SLA Competitive Intelligence Division Blog

Get to Know the Board: Charles Fray - Treasurer

Currently I work as the Manager of Reference Services in a law firm which gives me the opportunity to work on Competitive Intelligence initiatives and projects exploring client development.  CI is relatively new to the law firm environment and I am excited about continuing to explore and advance the Competitive Intelligence services a library can offer to the legal industry.

Get to Know the Board: Megan Mulherin - Secretary

I am currently attending Dominican University in River Forest, IL, to obtain my Masters degree in Library and Information Science and will be graduating December 2009.  I am in my second year as the board secretary for the Special Libraries Association Competitive Intelligence Division. I earned a dual certificate in Competitive Intelligence and the Intelligence Information Function from the Special Libraries Association in November 2007.
 
I received my B.A. from the University of Iowa in Anthropology with a Minor in Religion. I also spent a semester abroad studying Irish Literature at the University of Dublin, Trinity College, and participated in a writers’ workshop. Prior to joining Spencer Stuart, I worked at the University of Iowa Main Library, as well as other related administrative positions.
 
I enjoy traveling, cooking, movies, blogging, sports, and am an avid Science Fiction fan.  Emerging technology and new solutions for knowledge management and competitive intelligence inspire my personal and professional blogs.

Get to Know the Board: Victor Camlek - Chair

VP, Market Intelligence
Healthcare & Science business of Thomson Reuters

I’m currently the Vice President of Market Intelligence for the Healthcare & Science Business of Thomson Reuters where my principle responsibility is to provide expert views and analysis of Science,Technology and Medicine (STM) market developments. I’m a veteran market and competitive intelligence analyst with experience in the publishing and telecommunications industries. Following an early stint as a professional librarian, I began my market analysis career as an information professional working in the Bellcore Information Research Center. I eventually became the manager and later director of the IRC's client relations program and built a research analysis team. We provided a variety of market and competitive intelligence services for clients in the telecommunications industry. I also served as a senior and principal competitive analyst for Telcordia Technologies.

Although, my specialty has been competitive analysis, my career path has led me to the broader professional context of “market intelligence.” I really enjoy projects that explore emerging markets, especially those stimulated by new technology. During my telecoms days I focused a great deal of my energy on the then emerging market for residential broadband services. More recently, after I shifted over to the publishing industry I have been interested in emerging markets centered on Web 2.0, Semantic Web and Health Information Technology. I enjoy working on extensive deep dive projects and following through with presentations that permit me to discuss findings with subject matter experts. I also enjoy writing and have contributed a couple of articles to the CI Division newsletter.

I’ve been fortunate during my career to do a great deal of travel around the world. I’ve enjoyed working with clients from many parts of the US and other countries. In addition, I’ve delivered a number of presentations at proprietary corporate meetings as well as public industry conferences both in the US and globally.

I have been active participant in the SLA CI Division. I have also been a member the NFAIS conference planning committee since 2008. I’m a firm believer in the Division and hope to contribute a great deal of energy to increase the visibility of the program.

My personal interests are varied and include music, sports, photography and travel. When I was young I was a serious musician and considered a career as a flautist. I enjoy baseball and often remark that my first experiences in CI occurred during my youth as I scoured over various baseball magazines devoted to evaluating the various strengths and weaknesses of baseball teams, players, and their management. I am married and wife and I currently shuttle between our residences in New York and New Jersey.

My education included a BA in Communications from Hunter College (CUNY) and an MLS from Queens College (CUNY).

Get to Know the Board: Scott Brown - Past Chair

Hello CI Division members, and all of those interested in the CI Division! I’m very pleased to be able to write one of the initial entries for The Intel blog.

A little bit about me: Currently I am Past-Chair of the CI Division. I was part of the original Division Board when it formed in 2004, starting out as Treasurer. I then took the Chair-Elect position in 2007.

One of the things I really wanted to do as Chair was to provide some kind of member benefit in between the annual conferences, and for those who couldn’t attend conference. In 2008, we were lucky enough to have Ellen Naylor and Toni Wilson do a webinar for us called “Optimizing Your CI Collection: Where PubINT Meets HumINT”. The response was fantastic, and the Division continues to look at ways to offer more webinars.

In 2009, I also took on the role of 2009 Conference Planner and Vendor Relations Chair. I was already familiar with most of the duties of these positions, having worked with them closely as Treasurer for three years. I very much enjoyed working with both the Board and my planning team members in putting together the 2009 program, and working with our wonderful vendor sponsors!

Professionally, I run my own consulting and training company, Social Information Group, and also provide personal and professional coaching for information professionals. Previously, I was a Senior Information Specialist with Digital Libraries & Research, the library and information organization at Sun Microsystems. In addition to working on competitive intelligence projects and providing competitive research, I provided training in social networking tools to Sun employees, conducted stakeholder work, and used Six Sigma tools to determine customer needs and wants. I received my library degree from San Jose State University in California in 1999.

Personally, I’m also enjoying producing a music podcast, Music Therapy.

I hope you enjoy the new blog and the 2010 activities of the Division. Please let us know what you think, and please participate and share your knowledge!