Cordant's Johnson tapped as Industry Advisory Council chair

After several months of bruising conflict, Industry Advisory Council (IAC) members elected Kenneth Johnson of Cordant Inc. as their new chairman, on a promise of reconciliation with the organization's government partners.

IAC's previous board of directors became embroiled in a dispute over financial management with federal officials who run the Federation of Government Information Processing Councils (FGIPC), IAC's parent organization.

But Mark Amtower, the IAC member who oversaw last week's elections, said he interpreted the results as a clear signal that IAC members want to mend fences with FGIPC.

"This tells me there is an interest in solidifying relations with our parent group, FGIPC," Amtower said.

Johnson, senior vice president at Cordant, added that he was encouraged that 105 out of 180 member companies cast votes in the election.

"The fact that so many people turned out to vote is indicative that IAC wants a closer relationship with FGIPC," he said.

Other newly elected IAC board members include Karol Burt of PRC Inc. as vice chairman, Washington; Bob Golas of Oracle Corp. as vice chairman, national; Don Arnold of Cincom Systems Inc., who will continue his work as IAC secretary; Valerie Perlowitz of Reliable Integration Services Inc. as treasurer; and Edith Holmes of Federal Computer Week as program chairwoman.

FGIPC president Neil Stillman said he was pleased with the outcome of the election, mainly because IAC's leadership now reflects the will of its members. Previous IAC election ballots contained just a single nominee for each board position.

Stillman added that he plans to meet formally with the new IAC board members July 24 to discuss the direction of the organizations and will have an IAC representative present at each of FGIPC's monthly teleconference meetings. In addition, the organizations will cooperate in the planning of FGIPC's annual Management of Change conference and IAC's annual Executive Leadership conference. Stillman said IAC will also help plan FGIPC's Acquisition Management conference, tentatively scheduled for November.

Amtower said IAC plans to strengthen and expand its state and local chapters and link those organizations to state and local FGIPC chapters.

IAC will also seek FGIPC's participation in its special-interest groups, according to Amtower.