Welcome to IAAI’s October 2011 CFITrainer.Net Podcast. Today, we have the pleasure of welcoming Deborah Nietch, the new Executive Director of IAAI. She recently sat down with us for an interview to talk about her background, her new position with the IAAI, training and education, social networking and some initial challenges we face at the IAAI. In the future we’ll have follow up interviews with her as she travels the country reaching out to our chapters, our international network, government agencies and many American businesses on behalf of the IAAI.

Thanks for being with us Deborah, tell us a bit about your background.

DEBORAH NIETCH: Well my background is primarily in administration and marketing. For nearly 20 years I worked in the sports development industry. We worked with some of the number one companies in the entire world: MasterCard, Pennzoil, Callaway. Being able to manage those relationships, develop new relationships, and more importantly, pull relationships together were where I started learning that I had a passion and then developed some expertise with.

When you and I have spoken, you’ve been pretty psyched about your new position at the IAAI. Could you tell our listeners why you’re so excited?

DEBORAH NIETCH: I have been working in association management with Board of Directors, non-profits, membership organizations and volunteer groups for probably close to 25 years and I’ve seen a lot of tired organizations, and it is so exciting to come into an organization where the leadership, the executive team and the Board of Directors and the members that are involved in the running of the organization are excited and passionate and share the same agenda. It is so exciting because that’s not the norm. You’ve got a group of individuals that are a 110% committed, they’re professional, they are so serious about their job and having fun and they love what they’re doing. It’s - it is a blessing to come in to an organization as the new person and find these two elements. And so, when you add a great board and great leadership, a great staff and a great organization that has a wonderful purpose and a firm foundation, the possibilities are just amazing, and that’s what I’m excited about.

Q: So you’re not a fire investigation expert, but you have been heavily vetted by our board to make sure you were a good fit for the IAAI. As the new Executive Director, how does your background build on the IAAI’s strong history?

DEBORAH NIETCH: I don’t have to be a subject matter expert to be able to carry out the duties and responsibilities as determined by the President and the Board of Directors. They are the subject matter experts, they are the leaders in the first investigation industry. It’s their responsibility to know the pulse, the direction that the IAAI wants to take, and it’s my responsibility to help fulfill and carry out those duties and objectives.

Q: As fire investigators and other experts in related fields, many of our members are under the gun to learn and be able to document their expertise. You’ve been pretty pumped about T&E… Can you talk about that?

DEBORAH NIETCH: The organization’s commitment to excellence and training and education is so strong, it is so visible and on my desk I have 94 pages from a survey regarding the CFITrainer.Net and the comments are outstanding. The feedback that we’re getting from the members and from the online users of CFITrainer.Net regarding all of the IAAI training and education opportunities is a direct response to the outstanding standards that the board, the staff and the members have put in place. The first investigator is the heart and soul of the IAAI, but CFITrainer.Net is the gem of the organization, and so it’s - we have a board and we have membership that are committed to this outstanding training program, and it’s now our duty to find the funds and keep it going.

Q: Deborah, I know you have expertise and excitement around marketing and communications… we’ve talked recently about social media. Could you share with us what you’re thinking?

DEBORAH NIETCH: A lot of individuals look at social media as ah, that’s something that the young kids use and it’s a trend. Well, I don’t believe so. I believe social media is a shift in the way we communicate, and so it’s going to be exciting to be part of that learning process and help take the IAAI slowly, confidently and forward into the use of social media because that’s where we hear from our members what they’re lacking. They want to be communicated with, they want to hear from us, but email, and you know, just getting another email, another email doesn’t meet their needs where social media has that opportunity to be as involved in your daily life as the individual ones. So that’s really, really exciting.

Q: As we wrap up, can you talk briefly about some of the initial challenges that you faced at the IAAI?

DEBORAH NIETCH: Well, immediately, the IAAI has I think three major challenges that they really - they have the ability and will - we will face and meet and exceed. The first being the funding for CFITrainer.Net. This online free training website has traditionally been 100% funded through the US federal government and we’ve just recently learned that that funding has ceased for the Grant #8. So we’re actively pursuing different programs, whether or not it’s sponsor programs, partnership programs, product development, a whole variety of items to make up the deficit with this loss of funding, and so that’s going to be a real immediate challenge.

A second challenge is to increase the membership, so the IAAI has to be better in defining and explaining the benefit and the value of membership to its members and to corporate members as well as do a better job marketing and communicating with members and corporate members.

The third area that I think that we have a real challenge is to - it’s really just maintain that high standard of excellence that the IAAI has had in position for so many years.

Thanks for your time Deborah. We know you’re heading out for more travels related to the IAAI. We’ll look forward to hearing more from you soon.

That concludes this IAAI CFITrainer.Net podcast. We’ll see you again next month.