This article opens the series of ten interviews with the Officers of the IEEE ComSoc Member and Global Activities (MGA) Council for the term 2024–2025, which will be published every month in the Global Communications Newsletter.

In this series of articles, I introduce the Vice-President and the six Directors of the MGA Council (namely: Member Services, Industry Outreach, and AP, NA, LA, and EMEA Regions), as well as the three Chairs of the Women in Communications Engineering (WICE), Young Professionals (YP), and Sister Societies Standing Committees. In each interview, one by one they present their sector activities and plans.

In this issue, I interview Ana Garcia Armada, Vice President for Member and Global Activities. This is the third time I have interviewed Ana. I interviewed her for the first time in 2019, when she was serving as Chair of the IEEE ComSoc Standing Committee on Women in Communications Engineering (WICE), and then in 2022 when she had just begun her first term as Vice President for Member and Global Activities.

Ana received her Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid in February 1998. She is currently a Professor at the University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain, where she is leading the Communications Research Group. She has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University, Bell Labs, and the University of Southampton. She has coordinated more than 40 national and international research projects as well as 20 contracts with the industry. She has published more than 250 papers in international journals and conference proceedings and she holds six patents. She has served on the TPC of more than 40 conferences and she has been part of the organizing committee of IEEE GLOBECOM 2019, IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC) Spring 2019, Fall 2018, and Spring 2018, among others. Most recently, she has been General Co-Chair of IEEE GLOBECOM 2021, Madrid, Spain, and General Chair of IEEE MeditCom 2024, Madrid, Spain. She received the IEEE ComSoc/KICS Exemplary Global Service Award in 2022.

Stefano: Hello Ana! So, here we are again. This is your second term you are serving as IEEE ComSoc Vice President for Member and Global Activities, having been elected again in 2023.

Ana: It is a great pleasure and honor to serve as the Vice-President of MGA of IEEE ComSoc in 2024-2025. I am grateful to the ComSoc members who, for a second term, have entrusted me with this opportunity to serve them.

Stefano: What is the best news of this year?

Ana: At the end of 2023, ComSoc membership exceeded 33,000, which corresponds to a more than 12 % increase compared to 2022.

We are also proud to say that the satisfaction of ComSoc members has significantly increased according to our 2023 Member Survey. To sustain this promising development, we will continue to carry out membership satisfaction surveys and leverage the data obtained to further improve our services and the value of belonging to ComSoc.

We have set an ambitious strategic plan for the MGA team with a focus on the following four key aspects:

• Improve value and create community;

• Improve diversity and inclusion;

• Empower chapters and student branch chapters;

• Increase membership and retention.

We would like to gain a better understanding of how to best serve our members in both academia and industry, so we can design specific measures to attract more members, especially those from underrepresented groups, including women, industry, young professionals, and some geographic regions.

Stefano: Among the various services and most recent initiatives for members, what would you like to highlight in particular?

Ana: During 2022–2023 we started several important initiatives that we are planning to continue and consolidate. These include offering our members two complimentary subscriptions to a journal/magazine, a mentoring program, the creation of an industry column in IEEE Communications Magazine and new industry summits, a monthly membership newsletter that shares the most important information members need to know, new video and virtual offerings, and more.

New programs specific to students were also launched: the Student Tech Leadership Conference and a Student Leadership track; and the Student Recruitment Event initiated at ICC 2023. Additionally, in this new term, we aim at developing a student portal and a career center to provide job opportunities and training, and a student ambassador program to enhance ComSoc’s presence at universities. Also very relevant are mentoring activities.

Recognizing that our content, and in particular video, is a key asset to engage with young engineers working in the communications industry, we hope to use video and virtual offerings to reach new audiences of engineers. We are closely working with the Online Content Board to continue updating the Media Center with the latest video offerings.

Stefano: I am well aware that you are particularly attentive to Diversity and Inclusion issues in ComSoc.

Ana: ComSoc seeks to achieve a better balance in terms of gender, geographical region, working sector, age, and several other dimensions.

We will continue with activities to potentiate diversity, by creating a welcoming environment and providing guidance and opportunities for these groups to thrive. We will support and work closely with the Women in Communications Engineering (WICE) and Young Professionals (YP) standing committees to achieve this crucial goal.

Among the initiatives that we started in the last two years and aim to continue growing are: the WICE and YP activities in flagship and smaller conferences that provide training and networking opportunities; the support for childcare during conferences; the series of videos highlighting Women in Communications Engineering; and new programs addressing the digital divide, namely Internet for All developed in conjunction with IEEE’s Humanitarian Activities Board and the collaboration with IEEE Smart Village.

Stefano: Chapters are the local ComSoc Organization Units, which allow Members to gather and form communities in each country, by organizing workshops, conferences, and lectures, targeting especially local needs. Do you have any new programs aimed at Chapters?

Ana: ComSoc Chapters are our best instrument to understand and better serve our members. We will continue to facilitate and potentiate their role with the help of the Regional Directors, providing fora for sharing ideas and best practices, and facilitating less complex procedures for funding and recognition.

We have simplified the procedures involved in the Distinguished Lecturer Program (DLP) that connects renowned communications technology experts with ComSoc Chapters and we are sure it will thrive even more.

We have started to provide funding to ComSoc Student Branch Chapters, so they can leverage and promote their ComSoc membership with activities for their members.

A Sister Chapters pilot program has been launched to create new relationships, facilitating the joint organization of technical events and connecting members around the globe. All these initiatives that we started in the last two years will be further developed and improved.

Stefano: Would you like to conclude our interview by presenting the members of the MGA Council and their roles, including both volunteers and staff?

Ana: We have a wonderful team of ComSoc volunteers and staff who are committed to advancing towards these goals. Our regional leadership consists of Lingyang Song as the Director of the Asia/Pacific Region, J. Javier Berrocal Olmeda as the Director of the Europe, Middle-East& Africa Region, Yessica Saez as the Director of the Latin America Region, and Besma Smida as the Director of the North America Region. Moreover, Fawzi Behmann is serving as the Director of Industry Outreach, Ranga Rao Venkatesha Prasad as the Director of Member Services, Toktam Mahmoodi as the Chair of the WICE Standing Committee, and Virginia Pilloni as the Chair of the YP Standing Committee.

I am grateful to all of them, as well as to many other volunteers who are helping improve our services and relations, including Baek-Young Choi who is chairing our Sister Societies Committee, Andres Navarro who will lead our Humanitarian Activities, Newman Wilson overseeing our Mentoring initiative, and countless others. Special thanks to Trish Jaraicie and Cindy Tiritilli, ComSoc Staff, for their invaluable help.

I am deeply honored to serve the ComSoc community, committed to listening, and to do my best to improve the member experience. Thank you for this opportunity to present our plans for the GCN.