics that might be in the news like TikTok, Chat GPT, events that I have been to, comments about what I have seen – and of course, the streams of work I am involved in to ensure that BCS continues to make IT Good for society.
