Vincenzo Piuri is in his 36^th year of continuous and active service in IEEE, first as a student member and volunteer, and more recently as member of the IEEE Board of Directors for 4 years and IEEE Vice President for Technical Activities. He has been actively involved in many aspects and at many levels within IEEE activities and operations, including members services, technical committees, people networking, conferences, publications, education, finances, and management.

In all these activities, he has always had a comprehensive vision for IEEE as a single holistic entity as One IEEE and One IEEE Region 8, strongly promoting cooperation and inclusivity, for the mutual synergic benefit of all groups as well as our scientific, technical, and professional community and, ultimately, the entire society.

Specifically, he:

• Served on many boards and committees (including IEEE Board of Directors, some IEEE Committees, Technical Activities Board and some of its Committees, Publication Services and Products Board and some of its Committees, some Members and Geographic Activities Committees, some Educational Activities Board Committees), was Society President, served as Vice President (Members Activities, Publications, Education) and Administrative Committee Member of Societies/Councils, and cooperated in organizing or re-structuring Societies/Councils, striving to enhance effectiveness and efficiency.
• Promoted cooperation among Boards and Committees as One IEEE, proactively facilitating their interaction and contributing to focus the activities of several liaisons and committees.
• Cooperated to several strategic planning activities, also leading some of them, with specific attention to promoting inclusivity and diversity, by serving in the IEEE Strategic Planning AdHoc Committee, the MGA Strategic Direction and Environmental Assessment Committee, the TAB Strategic Planning Committee, and the PSPB Strategic Planning Committee.
• Organized outreach activities with Regions, Sections, Divisions, Societies and Technical Councils, and Standards Association to promote the cooperation among all groups in IEEE, envisioning and supporting a holistic view for One IEEE and One IEEE Region 8.
• Contributed to develop activities and services for IEEE Members and all people in the scientific and technological communities, for example by serving as Program Chair of the 2017 IEEE Sections Congress, expanding networking opportunities, creating the volunteer training program in technical activities, promoting creation of an innovative integrated network of and for entrepreneurs in Italy, and serving Student Branches.
• Cared for underserved communities and geographical areas, promoting technical and members activities, e.g. contributing to developing technical conferences, student activities, entrepreneurship support, members networking, and volunteers recognition.
• Promoted recognition of excellence of scientists, professionals, and volunteers by proposing several new awards, nominating many Senior Members and Fellows, and serving in Technical Field Awards Committees.
• Founded and catalyzed founding several chapters worldwide as well as is catalyzing the interest for creating new Sections, as a tangible contribution to nurturing the local communities and as a cooperation between Sections, Societies and Technical Councils.
• Contributed to the IEEE industry outreach and strongly supported the IEEE activities for entrepreneurs, directed to understand better the needs of industries, industry professionals, and entrepreneurs, and to define strategies and services for better serving them.
• Strongly promoted inclusivity and supported diversity in committees and communities, especially for underserved groups (mainly young professionals and women) and underserved geographical areas.
• Chaired, co-founded, or promoted foundation of several technical committees (e.g., in CIS, CS, IMS, SYSC, BIOMC), and supported restructuring of technical activities in various Societies/Councils for higher efficiency and effectiveness.
• Promoted nurturing emerging technologies and emerging needs for technologies and applications, stimulating cooperation with other Boards.
• Founded the IEEE Environmental Engineering Initiative to aggregate the community and the knowledge in this area, with the cooperation of TAB, MGA, EAB, Standards Association, and various other Committees.
• Organized successful large conferences (e.g., Smart World Congress 2019 / 2017 / 2016 / 2015; WF-IOT 2016 / 2015; iThings 2013; SSCI 2013 / 2011 / 2009; I2MTC 2019 / 2010 / 2009 / 2004; IJCNN 2010 / 2009 / 2000), and created CIVEMSA (now in the eighteenth year).
• Served as Editor-in-Chief (ISJ) and Associate Editor (T-C, T-CC, T-NN, T-IM, CI-M), nurtured new publications (e.g., CI-M, T-AMD, T-CIAIG), and promoted development of existing journals (T-IM, T-NN, T-FS, T-EC, ISJ) to also address industry needs.
• Created and developed educational activities (e.g., summer schools, tutorials at conferences, on-line, and in the IEEE e-Learning Library).

Inspiring and guiding principles

In these activities, he has always sought deep understanding of problems while contributing to the development of strategies for solutions and implementations and building consensus that resulted in effective outcomes and results.

His understanding of the variegated needs for technical forums, activities, products, and services for researchers, professionals, students, and government employees in the various geographical areas are based on his education, his research activity in interdisciplinary technological areas, his service to the academy, his many activities in technology transfer and applied research with industries, and in his service in IEEE.

In all of these years of service to the IEEE Vincenzo Piuri acquired therefore a solid and broad understanding of its structure and operation, including members services, people networking, technical committees, products, industry services, management, and financial aspects.

He always considered any new problem as a challenge, an opportunity to learn from more experienced people, a chance for fruitfully interacting with volunteers and staff to address issues all together, and a gift to allow him to serve in fulfilling the mission of the IEEE for the benefit of humanity, caring only for the good of the scientific, technical, and professional communities in our fields of interest.

Even though he liked to have his hands on the various activities, to have a deep understanding of the problems, and to get the underlying causes and motivations, he tried to have a strategic perspective guiding his actions and to build consensus so that collaborative operations were highly effective in the international scenario, focusing on outcomes and results. He always tried to have a holistic vision for One IEEE and One IEEE Region 8, promoting cooperation among all groups for the higher benefit of the whole IEEE and the entire society. Holistic cooperation is essential since we are ONE IEEE and One IEEE Region 8.

Vincenzo Piuri was always inspired by all previous experiences, in a continuity of purpose and vision, adhering to the mission and the core values of the IEEE at the service of the scientific and professional communities worldwide and locally, while working hard to fostering the advancement of science, technology, and profession. He has in fact a natural aspiration toward progress, gradually implementing changes so as to avoid too abrupt perturbations, favoring incremental developments for more consensus and confidence in the outcomes and for more readiness in detecting and correcting undesired evolutions.

He also has really valued, respected and cared for all diversities (e.g., in opinion, culture, technological expertise, profession, geographic origin, gender, age) since they are the true richness not only of the IEEE, but of any community. It is in fact from the discussion and comparison of different points of view that the best solutions are generated and developed. It is from constructive criticisms that problems and issues are overcome together for the benefit of all. It is from engaging everybody, especially the young generations, that we grow all together and create the foundations for our future.

Organizational and managerial skills, program management, operational efficiency, attitude to process simplification, ability of effectively delegating, consensus building, team cooperation, effectiveness in dealing with difficult situations and conflicts, care for motivating and rewarding people for implementing the strategic vision, coherence to the strategic vision shared by the community, and ability of helping a community to identify a common strategic vision and a practical implementation plan have been developed and refined with the same attitude shown in the IEEE also in his daily job at university and in cooperation with the industry and the government. The attention to diversity and inclusivity as well as the transnational perspective have been nurtured, on his natural sensitivity, by the variety of contacts and collaborations worldwide and locally.