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When Jim and I started The Community Roundtable three years ago, we knew community professionals needed support and we knew the market needed more information about what community management was. We felt like it should come from a neutral source that championed the individual professionals but we weren’t sure where it was all headed. Today, the discipline of community management is a critical piece of the social business trend that is sweeping through organizations and there is much more need than available resources. Members of TheCR Network are feeling the squeeze, as are we here at The Community Roundtable – there is more work available than qualified people to do it. For that reason alone, I’m very excited by our announcement tomorrow that Ayelet Baron (newly) and Leanne Chase (formally) are joining TheCR team – both of whom bring a wealth of experience and vision; Ayelet as a strategy and sales executive and Leanne as a marketing and HR thought leader. However, more than that, I’m thrilled to be bringing a great friends into the fold. Below is the full text of the release:
The Community Roundtable Expands Leadership Team
Ayelet Baron joins The Community Roundtable as Principal
BOSTON May 23, 2012. – People are now the key to organizational differentiation because of cheap, pervasive and socially connected technology. At The Community Roundtable we see that translating into an enormous need for education, training, and information about how to best create community and networked environments that support and enhance individual productivity. Members of TheCR Network, The Community Roundtable’s private network of community and social business leaders, are experiencing increased pressure to educate, hire, and train people across their organizations. There is an overwhelming need for:
Executive engagement, education and leadership
Data that frames the challenges and opportunities
Methodologies that help to scale community and social business initiatives
A neutral, trusted resource for information based on practice not theory
This demand has created an opportunity for The Community Roundtable to expand our existing expertise and offer additional services needed by our clients and partners. We are very please to announce the addition of Ayelet Baron, who will join The Community Roundtable as a Principal, leading business development and partner programs. She joins founders Jim Storer and Rachel Happe in delivering thought leadership and strategic guidance to The Community Roundtable’s community and social business clients in the private, public and non-profits sectors.
Ayelet has earned recognition as an expert in online collaboration, social media, global business strategy and corporate social responsibility. She was most recently the VP, Strategy and Transformation for Cisco Canada, building the architecture for the Canadian communities at Cisco and introducing social business to the organization. With more than 16 years experience with internal and external communities and over 10 years of leadership experience, Ayelet has a proven track record implementing successful change initiatives.
“With more and more organizations showing interest in the strategic, tactical and professional development programming we offer, we felt it was the right time to partner with someone who has proven themselves in large-scale client development in the collaboration field,” said founder and principal Jim Storer. “We’ve known Ayelet for some time and are admirers of her work at Cisco Canada. She is a great fit for the team and we are excited by the experience and knowledge her addition brings to our clients, as well as the strategic opportunities her expertise will allow us to pursue.”
“I’m thrilled to join The Community Roundtable and look forward to working with current members while also forging new partnerships,” said Ayelet Baron. “Advocating the great potential of online communities and social business is a passion of mine and I’m excited to bring my experience and this passion to such a great entrepreneurial venture. Rachel and Jim have built a strong network and resource and I look forward to working with them to scale their offerings.”
Also joining The Community Roundtable team is Leanne Chase as Director of Content and Communications. Leanne brings strong storytelling and community-building skills to the role. Most recently Leanne worked in marketing in the Human Resources industry for Career Life Connection and ZoomInfo where she explored the way the world of work is changing and the growing power of the employee. She sees great potential in the rise of internal communities for employee retention, engagement and business performance.
Rachel Happe, Co-Founder of The Community Roundtable noted, “Leanne brings a passion and wealth of expertise in the human capital management space as well as online marketing to TheCR team which enhances our ability to execute and address the needs of a critical set of constituents.”
The Community Roundtable provides strategic, tactical, and professional development programming and events as well as a private online network for community, social media, and social business practitioners. Our clients come from 70+ enterprises, including SAP, Dell, CSC, and Boston Children’s Hospital. More information can be found at Community-Roundtable.com.