The Power of Networking

In this July issue of Update, you will find the 2008 slate of Officers and Directors for the SOCAP Board of Directors. SOCAP is fortunate to have the support and commitment of top companies that also represent diverse industries. The nominees represent recognizable brands such as The Campbell Soup Company, DaimlerChrysler, General Mills, Omaha Steaks, Roche Diagnostics, Toyota, Unilever and the United States Government. Not only does SOCAP have the support of some of the largest and most successful companies worldwide, but we also enjoy the commitment of a talented and experienced group of professionals. These individuals will join a stellar group of current Board members from equally impressive companies.

The collective talent on the SOCAP Board represents the type of professionals that serve on SOCAP committees. One of the best ways to network in SOCAP is to get involved! You will be receiving an email soon from Beth Thomas-Kim, SOCAP Chairman-Elect, about volunteering to serve on a SOCAP committee in 2008. I hope you will make the choice to get involved and tap into the SOCAP network of successful colleagues across the globe!

Keith Ferrazzi, author of the NEVER EAT ALONE and Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time and confirmed keynote speaker at the upcoming SOCAP Annual Conference (October 7-10) in Palm Springs, CA, talks about the power of networking to advance our careers and to improve the value that we bring to our employers. Keith’s experience at Starwood Hotels and other successful companies shows that the best time to network is not when you most need your next job, but rather while you are enjoying professional success. SOCAP embraces this spirit of networking and offers you many opportunities to give back to your profession and industry while also joining together with your colleagues.

In addition to hearing Keith Ferrazzi’s message at the Annual Conference in October, you will also learn more about the exciting changes happening at SOCAP during our Annual Business Meeting on Monday, October 8. At this meeting, you will hear first-hand from SOCAP’s leadership—Tom Asher, Chairman, Beth Thomas-Kim, Chairman-Elect and myself—about how strategies from our July Board & Strategic Planning Meeting will be implemented at the Association. I hope you will attend the Annual Business Meeting and find out how your Board of Directors is trying to better position SOCAP to add greater value to you and the customer care profession.

SOCAP’s 2007 Annual Conference is quickly shaping into the must-attend event of the year! In this Update issue, you will read about event highlights, including details for the SOCAP Golf Tournament taking place at the conference as well as an interview with another keynote speaker, international diversity consultant and leading author, Lenora Billings-Harris. This issue also includes details about the conference breakout sessions and an important reminder about submissions for the Chapter Achievement and STAR Awards. Winning chapters will be honored at the Annual Conference, so don’t forget to submit your award application by the deadline of July 16, 2007.

You don’t want to miss this year’s SOCAP Annual Conference. Make your plans now to attend and to take advantage of our discounted early registration pricing.

July 6, 2007

The 2007 SOCAP Nominating Committee is delighted to provide you with this official announcement of an outstanding group of nominees for SOCAP Officer and Director positions.

Every attempt has been made to provide a wide balance of representation by selecting individuals who represent a variety of industries, and strong experience in the various activities of SOCAP and the consumer affairs/customer service profession.

OFFICERS
(One Year Terms, Expiring December 31, 2008)

Beth Thomas-Kim — Chairman
Director, Consumer Services
Nestle USA
Beth Thomas-Kim was named Head of Consumer Services for Nestlé USA in 2000 and, with the assistance of her team, successfully repositioned the Consumer Services function as a competitive strategic asset. As a result of this work, she was featured in an article in the Wall Street Journal. Since joining SOCAP in 1996, she has held several local chapter roles including president of the Southwest Regional Chapter, has spoken at many SOCAP conferences over the years, held several national board positions and is currently a member of SOCAP’s Resource Management and Executive Committees. Beth is pursuing an executive MBA at Pepperdine University.

Peter Edghill — Chairman-Elect
Manager, Contact Center Strategies
Chrysler Corporation
Peter Edghill has provided leadership in the design and operations of Chrysler Corporation’s contact centers since 1994. His 29 years of experience in Chrysler consumer affairs includes operational and technology responsibility for the Chrysler Customer Assistance Center in Rochester Hills, Michigan, as well as assignments for regulatory affairs, business planning and virtual governance of Chrysler’s contact center enterprise. Peter is a member of the SOCAP Executive Committee, Chair of the Resource Management and Automotive Summit Steering Committees, a member of the SANG Steering Committee and current Treasurer of SOCAP. He is a past President of the Great Lakes Chapter.

Susan Baranowsky — Vice Chairman
Director, Consumer Affairs
Campbell Soup Company
Susan has served as Director of Campbell's Consumer Affairs team since 1999. She is responsible for developing global corporate best practices, consumer-relationship building and aligning with key business partners to develop creative solutions that further brand strategy. Susan has been an active member of the Philadelphia Chapter of SOCAP since July 1999. She has served in various Chapter positions, including 2nd Vice President of Membership and President. She is currently Chair of the SOCAP Conference Committee, a member of the Resource Management Committee and has served in various capacities on SOCAP’s Board of Directors including one term as Treasurer.

Jeffrey Hagen — Treasurer
Director, Consumer Affairs
General Mill, Inc.
Jeff has served as Director, Consumer Services at General Mills for eleven years. He is responsible for the oversight of three contact centers that respond to inquiries from consumers and food-service customers, the technologies employed to support these centers, and the reporting/analysis of consumer contact information gathered during these interactions. He is currently the Chair of the SOCAP Publications Committee and a member of the Executive SANG Steering Committee as well as the Member Services Committee.

Cheryl Duwve — Secretary
Director of Accu-Check Customer Care/Diabetes
Roche Diagnostics
Cheryl heads Accu-Check Customer Care for Roche Diagnostic’s Diabetes Care and Point of Care Diagnostics divisions. Cheryl has spoken at the SOCAP Annual Conference. She currently serves as Chair of the Membership Committee, a member of the Executive Committee and a director on the Board of Directors.

DIRECTORS
(Three-Year Terms, Expiring December 31, 2010, except where noted)

Cheryl Holtzen
Customer Operations Manager
Omaha Steaks
Cheryl is responsible for administering the Omaha Steaks’ 100% Satisfaction Guarantee, advocating the Voice of the Customer and directing all aspects of Customer Care. She has served as a speaker at the SOCAP Annual Conference and at several chapter meetings throughout the country. She has also served on the Chapter Relations committee, the Research Committee and is a founding member of the Food and Beverage SANG Steering Committee.

Sean Hudson
Scion Operations Manager
Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.
Sean is currently responsible for the Scion Customer Experience Center and works closely with Scion brand management to provide a personalized automotive experience to appeal to young trendsetters. He has been an integral part of the Automotive Summit Meetings, actively participating in the Steering Committee. He is also responsible for the push to expand Toyota's membership in SOCAP with 17 new memberships. (Two-year term expiring December 31, 2009)

Linnea Johnson
Director of Consumer Services
Unilever
Linnea has worked for Unilever for more than 25 years in Brand Management, Consumer Promotions and Consumer Services. She is responsible for the strategic leadership of the two Consumer Services contact centers in the United States and Canada. Linnea has been an active member of SOCAP for more than 10 years. She has served on the SOCAP Marketing Committee and has spoken at local SOCAP events as well as at the national conferences.

Sofie Lorenzo
Information Program Manager
Federal Citizen Information Center – U.S. General Services Administration
Sofie is FCIC’s senior liaison with federal regulatory agencies, consumer advocacy groups and private sector partners from healthcare and food-related industries. She advises clients on constituent issues and trends, identifies and fosters opportunities for strategic partnerships and works with clients to develop and implement educational outreach programs. Sofie currently serves as Vice Chair of the Chapter Relations Committee and as D.C. Chapter President. A member of SOCAP since 1999, she has also served on various SOCAP Committees and as Secretary of the DC Chapter. She has coordinated efforts for multiple speakers for conferences and the Food and Beverage SANG.

Kim McMiller
Associate Director, KNA Consumer Relations
Kraft Foods, Inc.
Kim began at Kraft as a Consumer Representative and has steadily progressed to her current position. She is responsible for the North America Contact Center and Global Practices. She is a class facilitator for a management and leadership program within Kraft, as well as its diversity program. Kim has been a SOCAP member for 18 years. She is currently a director on the SOCAP Board of Directors and the Vice President/Director of the Chicago Chapter SOCAP Board.

Tom Rocca
President
KPI Group, LLC
Tom’s firm provides a wide variety of consulting services for consumer affairs professionals and their companies, including outsourcer selection, RFP management and development, technology selection and federal, state compliance management. An active member since the early 1990's, Tom has been involved with a variety of SOCAP committees, has spoken at SOCAP national conferences and served as chapter president of the Northwest Regional and Atlanta Chapters. Additionally, he was a key support with the national SOCAP events in San Francisco and Denver. Tom has fun promoting SOCAP on his radio show: Talk About Service, www.talkaboutservice.net.

Additional nominations must be made in writing by any twenty-five (25) members at least 30 days prior to the Annual Meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

SOCAP Nominating Committee

Linda Pell, Chair
Kellogg Company

Janice Foster
General Mills, Inc.

Brian Giannini
Stericycle

Mary Levy
Federal Citizen Information Center

Arthur Rohde
OSI Outsourcing, Inc.

Eunice Stern
Consumer Affairs Consultant

Sheila Sullivan
Coty Inc.

The 2007 SOCAP Annual Business Meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 8, 2007 at the J.W. Marriott Desert Springs Hotel in Palm Springs, California during the SOCAP Annual Conference.

The agenda for the meeting is as follows:

1. Call to Order
2. Chairman’s Report
3. Treasurer’s Report
4. President’s Report
5. Chapter Awards
6. Nominating Committee Report
7. Election of Board Officers and Directors
8. Chairman-Elect’s Message
9. Adjournment

Hot off the "press," the brochure for the SOCAP 2007 Annual Conference is available! Download the conference brochure now for complete event details.

The SOCAP 2007 Annual Conference promises to be the must-attend customer care event of the year! This conference has it all:

• outstanding keynote speakers
• top-quality breakout sessions
• new career development sessions
• focused-topic SANG meetings
• a special workshop on Consumer 2.0
• a Golf Tournament

You do NOT want to miss the SOCAP 2007 Annual Conference, so register today and take advantage of discounted early registration rates.

Look for the print brochure, coming soon to your mailbox!

By Kelly Smedley, The Jay Group

Lenora Billings-Harris, international diversity consultant and author, is a scheduled keynote speaker at the SOCAP 2007 Annual Conference in October. Lenora was recently interviewed by Kelly Smedley, a member of the SOCAP Publications Committee, about her presentation at the upcoming SOCAP conference.

In your book, The Diversity Advantage: A Guide to Making Diversity Work, you offer strategies to help people quickly identify cultural differences when beginning a dialogue in order to create a more mutually beneficial rapport. Why is this important?

To achieve our goals we need to be aware of differences in cultures. This helps to gain trust, respect and cooperation across diverse groups. I am not here to change anyone’s beliefs, but I want people to understand how their behavior may be contrary to their intention and therefore result in an unsatisfactory conclusion. Most of our biases (racism, sexism, age discrimination) happen at an unconscious level. We often do not realize we are doing things that are inappropriate.

Give us a brief overview of some of the strategies you have developed in helping others, such as consumer affairs professionals, succeed in communicating effectively to diverse groups.

You need to quickly identify a person’s “comfort zone” and determine the best way to initiate contact, maintain a positive dialogue and achieve your predetermined goals. This is much harder to do on the phone, since you are not able to pick up on a person’s nonverbal cues. You must therefore work harder at listening and adapting to the individual’s verbal cues. My presentation provides tips and techniques that address the uniqueness of each customer in the global marketplace.

To hear more about Lenora’s work in helping companies to better position their products and services for diverse consumer markets, register today for the SOCAP Annual Conference.

SOCAP will host a Golf Tournament during the SOCAP Annual Conference on Sunday, October 7 from 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the Marriott Desert Springs Golf Course.

The tournament will be a fun, networking event open to all attendees at the SOCAP Annual Conference. Golfers will be grouped in foursomes and play Best Ball Scramble. Conference registration is required in order to participate. The Golf Tournament is sponsored by Network Direct.

If you have already registered for the conference, please use this form to sign up for the SOCAP Golf Tournament. If you have not registered for the conference, simply check the “golf tournament” box on the conference registration form.

Tournament Details:
Date: Sunday, October 7, 2007
Time: 8:00 am—12:30 pm
Place: Marriott Desert Springs Golf Course
Cost: $135
Cost Includes: cart, green fees and practice balls Continental breakfast and lunch will be served.

Pete Blackshaw, of Nielsen BuzzMetrics, will offer a Consumer 2.0 workshop at the 2007 SOCAP Annual Conference on Wednesday, October 10 from 8:30-10:30 a.m.

The workshop, titled Consumer 2.0 Boot Camp: 10 Strategies & Tactics to Stay Ahead, will focus on the growing importance of consumer affairs in the marketing mix and how to respond to it. In this workshop, Pete will outline specific strategies and tactics that consumer affairs professionals can put into practice today!

If you are involved in consumer-generated media activities within your company or want to help lead your organization's thinking and change with regard to CGM, then don’t miss this workshop.

Registration is FREE for the workshop thru August 1. Space is limited!

If you have already registered for the conference, please use this form to sign up for the Consumer 2.0 Workshop.

The deadline for Chapter Award nominations is Monday, July 16, 2007 so submit your nomination today!

Any chapter member can make a nomination online for one of the four Chapter Achievement Awards. Additionally, chapter Presidents can go online to nominate an outstanding volunteer for the Chapter STAR Awards.

The Chapter Awards will be presented at the SOCAP International Annual Conference. Use the new online award nomination forms to submit your nomination quickly and easily.