Alum Dr. Arturo Trejo co-chairs ILA LATAM Conference - A Successful Personal Journey

MY JOURNEY AS A CO-CHAIR OF INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP ASSOCIATION (ILA) CONFERENCE LATAM 2018

 

First of all, as a UoPX alum, I am extremely proud that I am representing University of Phoenix as a Co-Chair for International Leadership Association (ILA) conference in Latin America ( http://www.ila-net.org/Lima/committee.html ).  Second, since School of Advanced Studies (SAS) of UoPX has a long relationship with ILA conference for many years, I am honored to be able to add value and further solidify SAS relationship with ILA conferences worldwide. I am thrilled and excited to be a co-chair of THE leadership conference. 

 

Very briefly, ILA is organized for educational purposes to serve as a global network for all those who practice, study, and teach multiple facets of leadership. ILA accomplishes its mission by bringing together public and private sector leaders, scholars, educators, coaches, consultants, and students from many disciplines and many nations.  ILA’s objectives are 

• To encourage leadership scholars, educators, and practitioners to work together for the purpose of generating new ideas and practices in the field of leadership studies;

• To foster research and learning about leadership across intellectual, professional, cultural, ideological, and national boundaries;

• To generate and disseminate interdisciplinary research and develop new knowledge and practices about leadership; and

• To increase worldwide understanding of the importance of leadership to the conduct of human affairs.

 

As for co-chairship for ILA LATAM, my learning curve is steep. I flew to Peru multiple times to work with the team of program chairs and organizers to discuss about the choices of plenary speakers, call for proposals process, involvement in the blind review process of leadership research, registration process, producing content for marketing collaterals, and many more. After all that, I finally interact with the confirmed conference presenters and attendees.  In the process, I work with some of the finest Latin American scholars and together we organize blind reviews, accept, catalog, group, schedule different sessions by common themes, and at the same time keeping the flow and interest of the experienced scholars and practitioners attending the conference. This is almost like a full-time job! I am truly grateful for this learning opportunity.  I feel excited and energized. 

 

The conference theme is “Exploring the Dilemmas of Leadership in Latin America”.  This conference will discuss and present research studies about the present issues faced by leaders, scholars and practitioners, and the unique opportunities which are present in Latin America. From August 8-10, the ILA conference will be held at Universidad del Pacífico in Lima, Peru. Universidad del Pacifico is the most prestigious private university in Peru. More information about the conference can be found here http://www.ila-net.org/Lima/index.html.

 

Leadership is a much-needed research topic in Latin America. One of the many challenges that Latin America faces is to build leadership throughout the region at all levels of their societies. Strong leadership is indeed a pivotal step for Latin Americans to address all the political, economic, social, and ethical challenges emerged from the globalization process. Leadership skills are urgently needed at every level within Latin American government (i.e., cities, municipalities, national, regional) and in every organization operating in the region (e.g., private firms, multinational firms, NGOs) in order to strengthen Latin America at the national and international levels. 

 

This year, I am proud to mention that several scholars from University of Phoenix submitted their works and were accepted and a team of University of Phoenix will be present at Lima, Peru in August 2018. University of Phoenix scholars presenting this year are: Drs. Jermani Felicia Thompson (DMIST, SAS alum) and Fiona Sussan, and Art Trejo, University of Phoenix Postdoc Research Fellow. They are from the Center for Global Business and Information Technology, School of Advanced Studies.

 

Drs. Jermani Felicia Thompson and Fiona Sussan will be presenting “The Latina’s Long Game to Succeed in U.S. Financial Services Despite Social Class Bias”. This paper is based on Dr. Jermani Felicia Thompson dissertation. Dr. Thompson is a Principal Consultant at JSquared Management Consulting.   Dr. Fiona Sussan is a University Research Chair at SAS.  Dr. Art Trejo will be presenting “Influence of Emotional Intelligence from a Diversity Perspective in Project Outcomes in Technology” from the Diversity and Inclusion perspective. This research is authored by Dr. Art Trejo, Postdoc Research Fellow, Global Business and Information Technology Doctoral Research Center, SAS, University of Phoenix

 

I certainly hope that in the next conference I will see many more scholars from UOPX presenting their research.  I look forward to their joining our team in spreading the works of University of Phoenix that contribute to the specific domain knowledge of leadership and management in the Latin American region. Our works will benefit both practitioners and scholars around the globe.

 

From my own experience in co-chairing this conference, I highly recommend my fellow postdoctoral colleagues and the community of SAS University of Phoenix to join an organization and share your knowledge by volunteering, by presenting and sharing your research to increase and share knowledge among scholars and practitioners. For me, it has been a rewarding experience to present and share my University of Phoenix doctoral research around the world at fine academic institutions such as University of Oxford, University of Portugal, University of Mumbai, University of Nepal, University of Argentina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, University of Chile, and many more. I have been presenting around the world for the last 3 years which led me to more collaboration between scholars, universities, and organization such as ILA to name one, around the globe, allowing me to mentor students in different countries with the objective in mind of sharing knowledge to help communities. During this process, I was fortunate enough and led me to an opportunity to be a TED Speaker ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odnhG9Gt0NU )

 

I certainly hope to see you in one of the next conferences working together!

Art