Kenneth J. Semien Sr.
Beaumont, TX
Email: semien.k@outlook.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100006477776323
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenneth-semien-sr-872b0238/
1. I am Kenneth Semien, Sr. and I am seeking to serve as Second Vice President for the 2025-2027 term. It’s the best time to elevate my contributions and ideas for advancing as an organization. For those who aren’t aware, I experienced vision loss and became deaf in my right ear while experiencing meningitis in 2002. I am a retired telecommunications manager of AT&T with 22 years of service, in which I gained management and leadership skills that I am able to extend to ACB. I am the grateful father of Kenneth Jr. (age 44), grandfather of Christian Victoria (age 12), and Sir Kieran (age 21). My hobbies include organizing, singing, reading about personal growth and leadership, traveling, comedy, listening to gospel music and smooth jazz.
I have been a member for 20 years and following my years of consistent demonstration of commitment, members casted their vote of confidence that allowed me to be elected twice to the ACB Board of Directors. I am better able to identify ways to contribute to greater success for our organization. It has been my pleasure to serve alongside senior leaders on several ACB program steering committees. I have gained clarity on the purpose of the existence of ACB and how we are positioned to make a huge difference in the lives of people who are blind or have low vision.
I have gladly served as a chapter, state and special-interest affiliate President, and fully participate in committee work on all levels of the organization. Working with state and special-interest affiliates have been quite rewarding. It's important to continue placing an emphasis on sustaining ACB through my work with other members seeing the need to include young adults who are destined to play a significant role in the future of ACB.
2. It has been my pleasure to educate and empower members on all levels of our organization through effective communication and sharing meaningful tools for success in support of the achievement of personal and organizational goals. Having played a key role in the development of the ACB Mentoring Program, I feel that mentoring prospective learners who will accept the torch from current leaders is rather impactful. Especially, when we include all members who express an interest at the appropriate time. In addition, education comes through the implementation of a new member orientation, in which leaders are given the opportunity to paint a picture of the organization from its inception to current times. I have prepared and utilized an outline for ACB of Texas to ensure that a new member and new board member orientation is carefully conducted and progress is monitored. I have witnessed how powerful a new member orientation can be when it includes an overview of history, mission, purpose, vision, activities, policies and procedures on the local, state and special interest affiliate and national level. I have also placed an emphasis on succession planning and sustaining the organization on all levels by developing documents containing roles and responsibilities for committee work, along with informational documentation to assist others to duplicate the process, while covering all areas of service. Succession is all about preparing to share material and information that keeps an organization moving forward.
3. It’s evident that we are experiencing times of uncertainty and questionable change. As witnessed during the recent pandemic, positive advancements can occur during such times. We can clearly see the challenges we are facing with direction for a promising future. Regarding direction, we will be required to plan uniquely and strategically in the areas of membership growth and retention. As chair of the Membership Services Steering committee, I recently began developing a Member Value Proposition that pursues expanding the influence and footprint of ACB.
For finances to continue being made available to support our financial obligations and goals, strategic planning must include creative thinking, innovative ideas, and evidence-based efforts. It is crucial that we rethink and restructure our approach to advocacy by utilizing all available tools to gain ground and accomplish our goals. Taking risks while exercising wisdom will assist us in mitigating negative consequences. Our actions will reveal how committed we are to remain unified or allow division to thwart the progress we seek. I commit to being a part of the solution by joining in on discussions and sharing ideas. Listening intently to our members to gather feedback, evaluate and determine action steps is imperative.