By Jeanne Glass, Director of Industry Influence, SHARE

Serving on the Board of Directors is rounding out my experience and appreciation of SHARE — as a vendor, sponsor, speaker, volunteer, founding member of its Women in IT Initiative, and now as Director of Industry Influence and chair of the Editorial Advisory Committee. In my first few months on the Board, I have learned a lot about the power and influence of our association. 

As I share my personal journey with you, I hope you will learn something new about SHARE, too; or, perhaps, find a new way to benefit as we continue to evolve and create modern-day opportunities for our members.

My first experience with SHARE was in the early 2000s, staffing a booth when I worked at then CA Technologies. SHARE conferences continue to serve as the premier venue to meet with industry peers, enabling its mission to educate, network, and influence in the IBM Z ecosystem. That’s why, in 2019, my team and I chose to launch our new mainframe software company, VirtualZ, at SHARE Phoenix. 

Today, SHARE virtual events give us the opportunity to deliver more content and reach a broader audience of members who may not have had access to the in-person conferences twice a year in the past.The next event will run over a 10-day period in March 2021 and will be packed full of content on current topics, including Security in the Enterprise, Open Source on Z, ZOWE, DevOps in the Enterprise, Women in IT, CICS, Professional Development, and more.

The virtual conference agenda can be found here and will continue to evolve as sessions are announced in early January.

SHARE enjoys a rich history of delivering relevant insights and informing innovation on the IBM Z platform, so it is my honor to be appointed to chair the Editorial Advisory Committee (EAC), charged with elevating SHARE’s industry influence. 

Building on the vision of the committee’s most recent past chair, Scott Fagen, we will continue to identify and create opportunities to get involved and advise on key topics in the mainframe. Industry influence encompasses SHARE’s voice on current news and events in the mainframe ecosystem, such as the need for more COBOL programmers, JES3, and mainframe modernization, and, importantly, the ways the association collaborates with our strategic partners, Broadcom and IBM.

My first task as Director of Industry Influence was to oversee a SHARE panel discussion for IBM Z Day, held on September 15, 2020. This was a great opportunity to exhibit SHARE’s 50+ years of influence in IBM Z. The panel presented a broad range of perspectives on the evolution of the mainframe, from longtime SHARE members and past presidents, to newcomers. A recording of the panel discussion can be found here.

The EAC and the SHARE'd Intelligence blog and newsletter serve as a platform for SHARE content and communications.

As chair, it’s a pleasure to work with industry leaders on the EAC to engage and grow SHARE’s online editorial presence. Our work includes identifying topics and authors for several articles per month. Today, there are over 500 articles available online, and we are excited to announce that a fresh new look and enhanced navigation will be coming to SHARE’d Intelligence soon! If you have ideas or suggestions for future articles, we welcome them at editor@share.org

While serving as Vice President of SHARE in 2019, Martha McConaghy championed the idea of SHARE taking a leadership role and providing resources to address the gender and skills gaps and highlight the contributions of women in the mainframe.

Through launching VirtualZ at SHARE Phoenix, I learned that VirtualZ is the first and only women-owned mainframe software company in history. We were honored to be invited to join Martha and her team as a founding member of the SHARE Women in IT initiative that same year.

The mission of SHARE’s Women in IT initiative is to inform, inspire, and empower a diverse mainframe ecosystem. The initiative isn’t focused on content just for women — we are creating content to powerfully impact our industry by showcasing women, newer professionals, and people of color — seeking their expertise to write, speak, keynote, and create thought leadership at SHARE.    

The Women in IT initiative will deliver six hours of content at the upcoming SHARE event in March 2021, focused on addressing the gender, diversity, and skills gaps in enterprise IT.

We look forward to seeing you at SHARE Virtual Summit Winter 2021!  In the meantime, keep in touch through SHARE’s eLearning webcasts  for new industry information, education, and insights, or by following SHARE’d Intelligence updates in your inbox. As I sad before, we welcome your feedback and ideas at editor@share.org.