Member Services and the New SAO

by Rachel Kjack, director of member services, SAO

You know you’ve hit the jackpot with a job when you are doing something that is in line with your values and uses the best parts of you to contribute something worthwhile to your community. I learned that growing up in a small town and from being around a lot of passionate, hard-working people in the high school youth leadership organization called Future Farmers of America (FFA ). Spending time with people who love what they do – and you have to love what you do if you work in agriculture or education – really helped drive home this point. In both growing food and growing people, you operate by the principle that people are able to determine their future and can improve their condition in the world (living conditions, capacity to feed, education level, life length, etc.) through process towards something better.

Pioneer history
As the new director of member services for the SAO, I get to influence the future of the Oregon software community and the local economy. I get to work as part of a caring, smart and talented team of people. Most importantly, I get to bring all of who I am to my job. Besides growing up on a farm, I am also heavily influenced by both of my parents' work in higher education. Every dinner conversation hinged on a new discovery made by my brothers and me at school that we would apply to what job we wanted or what we would study in college. Mom would then talk about what she experienced politically in administration and Dad on what he was teaching his students. From a young age, I was also lit on fire with a love for music and the transformational power of the arts, as my brother and I became an actor and a musician respectively, while my other brother studied mathematics. I went on to develop a strong draw toward technology and worked in the field for years, as it helped me to integrate learning with creative new ways to express myself. At a most instinctive level though, I am influenced by my pioneering ancestors who settled in Whitman County, Washington, and are still farming there today. All of these parts of me are represented in my service to the SAO.

Personal vision
Looking through these filters, I see SAO as an organization that is about development – communally and personally. I see SAO helping bridge the divide between education and vocation, so that when kids go to college or into the workforce they are ready to meet the challenges they will face. My vision is that SAO membership provides leadership for keeping arts in our schools and communities, and shows the interconnectedness of creativity and technological innovation. Finally, I want SAO to truly empower small start-ups to make their contribution, advocate for the issues that small and large companies really care about, and partner with the organizations and businesses that have a deep commitment to Oregon.

Putting these aspirations into practice and building on past successes is always challenging. As our new President Harvey Mathews has said, “It’s a great time to be a part of the SAO.” As for me, I say I’ve hit the jackpot and I look forward to coming to work every day because I value what I am a part of and look forward to my vision becoming reality.

About the author
Rachel Kjack is the director of member services of the SAO. Prior to this role she was the director of the Washington FFA Association and Foundation. She has also worked in high-tech public relations training with Waggener Edstrom, in sales and marketing with a Portland-based tech training company, and in the public education system. Kjack is an alumna of The Evergreen State College and Bastyr University/Leadership Institute of Seattle. She can be reached at rachel.kjack@sao.org.