The Valley of the Sun Welcomes NetIP Officers

The Valley of the Sun welcomes NetIP Officers

7th Annual Officers Leadership Conference

2009 brings challenges and a unique opportunity to build together as a family

New York, NY Feb 16th 2009 – The Network of Indian Professionals (NetIP) 7th annual Officer’s Leadership Conference (OLC) was held in Phoenix, Arizona from Feb 6 to Feb 8, 2009 at the Hotel Scottsdale. The OLC serves as the national kickoff for the 2009 NetIP calendar year. It provides an opportunity for leadership to be recognized, for officers both new and continuing from last year to network and form good working relationships. The goal of the OLC has always been to provide an open forum for NetIP chapters to discuss common opportunities and challenges, as well as to collaborate on leading practices as an organization. NetIP’s newest chapter and family member, Phoenix (www.phoenix-netip.org) was the host for the conference.

Aruna Paramasivam, NetIP’s returning president, takes pride in taking the OLC to Phoenix this year “2009 brings a chance to re-brand and move forward in new directions. Our newest family member is the first chapter established under the current NetIP leadership, released with our gold standards attached. NetIP is very excited to take its Annual Conference to Toronto this year as well. Our strategy for the year is focused on fine-tuning our brand to position ourselves as the premier South Asian professional networking organization in North America.” Paramasivam set the tone for the conference and infused an energy that carried it to its conclusion Sunday after long working sessions and a full agenda.

Santosh Perla, VP Internal Affairs, NetIP North America planned and conducted the conference with his brand new team. “Our purpose was to energize and motivate chapter leaders, to help them put things in perspective and look at the bigger picture. All chapters have issues however these are not isolated, there is a common ground. The OLC provides an opportunity to share ideas to improve the overall mission”. Perla’s team presented a comprehensive look at metrics and goals for the upcoming year. They executed team building exercises, problem solving techniques and a targeted sharing of ideas and challenges.

Sundip Arora, VP External Affairs, NetIP North America and his team presented an entertaining skit based on the game show ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire?’ cashing in on the recent success of Slumdog Millionaire. Arora’s team engaged the audience with a few well delivered surprises including creative role-playing. “The idea was to deliver an impactful message in an interactive and amusing manner. Our singular focus this year is to position NetIP as a premier non-profit organization serving the unique needs of young South Asian professionals. We hope to accomplish this by creating a consistent brand, increasing visibility, sustaining sponsorship growth and creating value through our non-profit alliance partners. A host of new initiatives will be pioneered through the External Affairs’ office this year centered on providing exceptional member value and solidifying our brand image.” Arora’s presentation was able to effectively highlight his team’s goals for the year, most of which affect the NetIP image to the outside world.

NetIP’s largest event, the Annual Conference, is held each year over Labor Day. This year it is being held in Toronto. Ajay Chopra, VP Events, NetIP North America, is excited to take on the conference. “Delegates will be immersed in the richness, energy and cultural mosaic of Toronto. The 2009 conference team is working diligently to set the bar higher in preparing unique content and entertainment that will be novel” said Chopra. NetIP looks forward to an event par excellence.

A new branding initiative began with NetIP’s new logo, created by Rohit Verma, Director of Technology, NetIP North America. “The logo represents the essence of the NetIP as both a professional group and a diverse, energetic member base of South Asians across North America.  The core of the NetIP logo highlights the four pillars of our organization, uniquely offering South Asians opportunities to excel within their own community and beyond.” This year NetIP is making leaps and bounds with its new technology platform and standardization of its brand and websites.

The economy poses the biggest challenge in the NetIP generation. With a substantial immigrant professional base, job uncertainty drives many of the decisions young South Asians take today.  Aman Parekh, VP Finance and Admin, NetIP North America hopes that in addition to value added incentives, NetIP can provide a platform to members that have been affected by the recent economical hardships – “As a non-profit organization, we keep membership rates minimal to help young South Asian professionals like ourselves. Like many other non-profit organizations, we’ve have to devise creative strategies to balance sustaining our growth and quality events with fewer funding sources. We hope to successfully ride this economic storm and help our members along the way.”

With Phoenix being less than a year old as a chapter, President Sri Narasimhan and his volunteer board set an example of how hard work pays dividends and garners recognition. “As the newest chapter of the NetIP community, Phoenix had a mix of pride and humility. Our board was proud to have hosted a national leadership conference in less than a year of the chapter’s founding, and also humbled by the numerous successful chapters and chapter leaders that had plenty of best practices to share. In addition to the strong turnout, a lot of early positive feedback leads me to believe that this was one of the best NetIP Officer Leadership Conferences in recent memory!”

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If you would like more information about NetIP, please visit www.NetIP.org or to schedule an interview with the NetIP Brand Strategy Chair, Pooja Dhawan, please email pooja@netip.org.

 

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