IIBA anniversary dinner a premiere event

Tim Gilbert, President of IIBA® South Florida Chapter

The International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®) is the world's primary association for the business analysis industry.  The South Florida Chapter celebrated its 2 year anniversary and Annual General Meeting at the Signature Grand Hotel in Davie, Florida.  Tim Gilbert, President of IIBA® South Florida Chapter introduced the sponsors: New Horizons, Blueprint Systems, Orasi, University of Florida, The Experts, and Protech, whose booths decorated the perimeter of the room and helped make this event possible. BankUnited graciously provided the projector for the presentations. Tony Suffoletto, Vice President of Sales for New Horizons of South Florida branch of the world’s largest independent IT training company and IIBA® premiere sponsor,  spoke on the Business Analysis Educational Opportunities they provide at their offices.  Following New Horizons, Chapter Secretary and Elections Chair, Gus Rosales, announced Chapter Board elections that began the next day and concluded on June 23rd.  

 Next, Rene Medina, Illya Singh and Michael Jay Freer, officers of South Florida Data Warehouse Institute (SFLTDWI), were honored by IIBA® for their joint participation in what may have been the largest user group meeting in South Florida, if not the entire state.  Worthy of note for Business Analysts (BA), or aspiring BAs  are the IIBA® webinars open to the public via GoToMeeting.  In the meantime, the IIBA® Board will be taking a well deserved summer break after four busy months of educational and professional development events. Look forward to webinars and at least one physical meeting in the fall.

Kathleen Barret, President of IIBA International Organization

Founder Kathleen Barret, and current President of IIBA®, the international organization, was the keynote speaker for the evening. Kathleen gave some startlingly impressive numbers on the growth of IIBA®, since its inception in Toronto, Canada in 2003. The organization, originally created by a group of expert BAs, now has over 10,300 members in 60 nations, and consists of 84 chapters.  The local South Florida IIBA® Chapter currently has about 90 members and continues to grow each month. Kathleen, oh so appropriately, quoted  “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…from Charles Dickens ” A Tale of Two Cities"  and proceeded to share some rather gloomy statistics on the state of the economy.  As she was navigating the numbers, perhaps the audience were on the brink of despair, some may even have been crying in their beer.  Brilliantly, Kathleen used this moment to restore confidence, proposing the new paradigm that Business Analysts(BA) are in an opportune time to show how important they really are. She stressed how this is the "best time" to identify and articulate needs for change and for BAs to show that they understand the business. Even those present  who were not BAs were impressed by her speech and Kathleen's diatribe continued with her enthusiastically fielding questions, finally closing, eloquently, with a quote from Charles Darwin: “It’s not the strongest of the species that survive, or the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”