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The four-year term of the current executive committee (EC) of SIGKDD (including me) expires at the end of June 2005. The election for a SIGKDD Chair and six Directors will take place in the spring of 2005. However, by this October, we need to submit a slate of candidates to ACM.

I will not run again, and I expect that some of the current 6 Directors will not run either. When my term expires, I will have served 7 years as SIGKDD Chair, since initiating the founding of SIGKDD in 1998. SIGKDD is in an excellent shape, with some $600,000 in its Treasury, every KDD conference since 1999 having attracted between 550 to 950 attendees and having been profitable, having published solid newsletter, the Explorations, on a regular basis. Three new Programs that SIGKDD launched in 2003 are now making steady progress as service to the entire KDD community: the Curriculum program, the Standards program, and Chapters program.

On this high note, I plan to make a complete exit from SIGKDD. As such, I would like to ensure as smooth a transition as possible.

Although the KDD community has lots of very smart people, still it is a mix of various disciplines and people have different levels and types of experiences in running a professional society and conferences.

So, the current EC, upon my urging, decided to identify now several candidates for SIGKDD Directors, and a few candidates for SIGKDD Chair, and bring them on board as "silent observers" of the workings of the current EC. The idea is that these candidates will learn about the types of issues the EC debates, the protocol used, and the major policies in force and their rationale, etc.

The current EC has decided to issue a Call for Candidates to all member of ACM SIGKDD in order to make the candidate selection process as open as practicable. The EC will evaluate all applications, and will select candidates by a majority vote. The EC has also come up with some names and has received their agreement to run for election. The full slate of candidates that we will submit to ACM in October will include the candidates that the current EC has identified, the candidates who respond to this Call for Candidates and whom the EC will select, and those members of the current EC who may in the end decide to run again. The entire slate of candidates will be presented by ACM and SIGKDD members will vote on them to select one SIGKDD Chair and 6 Directors (including 1 Treasurer).

SIGKDD Chair has to spend a lot of time, and, in particular, work closely on the organization and running of every KDD conference. But a Director is basically an advisor, and offers advice to the Chair, and participates in decisions on all major and policy matters of SIGKDD, including the selection of the KDD conference site, dates, general chair, PC co-chairs, budget, special services to the KDD community, etc.. The time load on each Director is not substantial. The importance of the Directors is their experiences, human network, wisdom, etc.

On behalf of the current SIGKDD EC, I would like to invite willing and capable members of SIGKDD to volunteer to run for Director, and also SIGKDD Chair. Those volunteering should submit to me ("won" dot "kim" at "acm" dot "org") the following by 6:00 p.m. EST, May 2:

• name, affiliation, and SIGKDD membership number
• a biographical sketch which should include descriptions of organizing and managing roles in KDD-related conferences and/or academic journals
• supporting letters from at least two SIGKDD members (excluding any current or former students, in case the volunteer is a university professor). The letter must include SIGKDD membership number of the letter writer.
• a brief statement of vision/direction/policies for the future of SIGKDD

Won Kim
Chair, ACM SIGKDD
April 2, 2004