Jason Parker - former Texas Chapter President welcomes group.

Joe Perisie - President GLOBE

GLOBE of Verizon's 2006 National Conference: "Participation, Respect, Innovation, Diversity, and Empowerment in our Future" Was Successful and Well Attended
Joseph Perisie, GLOBE President

I want to start off by thanking Jason Parker and the Texas Chapter for all of their help and hospitality at this year's 2006 GLOBE Annual conference in Dallas. Attendees had a fun filled and informative weekend that went from Thursday ,September 14 through Sunday , September 17 depending on the number of activities folks chose to participate in.

On Thursday night many of us had the honor and pleasure to hear Dr Maya Angelou speak at the University of North Texas located in Denton. Her stories and poems were an inspiration to all of us in attendance. Friday night a large group of the conferees and distinguished guest speakers gathered at Marco’s Italian Restaurant in Dallas , just 2 blocks from the Melrose Hotel to enjoy their famous Pizza.

Saturday’s main event was a wonderful opportunity for our guests to hear about the current state of the business, new programs being put in place and to get a sneak peek at upcoming advertising campaigns. Many keynote speakers ran well over their allotted time audience participation ,but everyone showed a great deal of flexibility so we could hear from all invited guests.

Jason Parker / Texas Chapter President started the day off by welcoming us to Dallas. He spoke of how he saw the need for someone to get involved and develop the Texas chapter which had become a greatly under utilized resource. He noted the hard work , dedication and accountability put forth by the membership to turn the chapter around. Jason challenged everyone to get involved and help make GLOBE the best that it can be.

Joe Perisie / President , spoke next and told of the groups’ great success story with membership. He explained how in one year GLOBE had gone from 538 members / 27 % paid to 510 Active Members as of 9/16/06 ! He gave thanks to all of the Chapter Presidents who worked tirelessly to clean up email lists , reached out to expired members and constantly looked for opportunities to recruit new members. And of course Jason Anderson’s efforts to update our website , introduce pay pal , email notification on new members and just about anything else asked of him were a key component in this successful campaign.

2 Awards were given out during the conference:

• GLOBEE AWARD – Carol A Scott
• PENNI METZ AWARD – Jason Anderson

Guest Speakers

PETER THONIS- CIO Verizon and GLOBE Executive Champion

Joe Perisie introduced Mr. Thonis who told the audience about Verizon’s new Employee Engagement Initiative “A Great Place to Work” ® . During the next 18 months, goal is create a 15% increase in employee perception of Verizon as a Great Place to Work via an internal branding campaign ( see details on Preso ).

TRINIDAD AGUIRRE - General Manager – Texas Region for Verizon Telecom

GJ Hernandez , GLOBE's Midwest Chapter President , introduced Mr. Aguirre. Trinidad told the attendees he has always been proudly known as a family man. In addition to family at home, Trinidad also has a Verizon Texas family that includes over 3,000 members who share a:

• Heritage of Service
• Language of Technology
• Passion for what they do at work
• His Texas family is not defined by where they come from , what they look like or the gender of our partners.

Trinidad ’s’ passion for Verizon, his coworkers and ERG’s was very evident as he spoke.

BERNADETTE MARTINEZ - VP Staffing and Diversity Verizon Telecom

Eduardo Cividanes, GLOBE's NY/NJ Chapter President introduced Ms. Martinez. Bernadette asked the audience if they were a passenger or driver when it came to their own personal development. She told the crowd that "You Own Your Development."

JERRI DEVARD - SR VP Marketing and Brand Management Verizon Telecom

James Turner , GLOBE's Director of Membership , introduced Ms. Devard. Jerri spoke of Verizon’s advertising campaigns ( and also had great DVD’s to accompany each ):

• Richer Deeper Broader Brand Campaign - Beatbox Mixer
• All I Want Campaign

B. Keith Fulton - Exec Dir PA Programs Verizon

Joe Perisie introduced Keith whose presentation to the crowd was “ What can you do to help turn Public Policy into VZ Success ? “

Sheriff Lupe Valdez – Dallas’ first elected Latino, Female , openly gay Sheriff

Sheriff Valdez both entertained and moved the conferees as she told of her trials and tribulations on the road to her success. She is the only female Sheriff out of 256 in the state of Texas and has faced many crude remarks and situations as she made her way up through the ranks. Many times she had to bite her tongue , a common theme during her various stories was that :

You need to know when it is time to stay silent and when it is time to speak up.

Moises Modesto – Mentoring Overview

Gave the conferees a great overview “ Transforming the Business through People -Making Mentoring Happen.

Guest Panels

Town Hall Forum

Moderator – Julie Murtagh - Director FiOS Process Integration & Program Management

Panelists:

• Patrick Oot – Director and Senior Counsel
• Tammie Cottom – VP Systems Assurance and Support
• Margaret Serjak – VP Region Operations West Coast
• James A Turner – Exec Dir Intranet Programs
• Paul A Sullivan – Exec Dir Operations

Panel Discussion on Being Out at Verizon

Moderator - JD Schlipf / GLOBE ’s National Secretary

Panelists:

• Julie Murtagh – Director FiOS Process Integration & Program Management
• Patrick Oot – Director and Senior Counsel
• James A. Turner – Executive Director Intranet Program
• Brian Price – Executive Director Online Center of Excellence
• Fred Camera – Director DRC

All in attendance agreed that it was an informative and enjoyable learning experience. We look forward to gathering again in 2007.