IGHS47 - ARMA Update & InfoCon2024 Preview with Nate Hughes

Jim Merrifield (00:00.87)
Well, hello and welcome to the InfoGov Hot Seat. I'm your host Jim Merrifield and with me today is Nate Hughes, CEO of ARMA International. Welcome, Nate.

Nate Hughes (00:09.816)
Thank you, Jim.

Jim Merrifield (00:11.408)
Yeah, it's great to finally have you on the hot seat, get to know you a little better, you know, and what you got cooking, especially with InfoCon around the corner. And I know you've been pretty busy the last several months. So yeah, for sure. So can you tell us a brief introduction of yourself, your current role, and one fun fact about yourself?

Nate Hughes (00:14.708)
Absolutely.

Nate Hughes (00:24.374)
It's always crazy, it's always crazy.

Nate Hughes (00:32.046)
Sure. Sure. Nate Hughes, like you said, CEO here at Arma International. A little bit of my background, I started my career working for a law firm, working in their technology side of things and app dev and all that kind of stuff. Moved on and worked at the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City for a number of years, working on some

IG projects for them and implementing some some cool solutions and worked for a little boutique law firm with a couple well -known attorneys there for a while working on compliance and those types of issues and then You know came to came to Arma in 2015. So it's been a been a fun ride. I've been here. It's it's it's great

But I absolutely love everything that we're doing and can't wait for more and I know I'm not gonna forget my fun fact. My fun fact is and a lot of people actually know this about me. So it's not kind of a secret fact, but I love Lego. Everything Lego. Can't pass up a Lego store. There's one in the airport in Kansas City. Every time I travel someplace I have to check even though I have you know all the latest and greatest of everything I do. have to

have to check there, almost brought stuff back from overseas even though I didn't have anything, any room in the luggage but Legos is one of my huge passions and it's kind of translated over to the family as well. My wife and my daughters, love doing it too so it's kind of a family hobby and we just basically run out of space to put the stuff once it's done so other than that it's a fun hobby to have.

Jim Merrifield (02:21.2)
That is, yeah. What's like your favorite Lego set?

Nate Hughes (02:24.718)
Hmm I haven't been asked that in a long time. I really like I mean you the traditional stuff I have the big Millennium Falcon and stuff like that on the Star Wars side and have a lot of that stuff my wife collects the Harry Potter stuff, but I think one of my favorite ones is the stranger things It's the upside down so it has the house and you can literally turn it upside down and it's got the dark part on the top or you could have it

I the right side up. don't know what that would be referred to, but that's one of my favorite sets. So it's very cool.

Jim Merrifield (02:58.758)
Sweet. Yeah, and they are in every airport. I actually got this hat, I think, in Kansas City Airport.

Nate Hughes (03:03.394)
It's an awesome hat and go chiefs. got to, to, got to plug them. Sorry. Sorry there, Jim. And, and, you know, I just caught, when I had a chance to be at the RIMPA conference, I was able to catch the second half of the chiefs game in Sydney. And, we were the only ones in the bar that were rooting for the chiefs. Everybody else was rooting for it. It was like anybody but the chiefs. They didn't really care who it was. They won. So it doesn't matter.

Jim Merrifield (03:08.73)
Yeah, now listen, I'm hoping.

Jim Merrifield (03:28.732)
course. Yeah, because they're the best. Yeah, I mean, they're the best team right now. And they're the reigning champs, right? Two -time champs. So everybody's gunning for them.

Nate Hughes (03:40.034)
They're the ones to beat. They're ones to beat.

Jim Merrifield (03:42.204)
That's right. Well, hopefully we see in the AFC Championship, right? Go Jets, Chiefs. It'll be fun. We'll see. We'll see what happens. All right, cool. So switching gears a little bit, I know InfoCon is 2024. just a few weeks away. Looking forward to being with you, the board, the membership. What are you most excited about?

Nate Hughes (03:48.072)
Go for it. We'll see. We'll see how it

Nate Hughes (04:02.818)
Well, I mean, as always seeing everybody, seeing the same people that I see every year, meeting all the new people that are, they're at InfoCon for the first time. but one of my favorite things is, is being able to get up there on stage, you know, with you this year and, and talk about all the awesome things that we've done over the last year. we're kind of at a really cool time with, with ARMA these past few years, really where, we're working on a bunch of different

programs, working on a bunch of different partnerships. It's just really neat to get all those people up there to work with the foundation, the Global Information Consortium that we launched with RIMPA Global, getting to have some of the new partners here in town in Houston. John Chambers is going to be there from the ARA, one of our newest partnerships.

Ann Cornish and Benita are going to be there from RIMPA, their CEO and, board chair, we'll have a bunch of other organizations there. The business partners are always out there and, exciting, and excited to see everybody. I mean, the whole thing, you know, ask anybody that, that you, that knows me, I love that conference and I love being around those people so much to the point where it's just, you know, I'm exhausted at the.

at the end. But the programming and the education and stuff that we have going on this year continues to improve. It's better and better every year. All the relevant topics out there, the partnerships we have with like ILTA helping to curate the legal track. It's just really fun to see all the work that goes on from the board and from staff and all our members and our volunteers all coming together as one and really making it exciting.

You know week for everybody

Jim Merrifield (06:00.688)
Yeah, it'll be an amazing time. There's a lot of behind the scenes work, a lot of education sessions, and there'll be the VRC party. That should be a fun time.

Nate Hughes (06:07.916)
Nope. As always, that's always the highlight, always the social highlight. There's the VRC party looking forward to this one. The location for that is awesome this year too. So they always impress.

Jim Merrifield (06:21.296)
Yeah, for sure. And I'll tell you, I was taking a look because you know I'm baseball fan, right? So and the Astros are doing well. And of course, I'm a Yankee fan coming from the East Coast. So there is a chance that the Yankees could be playing Houston while we're in Houston for InfoCon. So that would be really amazing.

Nate Hughes (06:25.226)
Mm -hmm. Yep. Right.

Nate Hughes (06:41.307)
You got to pre -buy the tickets so that you can actually get into the game.

Jim Merrifield (06:45.39)
I may or I may have to, you know, weasel that in on stage. We might have to, you know, talk about the, you know, I might have to wear a Yankee hat out on stage or something. I don't know. I don't know if I'll last long. I might not do that day one, but you never know.

Nate Hughes (06:53.933)
Nate Hughes (06:58.434)
I don't think the Royals are doing as well on our side. We had a hot streak there for a while. I'm not exactly sure where our standings are, but I don't know that we're going to be getting that far into October.

Jim Merrifield (07:11.226)
Hey, you never know. You got a bright future. got that guy, shortstop Bobby Witt, right? So yeah, for sure. Well, lots to, lots to, I look forward to being with you and the board again and membership and everybody else in Houston. should be an awesome time. So speaking of the conference, right? If you were to persuade me to register immediately, cause I know registration is obviously still open and I'm like on the fence of attending, what would you say to me?

Nate Hughes (07:15.778)
yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Jim Merrifield (07:41.414)
Get me to attend.

Nate Hughes (07:42.266)
gosh, we are the biggest information management conference globally. There's a lot of good smaller conferences out there. I've been to quite a few of our partners and they're great conferences. But if you want the one stop shop that brings them all together and has top to bottom.

Every topic that you would want to, whether it's beginner or advanced or thought leadership concepts or training ahead of time. You know, this is the place to be and Houston's a great location for it too. I mean October weather will be nice. you know, not too far from the ocean. If you want to go skip over there too, before or after the conference, but, yeah, you really can't beat InfoCon! I've seen a year after a year consistently just.

providing great education and bringing people together. That's always one of the things I talk to you about, talk to the board about, I talk to every volunteer, every member, anybody about is the community of ARMA and those that make it up. That's what makes us different than everybody else is that community and being able to make connections that are gonna last years.

you know, beyond the immediate education and things like that, so many people I've talked to have found jobs in the future from people they've met here, found ways to improve their projects by people they've talked to, while on site. So really, I mean, you can't go wrong, whether you're new to the new to the profession or, it's old hat to you. we we've got it all. So, and, know, all the partners.

And stuff that'll be there as well. can not just talk to Arma, but talk to ACEDS talk to the ICRM, talk to our foundation, ILTA you all, all of these people. don't, feel bad. won't leave anybody out because there's, there's so many, but, no, it's, it's a great place to be and, definitely worth, worth, worth the trip.

Jim Merrifield (09:52.508)
Yeah, for sure. There's something for everyone. And yeah, I can't believe it's been 20 years. think I'm not remember 20 years this year, which is kind of when you think about what I was doing. Yeah, it's something like that. I was, yeah, I don't know. It's either 20 or 19. I can't remember because I graduated in 2004 from college. don't think I was, I remember then, but shortly after, I think 2005 or something like that. But it's amazing to see how the organization has grown and where we are today. And again,

Nate Hughes (10:01.058)
I'll to look it up later. I'll let you know. Unless you know. Look at the specifics.

Nate Hughes (10:17.346)
Right.

Jim Merrifield (10:22.732)
Definitely looking forward to Houston. So Nate, I know we talked a lot about a lot here. Is there anything you'd like to share as a final thought with the audience?

Nate Hughes (10:32.238)
Just, you know, keep your eyes open. is ARMA's doing a lot with a lot of people, a lot of really cool things that will be going on in the next year. Like I said, the GIC, the Global Information Consortium, we actually just met to finalize the tactical strategies of that group in Adelaide a couple of weeks back. And we'll be moving forward a lot of initiatives on that side. A huge group of

organizations that are jumping on as members of that. So there'll be a lot of really cool things that we'll be able to do and kind of speak with a bigger voice and ARMA will be just be one of those organizations involved. You know, our foundation, really that close partnership we have with our educational foundation, the opportunities that are going to be out there for professional development and higher ed.

And, thought leadership and things like that to kind of really keep the profession progressing. not just, you know, for ARMA members, but for those outside of ARMA and, located around the world. there'll be some really cool things coming, coming our way there. And, one of the other exciting things that I love is, some of the councils that we've kind of spun up more recently. A higher ed council has met.

to kind of guide ARMA in the direction that it should be going to better support that area. And one of our newer ones, the government, federal government council has a really powerful players sitting on that council, helping us to determine how we can better position ourselves to support that whole area as well. Some of which will be there at InfoCon.

One of which is one of our keynotes, John Montel who's doing some really, really cool things through the Department of Interior and all of that. So there's just a lot going on. pay attention to the emails that get. If you are an ARMA member or have an account, if you don't, go out and get an account so you can find out more of what's going on. And yeah, looking forward to it.

Jim Merrifield (12:50.234)
Yeah, it's a great time of year. It's going to be a great time. A going on. Looking forward to seeing you in Houston and we'll be there. obviously, looking forward to seeing everyone. so I guess the message is register, register, register, right?

Nate Hughes (12:53.486)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Nate Hughes (13:06.198)
Yep. And, you know, find us when we're there, come up, come up and talk. we'd love to hear from you, good or bad, new things, new ideas, you know, ideas that will, scrap later. don't know. just, just get out there and talk to us. And, and, you know, one of the most fun I have is when new people come up, to me during conference and I can introduce them to all of these people. You know, you come up and you're like, I'm in Energy Well, we've got.

you know, a board member and a former board member and a chapter over here that deals with that and an industry group and all of those types of things or whatever it may be. Getting people connected to the people that are going to help them is a fun time.

Jim Merrifield (13:49.83)
Yeah, so come in on, what is it, Sunday. Sunday afternoon is the industry groups.

Nate Hughes (13:55.17)
Yep, Sunday afternoons, industry groups, welcome parties that night and kick it off Monday morning with the opening sessions and all that fun stuff.

Jim Merrifield (14:04.876)
Awesome. Well, thanks for giving us a nice preview of the, yeah, no, it's great to have you on the hot seat. I'm sure you won't, I'm sure you'll be on again at some point. Maybe we'll do a recap or something. Awesome. So thanks for taking the time out of your day, Nate. Appreciate it. I know you're a busy guy. So again, thanks so much. If you'd like to be a guest on the hot seat like Nate here, all you got to do is,

Nate Hughes (14:08.898)
Yeah, thanks for having me.

Nate Hughes (14:16.708)
Anytime. Anytime.

Jim Merrifield (14:30.074)
submit your information through our website infogovhotseat.com and again thank you so much and enjoy the rest of your day.

Nate Hughes (14:37.088)
Awesome.