NISO Change Management Webinar Series - Team Building - 11.18.20

Helping people gain a greater understanding of the information community — our issues and concerns, challenges and opportunities — is core to NISO's mission. Our events are a key element of this, with our popular webinar program at their heart. And, following the NISO/NFAIS merger earlier this year, all NISO members can now attend all 14 webinars in 2020 completely free of charge! This includes an unlimited number of places and full access to a recording of each webinar for anyone who is unable to attend the event itself.

Adam has worked at ProQuest for 16 years, during which time he wrote the content for and oversaw the development of ProQuest’s information literacy product (Research Companion). He currently works on ProQuest’s platform team. Before ProQuest, Adam taught literature and creative writing at the University of Utah, where he earned a PhD in English. His research was focused on literary treatments of moral luck. He also has a BA in social anthropology from Cambridge University (Caius). Adam lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his wife and three children. He was born in Switzerland and has lived in England, France, Russia, and Turkmenistan.

Christopher Rennie is a proud librarian, professional übernerd, and accidental technologist who is on his third “tour of duty” with ProQuest, where he makes his living from the vendor side in between periods of librarianship. Christopher has degrees in history, literature, and theology as well as library & information science. The technology pieces are a self-taught endeavor. His career has spanned from positions in academic librarianship to library vendors, ranging from research universities to community college and software systems to content providers. This career has afforded him the chance to work with libraries across the globe and has given him the chance to travel extensively. Chris lives in the metropolitan Detroit area with his wife and three children and far too many pets. He was born in the Detroit area, though he has lived in Milwaukee, Chicago, and a number of other places in the U.S.

Jennifer Diffin is the Head, Library Technology Services Section at the National Library of Medicine (NLM). The Section of (currently) 8 staff is responsible for managing bibliographic and digital library systems, including, but not limited to, the integrated library system, library catalog, digital repository and other homegrown systems. The Section also provides technical support for the larger Technical Services Division. Jennifer is currently leading a project to migrate to a new library services platform and discovery layer – Alma and Primo VE from Ex Libris. She has been at NLM for 6 years and has over 20 years’ experience as a systems librarian. She has an MS in Library Science from Simmons College, now Simmons University.

Rhonda Ross leads the Marketing Programs Management team for CAS. In this role, she and her team are responsible for enabling the efficient management of projects and processes across the spectrum of marketing programs that serve the global information industry. Rhonda also develops internal strategic communications, and serves as a change agent liaison to help manage organizational change impacts and opportunities. Rhonda is also an active CAS UP (Unlocking Potential) team member, focused on staff engagement and development. Rhonda joined CAS in 1989, having previously worked in technology and customer support roles. During her 30 years with CAS and ACS Publications, she has held production, publishing, finance and human resources positions, as well as various roles in CAS marketing. Rhonda values relationships, collaboration and commitment to quality. When not working, she enjoys sharing new experiences with family and friends, traveling to broaden her horizons and reading. At work, Rhonda enjoys helping colleagues throughout the organization grow and develop and is proud to be a mentor in the CAS Mentorship program. Rhonda holds a degree in business management from Ohio Dominican University, is a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), and currently serves on the board of the National Information Standards Organization (NISO).

Stephen has 30 years’ experience in electronic publishing and libraries with leadership roles at SilverPlatter Information, Chadwyck-Healey, Gale, and ProQuest. He’s served on the boards of CLIR, the Digital Library Federation, Enwoven and the University of California Press. In 2000 he co-founded and led Alexander Street Press to become an internationally recognized publisher and the largest vendor of streaming media into libraries. In 2019 he co-founded Coherent Digital.