The International Society of Automation (ISA) recently had an opportunity to interview several members of the 2024 cohort of the ISA Executive Board.

In this second installment of the series, Ardis Bartle and Nick Erickson share their experiences serving on the board. Check out the first installment to hear from Francisco Díaz-Andreu, Vivek Gupta and Colleen Goldsborough.

Note: These interviews were edited and condensed for space and to conform to editorial guidelines.

Ardis Bartle

ISA: What brings you to the ISA board?  

AB: I was asked.  It's amazing to me how many people will serve if asked.  As I explained to the person who asked me, I was totally unprepared for the responsibility, but again I chose "to serve."

ISA: What's a proud moment you can share from your time on the board this year so far? 

AB: As an older member of the board, I can say with great certainty, the ISA organization culture has made a significant shift to the better from previous years. I attribute that to the working of the Board, CEO and great staff.  

Ardis Bartle at ISA's Automation and Leadership Conference (ALC) 2023

ISA: What do you most enjoy about serving on the board? 

AB: The collegiality of the board and the chance to work with individuals who push me out of my comfort zone.

Nick Erickson

ISA: What brings you to the ISA board?

NE: My desire to serve on the ISA Executive Board stems from a desire to consistently pursue ways to serve those around me — in my community. Through serving, I desire to add value and improve the lives of those I get to serve. I believe this strongly aligns with our vision at ISA and spreads quickly when we each create a better world for one person at a time. Additionally, I have a passion for business and strategy, challenging myself and others to consider what can be achieved and looking forward to what is coming on the horizon.

ISA: What's a proud moment you can share from your time on the board this year so far?

NE: Several months ago, as we were just getting ramped up on 2024 activities, we began discussing the strategic plan for 2025 and beyond. One of the first steps we took was to distribute the board members and ISA staff into SWOT analysis teams. It was exciting to serve on the Strengths team, start to walk through our many strengths and start looking for data to back them up. It was really encouraging to see the many perspectives shared, the collaboration throughout the entire SWOT analysis process and the results it generated.

Nick Erickson gets to know Mimo at the Executive Summit 2024

ISA: Do you have any other insights about serving on the ISA board that you would like to share here?

NE: As anyone who has served in leadership roles can relate, there can be some emotional rollercoasters. Being a leader requires humility, passion, trust and commitment. I am humbled by the opportunity to serve our members and automation community. Our Executive Board is full of passionate automation professionals and supported by an amazing team of staff with passion and experience that combined are an exponentially more powerful and effective force for our industry than I could have imagined. I am more excited about what we’ve accomplished and what the future may hold than ever before. We are the International Society of Automation and truly setting the standards! A simple example of this, within our organization, is Mimo, our AI-powered LLM tool.

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