CompTIA Members Becoming More Politically Active

During this year’s Breakaway Conference in Washington, D.C., we saw a large number of participants take place in the first ever CompTIA Tech Summit. These members heard from expert panels regarding healthcare IT and cybersecurity. The Summit provided members with critical insight into the future of the industry and how what happens in Congress affects it all.

With that in mind, we also saw dozens of members stop by the CompTIA public advocacy booth during the trade show portion of the conference and ask questions of the public advocacy staff. Moreover, these members seemed more than willing to become engaged by signing up to participate in our Public Policy Committee, making pledges to CompTIA PAC (CompTIA's political action committee), and requesting to receive the Policy Watch Newsletter on a monthly basis. This type of participation and level of engagement is welcome news, especially given the political climate in Washington today.

In seeking a variety of ways to help members become more involved, the public advocacy staff has worked with both CompTIA staff and members and established the CompTIA Public Advocacy Liaison Group. This group is made up of at least one representative from a member community that will act as an intermediary between the public advocacy staff in Washington and each CompTIA member community. His/her responsibilities will be to update communities about any pertinent information regarding legislation and regulations, as well as take any community concerns about legislative issues to the staff so that may be addressed. So far the following member communities are represented by the liaison group: IT Services & Support, IT Security, Managed Service Providers, Healthcare IT, Unified Communications and Small Business Owners. We hope to have all member communities represented soon.

During Breakaway, members who participated in the Tech Summit and visited the public advocacy booth, also heard about the CompTIA Washington D.C. Fly-In, which will take place November 1-3. This Fly-In will give CompTIA members the opportunity to come to Washington and meet with legislators and their staff and other government officials, among other things.

Make no mistake about it. The decisions made in Washington, D.C., and in Congress, affect your company and this industry. We want to give you the chance to have your voice heard.

Do you want to get involved? Let us know! If you have any questions regarding, CompTIA PAC, the Public Policy Committee, Policy Watch Newsletter, The Public Advocacy Liaison Group, or the D.C. Fly-In, please contact Matthew L. Evans, manager of public advocacy at (202) 465-7781 or MEvans@comptia.org.