Tom Malek, CEM, is Vice President of Sales – Northeast for T3 Expo and a member of IAEE’s Chapter Leaders Council. Tom has been an IAEE member for 9 years. He recently shared with IAEE his thoughts on collaborating with his fellow Chapter Board members, and the importance of developing chapter leadership initiatives.
How did you get involved in leadership within your chapter?
I volunteered for the Holiday Party Committee.
What chapter committees do you serve on currently and/or have served on in the past?
Currently, I chair of the best chapter, the NY Chapter of IAEE. As the current Chairperson, my focus is on the cooperation of our fantastic Board is to disrupt our standard, and offer our members a better all-around disrupting experience. Disruptions center around updated technology, the chapter app, our website, and more robust and powerful education sessions. It’s an absolute pleasure working with my peers, and together we push our chapter to the next level. We certainly have our challenges, but we also have our laughs too. My two-year term concludes this October. I served as Vice Chair under the leadership of Phil Hobson in 2015-2016, and my responsibilities included overseeing our chapter committees. I served as Treasurer for four long, wonderful years from 2011-2014. Handling the finances, you quickly learn how the Chapter operates financially. Understanding the P&L, you quickly find ways to increase cash flow and cut costs to modernize the organization.
What have you gotten out of volunteering for your chapter?
I believe you get out of something what you put into it. I am passionate about our industry, and being a member of our chapter has certainly lent itself to both career and personal growth.
How are you fostering future volunteer leaders?
As a Board, we implemented a Chair and Vice Chair for each committee where the Chair serves a two-year term and the Vice Chair moves into Chair. This format not only fosters our volunteer leaders, but also gives us stability and consistency within our committees. As our members serve on committees they quickly move in Board positions.
What do you find most satisfying about having stepped into a leadership role within your chapter?
I didn’t step into my leadership role, my peers voted me in. By title I’m the Chairperson of our Board, but to me I’m just the guy in front. As the guy in front, I lead through example: I do what I say I’m going to do and I treat others how I want to be treated. What’s most satisfying to me is how our board members respond to my ideas and how supportive they are. They go above and beyond to ensure continued success for our chapter.
What is your favorite chapter activity?
My favorite chapter activity is our annual NY/DC IAEE Atlantic City Golf & Spa Invitational. This year is the 10th anniversary of our most popular social networking event. Our dates this year are 17-18 September.
List all IAEE Councils, Committees and task forces you are currently involved in aside from your chapter activities.
I also volunteer for the First Timers Program at Expo! Expo! IAEE’s Annual Meeting & Exhibition every year.
