The IHS Board of Governors is pleased to announce that Cindy J. Helms has
accepted the position of IHS executive director, effective January 1, 2005.
Helms considers it an honor to be entrusted with this position. “It’s a great privilege to serve the Society in this important capacity,” she said. “I have a deep admiration for the wonderful work of this profession and the extraordinary dedication of our members to improving quality of life for the hearing impaired.”
IHS President Harlan Cato, BC-HIS, explained that, following the resignation of Robin Clowers, the Executive Director Search Committee conducted exhaustive due diligence to ensure the best successor was appointed. The committee unanimously agreed that Helms’ education, professional experience and IHS history made her the right and obvious choice for the position. “The IHS Board is moving forward with great confidence and enthusiasm regarding this change and I know the members will join us in welcoming Cindy to her new role,” Cato said.
Clowers said Helms is uniquely qualified to succeed her in this role. “I couldn’t be happier,” she said. “The rich association management experience Cindy brings to the table, combined with her own IHS history, is exactly the kind of progressive leadership needed to take IHS to the next level. As a life member of IHS, I am convinced that Cindy is the right person, with the right stuff, to get the right job done,” she added.
Helms has been affiliated with IHS since 1997. As an IHS staff member, she was director of marketing, communications and e-education, as well as managing editor and director of advertising for The Hearing Professional magazine. As second in command she worked closely with Clowers in many areas of operations. For the past two years, as president of her own marketing, communications and consulting business, Helms stayed heavily connected to IHS. She continued her role as editor of the magazine, created marketing materials, assisted in convention planning, sold advertising and consulted on website development.
Helms feels she has a great advantage in having already worked with the headquarters staff and has great expectations of what they can accomplish together. IHS Program Manager Susan Stewart said, “Cindy was the ideal choice and I am pleased, to say the very least, that she will be taking over the helm of IHS. Her decisive leadership style and creative ideas are strengths that will serve the Society well. I have enjoyed working with her in the past and will do whatever I can to help and support her in this new role.”
Helms brings 20 years of association management experience to the position. As executive director of Leadership Michigan she was in charge of a statewide program to groom businesspeople for key roles in both the profit and nonprofit sectors. As director of education for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce she ran a for-profit education center rated third in the U.S. Previous to that, she held a directorship in the American Hotel and Motel Association’s Educational Institute. She has earned professional certifications in quality management, business education, human relations and convention management.
When asked about the Society’s strengths, Helms said the first thing that comes to mind is the exceptional group of individuals that keeps the association moving forward on a positive track. She cites the exemplary Board of Governors, talented headquarters staff, excellent Washington and legal counsel and outstanding member volunteers as comprising a powerful force for advancing IHS’s successful momentum. She said she looks forward to working with each and every one of them toward an ever more prosperous future.
One of the first things Helms plans to do is help put a sharp point on the value of membership. She said it’s critical to the ongoing health of the Society to meet and exceed the expectations of both current and potential members. “As a professional association, everything we strive for, everything we accomplish and every victory we enjoy is for each individual member who has entrusted us to represent his/ her professional interests. We need to aggressively communicate that IHS provides an influential regulatory voice and customized professional services that hearing healthcare providers can’t get anywhere else,” she said.
Helms’ vision for IHS is shared by the Board of Governors and is based largely upon a comprehensive long-range strategic plan developed nearly a decade ago. “This strategic blueprint is a masterfully crafted platform from which to build the Society’s successful future,” she said. “Its goals and objectives are still pertinent to our overall mission.”
Among the areas to be targeted are optimal visibility for IHS in governmental, professional and consumer communities; growth in member numbers, convention attendance and international chapters; higher educational standards for the profession; and coalition-based advocacy initiatives with allied disciplines. Helms plans to write a regular column in The Hearing Professional to discuss these and additional goals in more detail and to report on activities at IHS headquarters.
Helms is very interested in members’ ideas and encourages them to come forward with suggestions at any time. Her open-door policy extends to the entire membership and she welcomes all communications to her at chelms@ihsinfo.org. THP
