Edward Mandla, who officially takes on the role from 1 January next year, said he would poll the organisation's 16,000-plus strong membership via e-mail on a monthly basis to determine the issues the ACS should be pursuing. He also said he would build the level of face-to-face communication between state and federal officials.
The move comes after a poll of respondents to an IT Manager survey mid-year found that 80 percent felt the ACS was irrelevant, with their primary gripe being that present demands on information technology professionals were a far cry from what they were when the ACS kicked off around 40 years ago, but that the organisation did not get it.
Mandla, formerly the NSW branch chair of the ACS, was elected national president at a meeting in Melbourne on the weekend of the ACS council, the organisation's peak body. He replaces the incumbent, Richard Hogg, who steps down after two years in the top role.
He told ZDNet Australia his plan was to make the ACS a "household name," with the pervasiveness of technology legitimising the organisation's push to tackle a far wider range of issues than it had previously.
Mandla -- who is the managing director of a consultancy specialising in "Human Agility Solutions" said the organisation would lobby on matters such as issues associated with Telstra and women in information technology.
He said the organisation already planned to poll its members early next year on what position it should pursue with regards to mobile telephones with cameras and their involvement in compromising privacy.
The ACS also elected industry veteran Chris Avram -- who holds the dual roles of associate dean, graduate studies of the Faculty of Information Technology and senior lecturer in computer technology in the School of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Monash University -- vice-president.
25 years ago I applied to join the ACS under a reciprocal standing as an IFIPs society when I moved to Australia. They wanted me to completely submit papers and professional interview etc that had been completed overseas previously. I trust that they will accept IFIP standards for reciprocal standings and not persist with that attitude if they are to be accepted truly as a professional body.