How Do You Use NAEM to Enhance Your Professional Career?
“NAEM has been an important part of my career development.”
— Mike Miller, President, NAEM Board of Directors
“From an introspective viewpoint, I have learned so much from interacting with truly creative, innovative and resourceful pool of NAEM members, affiliates and staff members. Interactions with NAEM or members of my network ‘recharge’ and invigorate me — preparing me to be a better leader, strategic thinker, communicator and champion for EHS&S. This energy and confidence in approach allows me to represent my corporation and be the ‘compass and conscience’ often needed.
From an external look, NAEM has expanded my vision, my scope — beyond myself, my people and my company — to support high school and university fields of study (process safety, safe design, permitting and operational environmental compliance) and course offerings. I have become the corporate champion of our engineering intern program, new employee EHS&S on-boarding and volunteer activities, and EHS&S competency requirements/training/demonstration opportunities for many job families. I have taken great pleasure in creating, deploying and realizing an EHS&S corporate strategy with the support of some of the most talented employees I have ever seen — or had the honor — to lead (or often, just stand out of their way!). At each stage, I was able participate in NAEM for the different needs throughout my career — always learning, leaning-in, and laughing.”
— Anne Monine, 1st Vice President, NAEM Board of Directors
“NAEM is an integral part of my external network and trusted resource for industry research. NAEM provides a platform for connecting with my peers across all industries. There is no other organization that offers this opportunity with this level of professionalism and integrity.”
— Nicole Wilkinson, 2nd Vice President, NAEM Board of Directors
“Since my first NAEM event I attended many years ago, I have gained so much personally and professionally from every event I participated in. NAEM creates an environment of open and honest sharing of successes and challenges EHS&S professionals face. This allows us to take these learnings back to our jobs, improving our own programs as a result. Events such as the Women’s Leadership Roundtable have helped me grow professionally through targeted workshops and leadership skills opportunities, while creating a culture of support and inclusion.”
— Fawn Bergen, Treasurer, NAEM Board of Directors
“I do a lot of benchmarking in my job and frequently use the Quick Polls. It's a quick and easy way to get some fast feedback on important business issues and to connect with peers who are facing the same issues. I also love the conferences and the networking that comes with them. This is a unique community of practice that is unlike any other organization I belong to and I really savor the experience because it helps me to be a better leader. I always learn something new and meet new people — that's extremely valuable to me and my career.”
— Sandy Nessing, Past President, NAEM Board of Directors
“My longstanding relationship with NAEM has been rewarding in many ways, both professionally and personally. The relationships I have developed with top-flight professionals have been extremely valuable by adding to my understanding of the challenges that my clients face every day.”
— John Guttman, General Counsel, NAEM Board of Directors
“NAEM has played an integral role in my professional development over the years. The organization has provided me with the opportunity to maintain my credentials, participate in communities of practice, learn from and mentor others and broadened my professional network. I strongly believe I have become a more well-rounded EHS professional by engaging with NAEM throughout my career progression.”
— Deborah Briggs, Director-at-Large, NAEM Board of Directors
“I lean on NAEM a lot. My team attends the conferences and forums and always has a debriefing session packed with lists of action items, benchmarking data, and stretch goals. I've also been very fortunate to develop a fantastic network through NAEM events, such as the Women's Leadership Roundtable. These contacts are always there to give guidance and feedback, whether I'm asking for an outside perspective on a new project or about personal development. I have yet to participate in an organization where the relationships have been as strong as the ones I've formed at NAEM.”
— Katie Chrisler, Director-at-Large, NAEM Board of Directors
“I have always used NAEM as a means to find executive peers and subject matter experts who are willing to challenge my assumptions and provide an opportunity to learn from their experiences. I have never attended a meeting, event or social organized by NAEM where I failed to learn something new as a result of my conversations. I certainly plan on continuing to do that and networking through NAEM to learn, share and even discover new opportunities.”
— James Goudreau, Director-at-Large, NAEM Board of Directors
Drena Howard
“I use NAEM to enhance my professional career through networking and learning from member colleagues. I leverage learning from conferences, webinars and newsletters to keep abreast of news, trends and to spark ideas.”
— Drena Howard, Director-at-Large, NAEM Board of Directors
“I have been a member of NAEM for over 15 years and NAEM has helped me hone my technical and leadership skills. Learning from EHS&S professionals has helped me implement best practices and avoid pitfalls that others encountered so I don't have to find out the hard way. As EHS&S professionals, we spend a tremendous amount of time influencing without authority when we implement policies and programs. The leadership and ‘soft’ skills I have learned through NAEM have helped me be more effective as a leader and mentor to the EHS staff at LDI. Lastly, I use benchmarking (especially during the early stages of COVID-19) through the Quick Polls, Drop-In calls, benchmarking surveys, and peer-to-peer conversations to help sell a program or approach to upper management and also the front-line leaders that will need to implement the change.”
— Marc Juaire, Director-at-Large, NAEM Board of Directors
“In addition to using NAEM’s 3 core offerings — benchmarking, networking, and professional development — I leverage NAEM as a platform in which the EHS&S community comes together to discuss the issues most relevant to shaping the national EHS landscape and agenda.”
— Kelvin Sanborn, Director-at-Large, NAEM Board of Directors
“I have been involved with NAEM since about 1998. During this time, NAEM has helped me in my career in so many ways by connecting me to the information I need to do my job through its webinars, research projects, quick polls and so many other resources that the organization produces. The conferences and EHS&S Forum have been great places for me to not only hear about the real-world experiences of my peers, but it has given me the opportunity to meet so many people. I have volunteered for numerous things, including participating on the Forum Planning Committee, and each of these opportunities has given me the chance to give back in a small way and has been another way to meet a lot of great EHS&S professionals. My time on the NAEM Board of Directors has been particularly rewarding — another chance to give back to the EHS&S community and an opportunity to see some extremely talented EHS&S professionals doing great work.”
— David Williams, Director-at-Large, NAEM Board of Directors
“I’m a lifelong learner and am passionate about building community. Because NAEM is a community of lifelong learners, my work with the Association blends those career passions perfectly. As NAEM’s Executive Director, I am always learning about how companies are meeting the new challenges of EHS&S management, and continue to be enriched by the wisdom and knowledge that I learn through our programming and research. I’m thrilled every day to be able to live my professional goals by practicing my values of building and supporting NAEM’s professional community.”
— Carol Singer Neuvelt, Executive Director, NAEM