Clinton Brownley

Candidate for President-Elect

Position Statement

The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the American Statistical Association (SFASA) has been my professional home for many years, and my service to SFASA has been a source of great satisfaction. I care deeply about the future of this organization, this field, and my many friends and colleagues in it. I have thought hard about what we can do to make SFASA successful and I have worked hard to this end.

My efforts as VP-General Applications to organize interesting seminars for our chapter members are the best example of my approach to serving SFASA. When I was invited to take over as VP-General Applications, I looked at it as an opportunity to provide a valuable service to our membership. I have endeavored to bring in exciting speakers who present on a wide variety of topics so that all of our members have an opportunity to hear about a topic they find engaging. Prior to becoming a VP, I was the Secretary for the chapter and recorded the minutes for chapter officer meetings.

As President, I will leverage all the knowledge, intelligence, talent, leadership, and camaraderie within SFASA. By planning and executing, we can get a few things done at a time and get them done well. It is always important to maintain our feeling of community and our partnerships, and to seek ways to further the exchange of ideas. People want to contribute, but they want to contribute without pressure and in a way that excites them and makes a difference. My role is to inspire that energy and to make sure we deliver quality results.

We need to broadly increase the visibility of, appreciation for, and ultimately demand for statistics. Doing so will make the professional lives of all SFASA members – students, practitioners, researchers, and educators – more rewarding. There is much we can do to improve our external effectiveness in ways that also energize SFASA internally. In general, I believe we should aim high to reach business leaders, policy makers, journalists, as well as influential scholars in nearby areas. Implementable ideas we could discuss include: developing a chapter newsletter; holding SFASA summits (mini-conferences) with outside participants to focus on specific high-profile issues and applications; and creating new partnerships to encourage outreach activities.

It is realistic for us to be ambitious. We are in SFASA because we really believe that statistics brings about better decisions and thereby better lives and a better world. We are making progress. I hope to have the opportunity as president to serve you, to work with you, and to bring about results that make SFASA an even better professional home.

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