Spotlight on Volunteers by Skip Kay, C.P.M. Communications Chair
March's Interview Myriam Roberts, M.B.A. NAPM-OC Board of Director

This month we are proud to “Spotlight” Myriam Roberts, MBA Myriam is a member of the Board of Directors and Sponsor of the Educational Resources Committee.

We asked Myriam to indulge us with a little personal information about herself. As some of you know, Myriam has the same last name as our Certification Committee Chair, Merle Roberts. This is not a coincidence. She not only shares the last name, but a house, boat, vehicles, collectibles, bank accounts, etc. That’s right, they also share the same wedding vows. Myriam and Merle have been married for seven years this coming May. They met when Myriam was enrolled in the Purchasing Certificate program at Coastline.  (An important note - they didn’t date until the semester was over). 

A few of her hobbies and interests include; spending time with family, reading, taking the boat out. 

Myriam works at Microsemi Corporation - it will be 23 years in July.  Her title is Director of Materials.  They manufacture semiconductors - specifically diodes.  When asked about her Mentor(s), Myriam’s reply was, “I’ve had several mentors in my career - my former boss, Bert Brandt, who gave me the opportunity to enter the Purchasing field even though I didn’t know what Purchasing was.  He was truly a mentor who took me under his wing and allowed me to learn even though some of the senior management at the time didn’t think I was Purchasing material - being a very young woman and all.  However, it didn’t take very long for the doubting senior managers to acknowledge that perhaps Bert had made the right decision.  Here I am, 17 years later...  Of course, I have to mention Merle as a mentor, he really motivated me to do well, even when I thought I couldn’t rise to the challenge!”

Myriam has been on the BOD a couple of times.  She has also chaired the June Forum and worked on several different committees such as ProD (EdRes). “I have been a member for 16 years. Being on the Board allows you to contribute towards the success of the organization by making (hopefully) sound decisions that offer our membership (the reason why we exist) benefits and reasons to continue their membership in our organization.”

We asked if the Affiliate is heading in the right direction. “I think one of the issues we need to concentrate on is how to get membership more involved. We need to start mentoring some of the “new” members so that they can eventually take direction of the affiliate. Unfortunately, membership participation is extremely limited.  We, as an association, need to figure out how to get our members more involved. How do we motivate them to participate and see membership in our organization as beneficial and important factor in their professional career?  I guess that’s the million dollar question!”

When asked what her most memorable Affiliate related occasion was and why, Myriam responded, “The first time we did Survey Sez.....it was lots of fun and something very different.”

And finally, are you considering on running for a new term? “Yes!”