IGHS36 - The Role of ARMA in Marshall Commons' Journey

Jim Merrifield (00:02.112)
Well, hello and welcome to the InfoGov hot seat. I'm your host Jim Merrifield and with me today is Marshall Commons at Corodata Welcome Marshall.

Marshall (00:09.872)
Thanks Jim, glad to be here.

Jim Merrifield (00:12.256)
Yeah, thanks for taking some time out to let us get to know you a little better. And I know you're on vacation, so it's nice to be able to talk to you and you're taking some time away from your family. So let's kick this off. Can you please give us a brief introduction of yourself, your current role, and one fun fact about yourself?

Marshall (00:32.144)
Well, sure. I've been in sales most of my life. Started with Corodata in 1998. I was with a company that they actually acquired. And originally was doing household goods sales. So I would go into people's homes, give them a quote to move. Having moved 43 times in my life, that's not the fun fact, but because it wasn't always fun. I could really relate to what people were going through. But in 2008,

It looked like we were getting out of the household moving business and I was propositioned by the owner of the company to move into record storage and didn't know anything about record storage at the time. But it seemed like, you know, hey, this will be cool. After, you know, a few months of doing it, I was like, yeah, I need to either broaden what I'm doing or get out of this because it's like telling people how much it was to.

Store a Box wasn't my exciting career path. And so I asked a colleague of mine, I said, who knows the most about records? And she's like, you got to get involved in ARMA. And so I did. I walked into the Silicon Valley chapter in 2008, my first meeting, and said, how can I help? And they said, well, we need a programs director. And I'm like, OK, great. What do I do? And for the next two years, I was receiving ARMA's

Management Magazine, Information Management Magazine, and would read an article and I'd be like, hey Jim, love the article that you wrote on information governance. At that time it wouldn't have been, but hey, would you be willing to come speak? And you're like, yeah, sure, I'm in New York, so cover my speaking fee, my travel, my hotel, and I'm good to go. And then I'd be like, so Jim, who do you know in California? And so put together two years of programs like that.

Jim Merrifield (02:23.84)
.

Marshall (02:27.216)
But prior to coming back to the States, I was living overseas in Austria, went to school over there, doing mission work, smuggling Bibles into Eastern Europe. And yeah, I guess really though, the fun fact that I can think of right now since Olympics begins this month in Paris is I have attended four Olympic games. The first one when I graduated from high school in 1976, which just dated me in Montreal.

There wasn't a game for us in 80. In 84, I was already in Austria, and so I went to the Winter Games in Sarajevo, at that time Yugoslavia. In 88, took a team, 49 of us went to Seoul, Korea to do outreach. We lived in the Olympic Village, working with the coaches, the athletes, put together a brochure, More Than Winners, and met Michael Gross, the albatross. The albatross from Germany is pretty exciting.

And then yeah, and then 92 into Barcelona. Haven't ever been to a game in the US, but that's where I'm at. And yeah, I loved it. I loved the Olympics. I love following in my side of what's going to happen in the next couple of weeks.

Jim Merrifield (03:39.936)
I love it. I'm looking forward to watching as well. And it seems like you've traveled the world, you've moved around a little bit. You've also been in this space for quite a while as well with tons of experience. So for our listeners, what made you decide to enter the information governance records management industry?

Marshall (04:00.976)
the line that I was selling for was closing out and so I was given one of two options and this one sounded good and then rather than just you know do the sales and I figured I need to be able to bring more to the table and it needs to be more interesting for me and so began getting very involved with Arma was studying for a CRM I thought that would be the way to go and a consultant met with me one time and she's like Marshall why are you studying for the CRM?

you're not a records manager, you're, you know, in the, in the industry as, you know, a vendor, you don't really need this. If you want a certification, you should go for the IGP. And I'm like, well, you could have told me that two years ago before I was diving deep into the CRM. But yeah, so I redirected the course, studied for the IGP, took Robert Smallwood's crash course, passed the exam.

studied up on GARP, the generally accepted records keeping principles that ARMA was offering so that I could advise my clients so that when I came in and I was meeting with them it was more than just, hey I'm here to sell you something. I wanted to be able to really offer something that would be of value that they may need for whatever it was that they were doing in their role.

Jim Merrifield (05:17.984)
That's great. That's an awesome story. And speaking of ARMA, I know you're really involved, right? And even on the international level on the CAC, you want to talk a little bit about that and what your role is and what you've been doing there?

Marshall (05:31.824)
Yeah, so was with Silicon Valley chapter for a few years as their programs director moved up to the Golden Gate chapter in San Francisco doing membership, grew them from 100 to 150 in a couple of years, and then moved on to vice president and then into the president's role. Had three terms as president and then the San Francisco Bay Area chapters ended up all deciding to merge. I headed that up, was elected the president of that new

chapter, the Golden State chapter. Had volunteered at International for a number of different roles. I still do welcome calls. I did mentoring. I helped review speakers for Infocon. And then when things began to change with the the setup of regions versus advisors, applied to be an advisor was selected, enjoyed that position. And then it

became available to move into the director or chair role. I was pleased that the board decided to call me into that. I love helping. It's my favorite position. If I were to choose any position with an ARMA chapter would be membership because when people come in, I want to help them get connected. I want to see them involved. I want it to truly be my ARMA for each of them.

So nobody feels sidelined or just a spectator that they feel like, hey, this is my thing. I'm participating. I'm, you know, bringing something to the table as well as being able to grow from, you know, what I'm receiving. And so whether it's at a national conference and meeting folks in line or somebody new and helping them, you know, get their feet under them and get established. It's what I love to do. And in this role as chair of the advisors.

I don't have my own chapters right now that I'm responsible for, but working with specifically those in California has been a real joy. And yeah, it's a pleasure to be connected with such a fine organization in the industry.

Jim Merrifield (07:46.848)
Yeah, for sure. And we thank you for your volunteerism and your sacrifice and your enthusiasm that you bring to this industry. And speaking of another event, I know you were instrumental in putting together the ARMA Summer of California Conference last month. How did it go? Were there any highlights that you wanted to share about the conference?

Marshall (08:10.)
Yeah, so with the restructure and the elimination of regions, I was hearing from a lot of chapters throughout the organization that they were missing that opportunity, especially during the summer, when typically they were having leadership training to connect with the other chapters that they were close to. So I got in touch with the six California chapters and said, hey, what do you think about maybe instead of each of us doing our own spring conference, doing something during that summertime when we used to meet for leadership?

and five of the six decided that sounded like something to do. So I chaired it the first year and took on a lot of the responsibility. Was super psyched that it went well. Our first year we had a hundred people in attendance. We had 10 vendors. Each of the five chapters made money. So we decided to make it an annual thing. We were meeting just across the street from UC Irvine for the chapters San Diego.

Greater Los Angeles, Orange County, and Inland Empire were all down there and close to it. And so we met there again, had another 10 sponsors, 110 people in attendance, change it from one day to two days, seven excellent speakers, minus the chair of the board of directors for ARMA who bailed on us. But Jim, next year, we're counting on you coming out. And yeah, it was just so fun. And seeing...

Jim Merrifield (09:33.152)
sure.

Marshall (09:37.008)
a good, at least a third of our audience that were not ARMA members, but had heard about it second or third hand. that was exciting being able to have each of the chapters that were there represented and talking to individuals and recruiting new members for ARMA. I think the biggest blessing was just seeing how the five chapters really took ownership of this. you know, the president of the Inland Empire.

She's a clerk and she really just stepped up and said, hey, I'll keep us organized and moving forward. The past president of Orange County did an incredible job with marketing. Past president of GLA, she hosted us on the GLA's website. She took care of all of the registrations and, and, you know, I was just there to help recruit attendees and sponsors and, you know,

host the thing. So yeah, it was a lot of fun. They're very psyched about doing it again next year. So yeah, we'll see where this goes. But you know, we applied and got IGP credits. We got CRM credits. We got credits for several other alphabets that I don't even remember at this point. But a lot of clerks. I'm excited to see the involvement of California's clerks both.

for special districts and for cities. Because in 2008, when I was meeting with towns, counties and cities, which is my main focus here at Corodata most of them had not heard of ARMA. And today we have clerks that are serving as presidents that have served on our regional boards that are serving all over the place with ARMA. And so it's great to see how that's grown and how people are becoming more aware of what we do and who we are and how they can help.

Jim Merrifield (11:32.96)
Yeah, seems like it was a great event and to spread the word of the ARMA brand and the industry in general. So thanks so much for sharing that and I hope to be able to make it this year depending on schedule, right? I'll definitely make every effort to try to come down there and support you all. I think the weather is much nicer out west than it is out east.

Marshall (11:54.443)
Well, even though, yeah, even though we'll be in Houston in October, and it's sure to be humid and hot, looking forward to it, looking forward to seeing you there and, and, you know, the future is in your hands right now, Jim. And so we're excited to what you bring. Loved having you as part of the chapter advisory committee, but know that, you know,

It was probably limiting based on what your skills and abilities are. And so being in the seat of the chair, ARMA in good hands and we're all excited.

Jim Merrifield (12:31.008)
I appreciate that. We got a great board, great staff and great people like yourself, volunteering on all the sorts of committees. I think ARMA has a bright future ahead and we got a great team, great community. So we've talked about a lot, Marshall. Anything else you'd like to share as a final thought with the audience?

Marshall (12:52.592)
Yeah, I mean you you mentioned you appreciate my sacrifice. It's never felt like a sacrifice However, my boss and the owner of the company here at court They don't make feel like it's a sacrifice because it does take some time. But anybody that's considering ARMA I would say Volunteering at some level will absolutely transform your experience Had I sat on the sidelines It would be a completely different situation for me right now

as a vendor, not as a practitioner, just by attending monthly meetings, not missing leadership or the annual conference, I was able to get certified in information governance because of the quality of education that ARMA brings and getting to meet people, getting to help direct things. And I think any good leader is first and foremost a servant. And if I can help out in a servant's role,

and help people find their spot. I'm excited. I feel like I've made a difference. And so I encourage anyone listening to this, yeah, connect with the local chapter, ask how you can help, because every one of us has gifts that make a difference.

Jim Merrifield (14:10.304)
Yeah, 100 % agree. That was a great final thought there. Marshall, thanks so much for, I know we talked about a lot, but thank you so much for joining us today on the information governance hot seat. If you'd like to be a guest like Marshall here, all you gotta do is submit your information through our website, infogovhotseat.com And thanks so much and Marshall and all our listeners, enjoy the rest of your day.

Marshall (14:21.904)
Ha ha.

Marshall (14:35.344)
Thank you.