EMS Leadership Summit Expands Its Reach

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Nolan Johnson talks with Tracy Riggan, senior director of solutions, and Mark Wolfe, executive EMS advisor, both at IPC. They discuss details for the EMS Leadership Summit planned for IPC APEX EXPO 2022, how the summit program has changed from years past, and who should attend. Hint: Directors and above, along with any “rising star” managers. 

Nolan Johnson: Thanks for joining me to talk about the EMS Leadership Summit that’s coming up at IPC APEX EXPO. But first, Mark, let’s talk about you joining the staff. 

Mark Wolfe: Thank you. I’ve worked with IPC for several decades as a customer, and as a leader in the EMS industry. There was a desire to bring more hands-on EMS industry leadership experience into IPC. The intent of my role is to work directly with other leaders across the EMS industry, better understand the needs that are out there, and determine what IPC is or is not fulfilling. 

I’m looking for the opportunities to create new programs and capabilities that better serve the needs of the industry over the long term. This will include conversations with different tiers of executives, and lots of listening and understanding, so I can bring that back to the extended IPC staff and start talking about things we could do in the future. 

Johnson: You’re a point of engagement? 

Wolfe: That is certainly the intent. I’m representing both IPC and the EMS industry as an opportunity to connect those points together. 

Johnson: Thanks for joining this conversation. Tracy, let’s talk about the EMS Leadership Summit. How is it being structured this year? 

Tracy Riggan: Leaders of small- to medium-size EMS companies in the IPC community have been coming together for years. As we’re realizing that all levels of the organization have meaningful information to share, we decided to expand the invitation. We know there are up-and-coming leaders with new ideas and approaches to address some of the new challenges that we’ve experienced over the last few years. 

The meeting is designed to bring in subject matter experts but also to bring in people from industry to highlight their experiences and give best practices and ideas about new ways to approach challenges. Additionally, we want to provide opportunities for leaders to work together to solve problems. 

It’s important in those discussions to have a wide breadth of ideas and learnings from different levels and roles of organizations. We’re expanding that conversation by bringing in younger leaders, maybe those in management positions staged to be the next presidents and vice presidents of their organizations. We want to hear how they’re planning to approach these things to drive business growth and financial success. 

Johnson: What motivated that change of scope? 

Riggan: It was to bring in more voices and support EMS leaders of today and tomorrow to better help each other and the industry to prosper. That is what we aim to do this year. It is expanding that conversation to next generation leaders and assuring continuity of leadership, so that the conversation doesn’t end with the meeting, but that it goes into practice. 

Johnson: Right. It only just starts. I sense that the structure of this year’s program is going to be a bit different than previous years. 

Riggan: We’re really focused on a conversation that’s going to take place. We’re bringing in younger leaders, so that’s something new. We will have demonstrations of tools to provide more than theory, but a little bit more visibility on the practical applications. Rather than just bring in the experts on tools, for example, we’re bringing in the users to show how tools are applied, and how they question and challenge them. Then, we will have discussions around that. 

To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the December 2021 issue of SMT007 Magazine, click here.

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