By Stephen Kirk, PhD, FSAVE – Dean, SAVE International College of Fellows
It is always a privilege for me to present the new members of the SAVE International College of Fellows. We have three for the Class of 2018!
Fellowship is one of the highest honors SAVE can bestow upon a member. Elevation to fellowship not only recognizes the achievements of the value professional as an individual, but also evaluates, before the public and the profession, those value specialists who have made significant contributions to the Value Methodology, SAVE International, and to society.
I recently read a book called “If I could tell you just one thing…” by Richard Reed. There are stories of a number of famous and not so famous people. For example, the chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Sir Richard Branson, wanted to tell you just one thing “…all of life is precious. Don’t waste any of it doing something you don’t want to do. And do all of it with the people you love.”
Each of the new Fellows was asked this same question. See their responses below. Good advice for all of us.
The College of Fellows selected three new fellows, Kathy Bethany, Dr. Marc Pauwels and István Tarjani (honorary fellow). All have contributed to the value profession over many years. The new Fellows enjoy what they do, and the people they do it with. Following is a few highlights of the new Fellows:
Kathy Bethany, FSAVE
Our first new Fellow is none other than Kathy Bethany, President of SAVE International. She said if I could tell you one thing, “Live life all out, but don’t forget to stop and smell the flowers, savor the view, and be present to enjoy your family, friends and others you come in contact with as life is way too short to miss the opportunities as they present themselves.”
Highlights of Kathy’s Career:
Kathy has the distinction of having served as Executive Vice President of SAVE, not once, but twice! As Mary Ann Lewis said, “she has been a consistent volunteer and supporter of SAVE since her entry in the profession in the 1990’s.”
She is a civil engineer with a bachelor’s degree from Old Dominion University and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of New Mexico.
With over a 30+ year career with the U.S. Government, she rose through the ranks of a GS 2 to a GM 15 (final assignment for the U.S. State Department, Office Director with 20+ cost estimators, engineers, two subordinate team leaders responsible for all aspects of cost management for a more than half billion dollars a year in annual construction and maintenance budget.) I had the pleasure of working with Kathy on numerous State Department embassy VE projects.
Kathy has traveled the world, including time as a child in Germany and Indonesia, as a high school senior moved to Saudi Arabia and graduated in Manama, Bahrain. In her adult working life, she continued the travel with multiple trips to countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, and around the world. Travel continues now for SAVE and for fun in retirement.
One of Kathy’s many strengths include an ability to communicate across boundaries. She said, “it has been interesting as the ‘first’ or ‘only’ female engineer in a predominantly male field. Frequently having to overcome biases and outright prejudice but managed to do so successfully.”
Along with SAVE activities and travel, she currently stays busy as the treasurer of her local Lions Club. She plays Bridge, Cribbage and Maj Jong when not chasing after her husband, Chuck, and their three cats, or visiting with a large extended family.
Dr. Marc Pauwels, FSAVE
My connection with Marc is Missouri. He breeds Missouri Foxtrotter horses. I grew up in an area of Missouri known for breeding saddle horses.
My wife Jan and I had a very enjoyable time with Marc at the European VE conference in Munich two years ago. His leadership of the conference was superb!
If I could tell you just one thing, Marc said “VA/VE is the key to solving many problems in industry and public projects. The structured approach, based on function analysis, cross-functional teamwork and a strong creativity phase is a guarantee for receiving valuable results.”
Highlights of Marc’s Career:
He is an admitted addict to VA/VE. He first heard about it during his studies of mechanical engineering around 1990. Marc immediately fell in love with it. He is an engineer, but not a “hard facts engineer” – he is more the “soft facts engineer.”
After his studies, Marc got his first job at the University of Siegen with one of his Professors. He received his Doctorate degree in VA/VE from Siegen and started with Krehl & Partners and continued his work in VE projects throughout industries worldwide.
For over 25 years he has been doing voluntary work with VDI (German association of Engineers, among others, which is the home of VA/VE in Germany). Since 2001, Marc has been president of the VA/VE association within the VDI and is responsible for the yearly conferences, technical guidelines etc.
Marc has been married for 27 years, and has three adult daughters.
István Tarjani, FSAVE
István Tarjani received an “Honorary Fellow” for his contributions to the Society of Hungarian Value Analysis (SHVA). He is also very active in SAVE and the Miles Value Foundation.
I have known Istvan for many years and have had the pleasure of his visit to our home. He is a loving person as you can tell from his constant smile.
He was recently involved in organizing and managing the European VA/VE conference in Budapest, which received outstanding reviews!
István is a value specialist with a marketing background and a teaching degree. He also is an automotive engineer. He actively contributes to the development of international Value organizations and is a diligent advocate to disseminate the Value Methodology in the Central and Eastern European region.
He is also active in SAVE, giving a paper at this year’s SAVE Value Summit, and serves as a Director of the Miles Value Foundation (MVF).
In Hungary, he actively supports new value analysts and university partners by gathering and sharing relevant information and by organizing local professional forums for community development. István gives credit and thanks to his wife and daughter for everything he has accomplished He also emphasizes that the support of the International and Hungarian colleagues has enabled him to receive the Fellow Award.
If I could tell you just one thing, Isvan said “Only a few people are born as geniuses. Luck does not always fall into one’s lap. However, there are great tools (like VM) which allow people to work diligently, and ultimately, create exquisite things.”
Please welcome Kathy, Marc and Istvan to the SAVE College of Fellows!
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