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New Year, New Perks: Introducing Our New Councils

on January 3, 2018 / by Nikki Cabus ,


Read Time 2 Minutes

It’s a new year, and as we head into 2018, Palm Beach Tech’s Team is ready to bring forward new opportunities for our members; membership councils.

Starting this month, we’re introducing a new format for our membership councils: namely the Startup Council and the CIO Council.

Introducing Member Councils

Frank Barbato

“These councils will provide new value for members in the form of exclusive opportunities to meet like-minded individuals, network with other member businesses, and discuss common interest,” said CIO Council Frank Barbato, who’s also the President of Third Wave Technologies

The new format for councils is a departure from the prior council format. Palm Beach Tech already has a Startup Council, for example, but in its previous format it functioned as a task force discussing potential opportunities & initiatives for Palm Beach Tech.

The new purpose of the Startup and CIO Councils is to adopt a roundtable format, where members will be able to meet, discuss issues, brainstorm ideas, and influence Palm Beach Tech’s strategies for the future.  All this in an environment that is more intimate than monthly meetups.

Bringing new value to Palm Beach Tech Members

Joe Russo

“We want to offer a new, more personal setting for our members to interact with each other. This is the driving force between the new councils — to better engage members, together,” said Executive Director Joe Russo

The members of each council will be able to suggest speakers they would like to see at each meeting. These speakers will include industry and company leaders, who can provide insight for both individual members and their companies. Each meeting will have a speaker, but the council meetings will be interactive discussions and not a speaker series, as the monthly meetups are.

Getting involved and next steps

The first council meetings will take place in January, and are recurring monthly.

  • CIO Council: First meeting will be January 9 and feature Alex Rudloff, former chief digital strategist of TEDx & Vice President at AOLIf interested, contact Chair Frank Barbato
  • Startup Council: First meeting will be January 11 and feature Alex Furmansky, founder of Budsies and a participant on Shark Tank. If Interested, contact Chair Daniel Lofaso

Council Membership will be by invitation and referral, and is only available to Palm Beach Tech members. If you’re interested in becoming a member or have any questions, be sure to visit PalmBeachTech.org

New Year, New Perks: Introducing Our New Councils