Tomorrow marks my last day as the Executive Director of MOA. For all intents and purposes, it marks the last day of MOA itself.
The organization has already been reincarnated as the Mobitex Association, and will have no paid staff. The experiment which brought me here, which some predicted would last only two years, lasted five, and has begotten a successor organization which will undoubtedly flourish under its passionate volunteer leaders. Good on you, Kevin.
Somebody asked the other day, while we were talking about this, if I were angry about the change. Actually I’m not angry at all. I feel oddly liberated. Not that I felt imprisoned by MOA in the least but the freedom to explore what else is out there is more than a little exhilarating.
Here’s the farewell message I sent to the members:
Dear friends and colleagues,
As the days of the year wind down so do my days at MOA. At moments like these it’s tempting to write about change; about how it is necessary and good, about how it can be cathartic or subtle. It’s equally tempting to look up a quote or two – a lofty one (”You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” -Mahatma Gandhi) or a pointed one (”It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” -Deming) – and toss them in for emphasis.
The old canard that time flies when you’re having fun lacks one dimension, as far as I’m concerned: time flies the fastest when you’re having fun with your friends. And by that measure, this decade has passed in a mere blink. There are so many memories, of course, but a few of the funniest stick out: Micheel teaching me my first word in Dutch (a swearword, of course) on my first day on the job for BellSouth, while he nearly killed us driving to a customer meeting in Amsterdam. Yusef demonstrating his folk dancing prowess and teaching us about raki at the Galata Kulesi in Istanbul. Sweating out Ray Lane’s demo at the Fortezza di Basso with Mikael. Pontus chewing nicotine gum as fast as he could and diving fully clothed into the pool in Singapore. (I think Folke still has the pictures.) Tomas and Kieran and the bird in Seoul. (*I* have those pictures. 
) And Dave, you’ll be relieved to know that my old 950 finally gave up the ghost. The messages from Disney’s Night of Infamy are lost in the ether. They may, however, still be streaming across space someplace. Who says you can’t go far on a single AA?
MOA has grown through a handful of phases since its founding. When I joined BellSouth’s Mobitex team in 1993 MOA was largely a technical group which met thrice yearly to discuss changes to the MIS. The CEOs and MDs came along mostly for the ride. My first MOA meeting was at a hotel in Atlanta – BellSouth hosted, and we took everyone to a baseball game. We had terrible seats in the upper deck in the outfield, but somebody hit a grand slam home run, one of the rarest events in baseball. In those days MOA had a Marketing Guidance Council run by Mike Ham of Cantel, and DEC (who?) came in and told us how rosy the future was.
The depths of depression hit in the mid-90s. GfD was supposed to host a MOA meeting in Germany but they had decided to close up shop. RAM UK was pressed into service and we ended up at the Caledonian in Edinburgh. Beautiful city, wonderful hotel, perfect weather, and nobody came. The world outside of MOA had apparently consigned Mobitex to the back of the closet like an ill-fitting shirt; they were in love with CDPD, or SMS or something else cellular, and we were trying hard not to believe it. Within MOA, members seemed to think that there was no point in participating because BellSouth, who at the time owned all or part of seven networks, would dominate the discussions.
Happily those days passed as business started to pick up – hard work and persistence was paying off. The most recent MOA was hatched at a dinner at Christopher Wren’s house, hosted again by the company formerly known as RAM. Ericsson had just named Pontus to head the Mobitex group; Jim and Dave got the discussion going, fertilizing it in the pub after dinner with a couple of pints of Old Speckled Hen. The rise of the modern MOA was driven by the ideal that by working closely together on business problems and fostering good communications we could leverage each other’s experiences and exploit Mobitex’s natural niches in diverse geographic markets. Even without a LeapFrog for every market. I took the assignment to help define what a paid director should do on the condition that the Executive Board not consider me for the position. And you know the rest: once the definition was done the Board lost its collective mind and offered me the job and I, in a momentary lapse of judgement, accepted.
Now MOA moves on to its proper next phase, with an emphasis on the association rather than the operators. I hope that a sense of community and cooperation will remain the central theme, and I know that Kevin’s passionate leadership will energize the membership to provide services to each other. A strong spirit of volunteerism will no doubt be the cornerstone; give to the greater good, for it is the very act of giving that creates the greater good.
Thank you for your support over the past five years and for giving me the opportunity to serve you. I have learned countless lessons from my years in the Mobitex community; I hope that you can say the same. The world is has figured out that wireless, in all its flavors and incarnations, is the future and that wide area wireless data, and Mobitex in particular, has a particularly bright outlook, when applied appropriately.
Allow me to single out a few folks for special attention: Dave, John and Joan, Mikael, Ingrid and Mats and the boys, Jim, Hans, John J, Steve, Andrew, ‘Nilla, Lulu, Peter Kraft, Marc B, Kevin, Charles, Mike, Roper, BBC, Tomas and Johnny et al., Alan and Marita, Peter G, Marc K, Sergio, Laura, Jeff, Wouter, Joachim and Dirk, Gavigan, Olle Bulle, Howard C, Marty, Neale, Anders, Gunnar for the Swedish lesson in the cab in Seoul, Tomas (the hat’s still on my wall). And the Cave Man. Even you, Mr. Cake.
I hope to see you soon. Stay involved. Stay passionate. Be generous with your time and your talents. Keep your sense of humor. Remember the penguin.
Please keep in touch, and call on me as you need to. I will remember you fondly and will always be in your debt.
Happy New Year,
Jack
www.barse.org
PS – Should you have a mind to, please make note of this email address. My MOA address will not reach me for much longer. -J
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