Featured Image: SYP Networking – 2025 Past IEEE President Tom Coughlin with YPs
Earlier this year, Life Members were featured in IEEE Spectrum in an article titled “IEEE Life Members Committee Reconnects With Members”. The article highlighted ongoing Life member initiatives:
“As we rebounded from COVID,” says Howard Wolfman, past chair, “the Life Members Committee took a deep breath and said, ‘Let’s move forward. What are our issues?’” A life senior member, Wolfman has been an active IEEE volunteer for 64 years and a generous donor to the Life Members Fund.
“We re-established connections, developed new goals, and introduced new programs,” he says. During the past five years, the committee launched several initiatives, including an annual conference and a mentoring program. It also worked to reactivate affinity groups that had gone dormant, and it formed new ones. Affinity groups are part of an IEEE section or region. The committee also ran campaigns to increase donations to the Life Members Fund, which the IEEE Foundation manages. The campaigns showcased how the donations are used to support member activities and IEEE programs.
The number of life members increased from 25,000 in 2019 to nearly 39,000 last year. IEEE now projects a 58 percent increase by 2034. The organization says it wants to make use of its most experienced and knowledgeable engineers.
Tech for an aging population
Attendees at the 2025 Evolution Conference
The inaugural Life Members Conference was held in April 2024 in Austin, Texas. Its theme was “Evolution: Technology, Applications, and Contributions.” Open to all IEEE members, the event focused on providing a better understanding of how emerging technologies and new applications could impact senior citizens. This year’s conference, “Learning Never Stops,” took place from 11 to 13 June at Tufts University in Medford, Mass.
According to the World Health Organization, by 2030, one in six people in the world will be 60 or older. With that in mind, a conference discussion on aging and longevity will cover technologies to enhance the quality of life for older people, Wolfman says, adding that it will touch on independence and overall well-being. The age tech field includes health and wellness monitoring, smart appliances, and home-care robots.
Sharing experiences with younger generations
Ottawa LMAG Launches Group Mentoring at Student Conference
The concept of mentoring is not new. Traditional mentoring programs typically involve one-on-one sessions. But Wolfman says he had an epiphany for a new type of program the committee should launch: group mentoring.
Introduced last year, the group sessions involve life members meeting with high school students, college students, and young professionals. The members share the ups and downs of their professional and personal lives, lessons learned, and pitfalls to avoid, Wolfman says.
Group sessions have been held in Ottawa; San Marcos, Texas; and Tokyo.
Affinity group activities
There are more than 190 life member affinity groups in 66 countries. The Africa Council formed one of the newest. Its members come from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Zambia, and three other countries. Several affinity groups were reactivated after several years of inactivity, including the Dallas group last year.
The groups hold different types of activities. Last year, the IEEE Benelux group visited the European Space Agency in Noordwijk, Netherlands. The members also toured medical equipment company Cochlear’s manufacturing plant in Mechelen, Belgium. In Colorado, the IEEE Denver and Pikes Peak groups visited the U.S. General Services Administration’s Skaggs Research Center in Boulder.
Supporters of 15 programs
Life members are generous. Last year, they gave more than US$1.7 million to IEEE’s philanthropic programs, according to the IEEE Foundation. Life members account for 65 percent of the total donations given by individuals to the more than 215 IEEE Foundation accounts.
The IEEE Life Members Fund supports more than 15 programs, including awards, conferences, educational outreach, fellowships, and humanitarian projects.
“Life members have the opportunity to share the wisdom they’ve gained through their membership as well as careers in industry or academia,” Wolfman says. “We receive the satisfaction of knowing that we are giving back to the next generation of innovators, IEEE in general, and society.”
