Vision for INCOSE
My Vision for INCOSE has four main themes – Participation, Partnership, Professionalism and Performance.

The first theme, Participation, is at the heart of all we do.  The intellectual strength of our volunteer organisation lies in the incredible breadth and depth of expertise of our membership.  As INCOSE leaders we must support participation across domains and around the world.  We must make it easy for our members to contribute, and we must ensure that participation is rewarded by the value of the products and the networks that are developed.

The second is Partnership.  By its very nature, Systems Engineering is a discipline with a vast array of interfaces.  Increasingly, we have opportunities to add value by working closely with other organisations to improve the integration of specialist practices and to learn from other domains and cultures, whilst serving the systems engineering needs of the broader community.  Our leadership needs to foster and guide these relationships, enabling the benefits to be realised without overstretching the resources that we have or losing sight of INCOSE’s core mission.

The third theme is Professionalism.  Continuing to grow INCOSE’s professional reputation is critical if we are to influence systems engineering practice, both in our traditional domains and in areas where the systems engineering challenges are perhaps even greater – in healthcare, transportation and water supply, for example.  As INCOSE leaders, we must ensure that INCOSE’s contribution is recognised and valued, both in the systems engineering community and beyond.

My final theme is Performance.  I am not talking here about meeting arbitrary deadlines imposed by a distant and detached leadership.  Such a model is not appropriate for a volunteer organisation – and even less so when the membership is well-educated and intelligent.  Building on the theme of professionalism, we need our members to participate in realistic target setting for themselves, recognising the external, organisational and personal constraints which exist.  For most of us, INCOSE is not the first or even the second priority in our lives.  For some, it may not even make the “Top 10”.  Each one of us must set realistic expectations for what we can contribute so that we can – and do – deliver on our promises.

Over the past 3 years I have served INCOSE as Technical Director, and have endeavoured to deliver against these themes by growing participation in technical activities, fostering partnerships in specialist technical areas, developing the authority of our technical review processes and helping our members deliver against key milestones.  As members, you can judge what I have done, and whether my principles align with your own. 

My promise to you is that, if elected, I will continue to commit my time and energy to INCOSE, pursuing these themes to deliver my Vision - a vibrant and respected organisation which is increasing capable of meeting the aspirations of its members and the needs of society.

Profile
Samantha Brown holds a BEng (Hons) degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bath, UK, and two MSc degrees - in Gun Systems Design from the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, UK and in Engineering Management from the University of Bristol, UK.  She is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer, registered by the UK Engineering Council in 1999.  Samantha is currently studying full-time for an Engineering Doctorate (EngD) in Systems Engineering at Loughborough University in the UK.  Her research involves the application of systems approaches to facilitate industry, academia and government cooperation over nationally-important defence research, and is sponsored by BAE Systems.

After starting her career in Royal Ordnance (subsequently part of BAE Systems) as a student engineer, Samantha developed a broad understanding of the UK defence business through a wide range of roles spanning business winning, research, development, manufacturing, facilities management and engineering process development before formally moving into systems engineering on the Terrier armoured engineering vehicle programme.

In 1999 she was appointed Deputy Chairman of the BAE Systems 'Systems Engineering Council', a role in which she was responsible for the coordination of Systems Engineering capability development across BAE Systems and its joint venture companies.  This enterprise-wide role encompassed research, process development, knowledge sharing and education & training, and included working with schools to promote systems thinking and an understanding of systems engineering in the 11-18 age group.  During this time, she was also highly influential in establishing and maintaining BAE Systems corporate support for INCOSE, including platinum level sponsorship for all subsequent International Symposia.  She received a BAE Systems SPIRE award for her service to systems engineering Education & Training within the company in 2004.

Samantha has been an INCOSE member since 1999, and is currently INCOSE Technical Director, a role in which she has served since 2004.  She has restructured the technical organisation to recognise the differing needs of the established aerospace & defence community and embryonic communities in other areas, and has established a flexible approach to nurture initiatives across a range of specialist areas including Model Based Systems Engineering, Systems Science, Intelligent Transportation Systems and Human Systems Integration. Prior to this she was CAB member for BAE Systems for 3 years.

Samantha has served as a governor of the local primary school since 2000, and as treasurer for a local charitable organisation since 1994.  She is the proud mother of two wonderful children, and a keen gardener.

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Vision for INCOSE
INCOSE is a vibrant international organisation with a steady growing membership. The members are the backbone of our organization. The awareness of the need for Systems Engineering is apparent in various engineering communities. This is the case for both the traditional SE domains as well as the ‘new’ domains of transportation, biotechnology and water management. The diversity of domains where Systems Engineering can be applied still has the potential to expand. However, I see the need to reach-out to the policy makers, for they hold the real key to a wide-spread acceptance and implementation of Systems Engineering. If elected, I would set the focus on this objective.

Many members are active in working groups, committees and on the chapter level. This results in more and more INCOSE products, which contribute to the valuable knowledgebase of our organisation. We need to understand that the growing diversity of cultures within INCOSE results in a different appreciation of specified products and methods. Involving members of different cultural backgrounds in creating these products will encourage tailoring them to the diversity of appreciation.

Profile
Paul Schreinemakers, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Mechanics and is a Master of Science in Engineering Product Design and an own employed independent consultant. He teaches the application of Systems Engineering within both projects and organizations. Paul has some 17 years experience in developing products in various domains. Paul started his career in 1990 as a mechanical engineer with SRON, the Netherlands Institute for Space Research. During his years at SRON he learned to apply Systems Engineering while developing scientific space instruments.  After 10 years at SRON, Paul moved to Thales, being in the frontier of implementing CMMI in a hardware development environment.

In 2003 Paul founded his own consultancy company, called SEPIAdvies. In addition to activities for customers in the traditional domains of Space and Defence, he also applies Systems Engineering in the transportation and civil construction industries. Many of the projects Paul is involved in consist of multi-lingual and multi-cultural project teams. He has coached projects in different organizations operating in various domains.

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Vision for INCOSE
There is something about INCOSE that engaged my attention and energised me right from the start.  It has a lot to do with the subject matter in which we are all interested: the successful realisation of complex systems that really do address the problems for which they are designed; and achieving this in an environment which is increasingly inter-connected, where the introduction of anything new can have surprising and unforeseen consequences.  We see these challenges all around us in our working lives, but increasingly we are seeing them in the great public issues of the day, such as disease control, sustainable development, and the management of scarce resources.  These are powerful motivators, and they provide many sources of challenge and inspiration for our discipline of Systems Engineering.

But I think the reason why I have derived so much enjoyment and professional satisfaction from INCOSE has more to do with our members.  I can’t think of a group of people who are more passionate about their subject.  We are frustrating, some might even say irascible, as we continually ask the awkward questions that everyone else has wanted to ask.  We have more to offer each other and the wider systems engineering community than we realise – there is a breadth of cultures, nationalities, and domains of practice within INCOSE that few other professional groups can match.  This is a source of enormous strength as we contemplate how best to grow and evolve the organisation.

These are exciting times.  We are continuing to expand in our membership ‘home base’, we have emerging chapters in different areas of the world, and we are further developing relationships with other professional societies with similar or complementary interests.  And we have achieved all this over 15 years or so, in a discipline that is only now beginning to hold its own against the traditional pillars of the engineering establishment.

At the same time as we are reaching out to new regions of the world and new domains of practice, I believe we must also focus more strongly on the needs of our current members.  My time in chapter leadership and in particular on the Member Board has taught me the importance of this aspect of INCOSE’s performance.  I also learned a lot about the challenges of carrying this out effectively with such a wide geographical spread and in our diverse structure of Chapters and Regions.  I am committed to a re-engagement with you, the membership.  I want INCOSE to listen to what individual members are saying, to formulate plans, and rapidly to implement those plans so we better address your needs and desires.  I am equally determined to establish a closer, more dynamic and interactive relationship with our Chapters, the bedrock of INCOSE.  This dialogue is vital for our continued success and will ensure we are well positioned to deliver real value to members.

As we adjust our course in the ways I have described, we must also make sure we deliver on the basics: acting as a broker of Systems Engineering knowledge so that members and their employers can find, use and share the information they need. INCOSE must also act as a broker of professional relationships, making it easy for people to link up and work effectively, whether as individuals with common interests, or groups working together on a common problem.

Profile
David Wright is currently Director for Logistic Initiatives with Lockheed Martin UK, Simulation Training and Support.  He joined INCOSE in early 1995 and became a regular attendee at UK Chapter events.  He has served on the Board of the UK Chapter as Events Technical Chair.  In 2002, he stood for election as one of two representatives from Region III to the new INCOSE Member Board, and was then elected to become Co-Chair and then Chair of that new Board with a seat on the Board of Directors representing all INCOSE members and chapters.  For a time he then worked as Associate Director for Leadership Development, before taking on the role of INCOSE Treasurer in mid 2006.

David has been interested in a range of INCOSE activities.  He joined the Intelligent Enterprises Working Group at its formation, and has been active in exploring soft systems ideas and concepts.  He has also been involved looking at logistics and support engineering as systems challenges.  Most recently, he has joined the Architecture Working Group.  He has presented papers at both UK and international symposia, and has been invited to take part in a number of panels.

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Vision for INCOSE
I am honored to be considered for the position of INCOSE Treasurer.  I feel that I can contribute to the advancement of our field by leveraging our financial health into an effective mechanism that supports our current infrastructure and our continued growth strategy.

My vision as Treasurer is to

• Continue in the tradition of a balanced financial plan in support of the INCOSE vision
• Be an enabler for the INCOSE Vision of international expansion through strategic investments in the right initiatives that will attract more members to INCOSE
• Explore alternative sources of income that supplement our existing vision through partnerships with government, industry, and academia

This vision will help deliver value to existing members through successful implementation of flagship events such as the International Symposium and development of influential programs such as professional certification.  The involvement of new domains and partner organizations will introduce new challenges but I am prepared to take on these exciting opportunities to help grow systems engineering as INCOSE’s next Treasurer.

Profile
Ricardo Valerdi is a Research Associate at MIT in the Lean Advancement Initiative and the Systems Engineering Advancement Research Initiative.  He received his B.S./B.A. in Electrical Engineering from the University of San Diego and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Systems Architecting and Engineering from the University of Southern California.  Previously he worked as a systems engineer at Motorola and is currently a Senior Member of the Technical Staff at the Aerospace Corporation's Economic and Market Analysis Center.

His contributions to the field include the Constructive Systems Engineering Cost Model (COSYSMO), a model for estimating systems engineering effort, which has been calibrated with data provided by Boeing, BAE Systems, General Dynamics, L-3 Communications, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and SAIC.

He is the author of over 40 technical publications which have appeared in IEEE, AIAA, and INCOSE conferences and in the Systems Engineering Journal, Journal of Systems and Software, and CrossTalk - The Journal of Defense Software Engineering.  He is involved with INCOSE’s Measurement Working Group, Systems Engineering & Architecting Doctoral Student Network, and as Associate Director for International Growth.   

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Vision for INCOSE
The name “International Council on Systems Engineering” implies an authoritative global consortium of associations and individuals who have interest in practicing and promoting the practice of systems engineering.

Thus far, INCOSE has established a strong foothold in USA and in Western Europe, especially among the aerospace and defense communities.  This is not surprising as most systems engineering requirements in the past, and in present, arise from the many large-scale projects undertaken by these communities.

The question is: “what’s next?”

No doubt that there will still be strong demand in systems engineers from the aerospace and defense industries.  However, it is obvious that projects from other sectors of economy, especially the commercial and infrastructural sectors have grown in such extent that they rival the sizes of the largest Boeing or DoD projects.  Furthermore, since the end of Cold War, the engine of the world’s economic growth has been shifted from defense to trade.  Could INCOSE ignore the commercial and infrastructural sectors to its own peril?

The economies in the other parts of the world are also growing in phenomenal paces.  The notable regions are the Asia-Pacific and the (up and coming) Latin America and Easter Europe.  Yes, they are doing things differently – well, they speak different languages and even dressed differently.  However, could INCOSE afford not to brace the cultural difference and establish itself as the “authoritative council” in these regions?

There are more and more practitioners of “systems engineering” around the world.  They may not be the traditional “systems engineers” who deal mainly in process flow, risk management and optimization problems, but circuit designers, software designers, car builders, etc who have embraced system thinking in their daily work.  Should INCOSE continue to perceive to exclude these people?

I think the answers to the above three questions are obvious – NO! NO! NO!

My vision for INCOSE?  – a truly global authoritative council embracing all systems engineering practitioners (I have not said engineers as systems engineering practitioners could be non-engineers designing welfare systems, health care systems, etc) in all scientific and social disciplines, from all walks of life and touching all aspects of life.

My roles as Director for International Growth?  To help achieve this vision.

Profile
TS Yeo obtained his BEng (Hons I) degree from  the University of Singapore in 1979 and MEng degree from the National University of Singapore (NUS)  in 1981.  Subsequently, he went on to receive his PhD degree from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand in 1985 under a Colombo Plan Scholarship.

TS Yeo is currently a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, NUS.  He holds the following appointments concurrently: Director of Radar and Signal Processing Laboratory, Director of Antennas and Propagation Laboratory.  He is also the Vice Dean (Administration) of the Faculty of Engineering,  and the Director of the Temasek Defence Systems Institute, a joint establishment between NUS and the US Naval Postgraduate School (NPS).  His previous other appointments include: Head, Division of Environmental Science and Engineering (2004-2006), and Director, Centre for Microwave and RF (2001-2004).

His current research interests are: scattering analysis, synthetic aperture radar, antenna and propagation study, numerical methods in electromagnetics, and electromagnetic compatibility.  He is the recipient of Singapore Ministry of Defence-National University of Singapore Joint R&D Award in 1997,  IEEE Third Millennium Medal in 2000, and Singapore Standards Council Distinguished Award in 2002.  He is the past-Chairman and Executive Committee Member of the  MTT/AP Chapter and EMC Chapter,  IEEE Singapore Section, and a current member of Spring (formerly Productivity and Services Board) Electrical and Electronic Standards Committee and Chairman of Spring’s Electromagnetic Compatibility Technical Committee.

TS Yeo is a Chartered Engineer registered with the Engineering Council, UK, and a Professional Engineer registered with the Professional Engineer Board, Singapore.  He is a Fellow  of the Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEE), UK, Institution of Engineers (IES), Singapore, and the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), USA.  He is also a Fellow of the Electromagnetics Academy, MIT, USA.

TS Yeo has been appointed Director for International Growth of INCOSE from Jan 2007 to December 2007.  He was the General Chair of the Asia-Pacific Systems Engineering Conference held in Singapore in March 2007 (a new series of INCOSE conference in Asia-Pacific with the 2008 venue fixed at Yokohama, Japan) and he also chairs the INCOSE International Symposium 2009 to be held in July 2009 in Singapore. 

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Vision for INCOSE
INCOSE is a volunteer organization that must continue to harness the power of the individual members to succeed. To gather this power of the members, the methods that the leaders must use are a bit different from those used in industry or government.

This task is to continually refine how the leadership uses those methods in steering the organization forward. The understanding needed to address not what, but how we as an organization reach our future vision is key to making progress as the world leading SE organization.

Profile
Randy Case is a Raytheon Certified Architect and Systems Engineer for Network Centric Systems (NCS).  He has over 30 years of system, hardware, and software engineering experiences.  Currently, he is the Chief Architect and Lead Systems Engineer for a Raytheon-wide Task Force and is responsible for the development of enterprise architectures, ConOps, mission analysis, SoS requirements, and SoS solutions.  He represents NCS as the member of the Raytheon Architecture Review Board (ARB), where Raytheon develops a strategy to train system architects, assures the interoperability of various systems, and recommends Raytheon architecture directions in working with customers.  He was the Architecture Technology Area Director (July 2003 – August 2004) at Corporate Engineering, where he led the creation of the ARB and the Raytheon Certified Architect training and certification program. 

Previously, he was the Systems Engineering Center Director for the NCS North Texas region from August 2004 to August 2006. During his time as center Director, he grew the center from 128 engineers to a peak of over 190.

Prior to July 2003, he was the Lead SE for the corporate IPDS (Jan 2002 – Jun 2003), the Process and Tools manager in IIS (Garland, Jun 1999 – Dec 2001), and the Lead Architect for the development of IPDS version 2 (Nov 1997 – May 1999).

He has been a process Systems Engineer (Oct 96 – Oct 97), technical staff on a large commercial project (Mar 96 to Oct 96), PM/Dep PM/Lead SE on a multi-agency Government internet prototype (Dec 94 to Mar 96), and worked as a systems engineer in the Human Factors group, the Software department (modeling and simulation, real-time control system development), and the Hardware Engineering Group (image processing architecture and performance trades). He also spent over 2 years at a Government facility as part of the on-site I&V and O&M support team.

Randy received his BS EE from the University of Texas at Arlington. He also has taken Masters and PhD level classes. He is an instructor for Texas Tech, teaching Systems Architecture for their Systems Engineering Master program. He is a Certified Raytheon Six Sigma Specialist (green belt).

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Vision for INCOSE
INCOSE has developed a bold and compelling vision that will serve us well into this decade and the next.  If we are to realize our potential, we will need meaningful, sustained and visible leadership at all levels within INCOSE.  We will need a systematic and structured approach to produce talented and dedicated leaders.  In addition and almost as important, we need to make sure that our organizational structure, our processes, and our decision making are configured to the maximum advantage of the organization.

We need a roadmap that addresses the dual needs of more effective leadership and a robust organizational structure, and then to develop the wherewithal to apply focused resources to translate these needs into strengths.  If elected, I pledge to work hard at building our internal leadership cadre (starting at the Chapter level) and an improved infrastructure that is more efficient and effective.

Profile
Dr. Ewald has been an active member of INCOSE since 1996, and has been serving as an appointed or elected Board Member for about eight years.  His first Board position was a Director by Appointment with duties that focused on leadership and organizational effectiveness.  In this capacity, he played significant roles in strategic planning, building stronger working relationships among the diverse constituencies on the Board, facilitating Board retreats and meetings, and executive coaching.  During his tenure as Director-by-Appointment, he was very active in benchmarking best practices of non-profit boards, authored a comprehensive governance report to the INCOSE Board, and served on the governance sub-committee that studied and recommended changes that produced the forerunner of the present governance structure of INCOSE.

Following this, he ran and was twice elected to the position of the Director of Strategic Presence where he served for five years until his position title was changed to the Director of Leadership and Organizational Development in the fall of 2006.   
In his capacity as the Director for Strategic Presence, he was the primary catalyst in establishing the INCOSE Foundation dedicated to advancing systems engineering in the fields of education,  research and other areas of strategic importance; built a base for forging important strategic alliances with other professional societies; positioned INCOSE to co-host a 2005 international strategic summit on advancing engineering and mathematics literacy from the earliest grades through college; and began the process of developing an INCOSE leadership development policy and plans.

As the Director of Strategic Presence, he also served as the secretary for the INCOSE Executive Summits in which invited corporate, academic and government leaders discuss the most important issues facing systems engineering today.  Dr. Ewald has also worked to build stronger connections between INCOSE and potential strategic partners.  Two representative examples included successful solicitation of the Chief Engineer of the U.S. Navy to be the first government platinum sponsor of an International Symposium (Melbourne); and the co-sponsorship with INCOSE, the American Society of Naval Engineers, and the Human Factors Society for an International Symposium on Knowledge Warfare.

As Director of Leadership and Organizational Development, Dr. Ewald has designed and implemented an annual performance review of the Board and individual leaders including the President and Managing Director.  He serves as an effective liaison with the INCOSE Foundation.  He has facilitated meetings between the President and targeted senior leaders in stakeholder groups (e.g., Chief Engineer of the Navy).  He continues to serve as the Secretariat of the Executive Summit including recruitment, overseeing the logistics, facilitating the meetings, and preparing the minutes and summary reports.  He also facilitates all Board meetings with respect to maintaining a high level of group dynamics.  He is in the process of designing a comprehensive leadership development plan that will begin at the chapter level.   

Dr. Ewald has participated in many other INCOSE activities.  He has served as the co-chair of the first Human Systems Engineering Working Group.  He was the co-editor of three Insight issues related to: human systems; multinational systems engineering practices; and capability engineering.   He was a principal in producing the present INCOSE code of ethics.  Dr. Ewald has been panel moderator or panel member at several INCOSE International Symposiums.  He is also serving as the Chief Operating Officer of the INCOSE Foundation.  He is currently an active member of the Chesapeake Chapter.

Beyond INCOSE, for the past thirty years Dr. Ewald has been involved in leadership and organizational development in national and international settings.  In these capacities, he has worked with industry, academia and government agencies with the large majority being science, technology and engineering organizations.  His current professional work includes leadership and management training, facilitation of executive groups, organization development, strategic planning, human resource management, value and operations analysis, executive coaching, business process reengineering, systems analysis, performance-based reviews, and quality control and assurance.

He has extensive experience in designing, delivering, and evaluating training programs to improve leadership capabilities, customer satisfaction, organization and individual performance, and management and technical skills.  He is an expert on the role of human factors in large complex systems, and has recently focused on the role of leaders in these systems.   He is frequently asked by senior executives to assist them in their strategic planning efforts, to serve as a mentor and coach concerning leadership style and effectiveness, and to facilitate their retreats.  In addition to his consulting experience, Dr. Ewald has been a line manager for the last 28 years, and has implemented many performance-based initiatives within his company.  He thus brings a blend of practical management and wide-ranging consulting experience to his practice.
 

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