After years of complaining about the technology and communications that the ANA was not doing, I was asked to join the committee where I met Jake and learn what he was doing for the members from Colorado Springs. Even though it looked like the ANA was not doing a good job with communications, it was Jake keeping together what the ANA was doing!
Jake is not a computer person. He said that his background is in communications and public relations. But in that job, he was put in charge of the website. He was not a computer person in the way that someone like me has had an over 30 year career in computers. Jake was given the job because he was there and probably could spell “computer” faster than any other person.
Considering what the Technology Committee found when we began to look at what was available in Colorado Spring, the job Jake had done in keeping those systems together were nothing short of amazing! Even though the site had problems (not his fault) and various attempts to fix it had problems (definitely not his fault) and the pain in trying to provide extended web-based services was a bit disconnected (absolutely not his fault), you would never know that Jake’s first job was not in computers.
While a lot of people have helped with the transition to the new ANA website, Jake has to be singled out for knowing and understanding the processes that helped integrate the new services with the ANA headquarters. I am sure that some will point out the bumps in the road during the initial transition, it went a lot smoother than other integration efforts that I have been involved with in my long career in the computer business. I believe that everyone involved with the transition will credit Jake with success of the transition.
I would like to thank Jake Sherlock for his service to the ANA and hope he is successful in this next step in his career!