My Kiwanis Story

I am normally not one to start out anything like this by talking about myself, as that is not my thing. However, I think this story is a good way to kick off this blog...

In May of 2003 I was approached by the president of my wife Lynn's Kiwanis club in Keene, NH (I was not a member at that time) about creating a website for their club. I agreed to do it and we started to spec it out. After meeting with the newly formed web committee I began to see what challenges Kiwanis clubs face in administration and communication. So after specing out this site I determined it was way too much work to do for just one club and decided to start a company to create this application for all Kiwanis clubs. The company name is Club Resource, LLC and the product that is marketed to Kiwanis clubs is the KiwanisOne Club Management program.

Lynn was the secretary of the club at the time and as I was creating the site I could see all the work she had to do for the monthly report every month, so I figured there must be an easier way. So I created the online monthly reporting system and started shopping it around to districts. When I say "shopping" I mean giving them the reporting functionality for no cost as a way to help their district and the club secretaries. The first district that officially adopted it was Pennsylvania in October 2004. After they got on board nine others jumped on almost immediately. I was thrilled!

Once things were humming along I decided it was time to contact Kiwanis International. To be honest, I wasn't sure what I wanted to accomplish by contacting them, but I just knew it was time.   I forget how I decided this, but I chose to contact Jeff Oatess first. He turned out to the the best person I could have contacted, as he was very receptive to the idea, was appointed Interim Executive Director shortly thereafter, and was a swell guy. Working with Jeff we were able to get 24 districts using the online reporting system for the 2006-2007 Kiwanis year and standardized the report with the districts. A task some told me was not possible.

In March of 2007 Jeff talked to me and said that he would like me to go to lunch with him and Rob Parker. Hey, who am I to turn down a free lunch. So I pulled my truck to the front of the building and Jeff got in. As we were waiting for Rob, Jeff said "Oh, by the way, this is sort of like an interview". What!!! Honestly, I was expecting something like "Scott, you have done a great job with everything you have done for Kiwanis and we would like you to come on staff and continue to do what you were doing". Instead Rob proceeded to interview me for the position of Chief Technology Officer so I could oversee all technology for the organization.

So today I am the CTO of Kiwanis and absolutely love my job and love working with and helping Kiwanians. I still own Club Resource, LLC and have an arrangement with Kiwanis International so that the development and support of the club management program is done inhouse under my direction.

Having a Ph.D. in engineering I love to try and solve problems. I never could have imagined that creating this "simple" website for a local Kiwanis club would lead to 4.5 years of helping a huge international organization try and solve fundamental challenges through the use of technology.

In Service to Kiwanians,

Scott A. Smith
Chief Technology Officer
Kiwanis International