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Executive Director's Letter
 Dear members and friends of the Alliance,
September always brings mixed feelings for me. Part of me is glad that the unofficial "work season" has started again and that I can dive into the projects and events that have been in development since the late spring season ended and those lazy summer days interrupted the work flow. But, on the other hand, I sure do like the long days and warm weather and the occasional spontaneous trip to the beach or the golf course that summer seems just right for. Well, it's time to put away those white pants and flip-flops because September is here and 'work season' has begun.
Much of my time in August and September goes into the planning for the 2006 Annual Conference. We are down to the last two weeks now and everything is starting to come together. This year's conference will be in San Diego, at the beautiful Hyatt Regency La Jolla hotel, just north of San Diego proper. If you haven't spent any time in this area, I recommend you take a few extra days either before the conference or after and enjoy to great beaches, rocky coast line, and beautiful seaside community around La Jolla. It is sooo California! The agenda went through some last minute changes and surprises, but now I think we have a fantastic, well balanced program for you to enjoy. We have really loaded up on the end-user perspective this year, with most speakers not representing the supplier side of the smart card industry. It is good for our industry to hear more from the customer and user of our technology, rather than from one another for a change. We have issuing banks, issuing transportation agencies, issuing government agencies, and issuing hospitals to name a few examples of this. We also have a few industry-led sessions to remind everyone that smart card technology is always changing and that we need to look within our industry to identify the things that are new but also the things that limit adoption or make smart card technology more difficult to implement than it needs to be. The Alliance went big this year, looking for another Richard Clark-like keynote speaker, and landed R. James Woolsey, the former head of the CIA who now works at Booz Allen Hamilton. Mr. Woolsey promises to give an entertaining perspective on national security as the Thursday luncheon keynote -- so don't plan on leaving early! We will also celebrate new technology and innovation with our first Emerging Technology and Innovation Showcase event where attendees get to judge the selected new technologies on display and pick the "best of the show"-case. Also returning are the popular birds of a feather discussion groups, which give attendees an opportunity to listen and contribute to an informal roundtable discussion on topics important to our industry.
The Annual Conference is also the time when we recognize our industry leaders by awarding the Outstanding Smart Card Achievement (OSCA) awards for individual leadership and organizational excellence as a supplier and issuer organization. This year's candidates were all outstanding and I think you will agree with the OSCA jury's picks for who will take the OSCA awards home this year. We also hold elections in September to pick the leadership for the Smart Card Alliance organization -- electing a new board of directors and executive committee. Eight board seats out of fifteen were open for elections this year and all of the officers except our current board chair, Gregory Garback from WMATA, will be picked during our October board meeting. The new board and the 2006 OSCA winners will be announced at the Wednesday awards luncheon in San Diego. At the luncheon, I will also give my annual "State of the Alliance" address (just skimming the treetops over dessert, I promise) and you will get a Council update from Cathy Medich to keep you informed about the great volunteer work our members contribute to.
On a closing note, I am very excited about the new Smart Card Alliance web site. We are giving it a total makeover, not just adding some new touches. I think you will find the new mouse-over menus and site design easier to use, navigate and find all the wonderful news items, papers and other resources that have been there all along, plus find some new additions. We will be giving everyone a preview at the Internet Café located in the foyer of the Annual Conference hotel. We're even adding a feature that lets you leave comments and feedback on what you like and what you'd like even more!
See you in San Diego!
Randy Vanderhoof, Executive Director
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