We should be thankful that Barry Eveland is an engineer, a profession that someone once described as filled with highly intelligent people who have no idea how normal people do stuff. For all we know he may believe his tenure as the volunteer leader of NCCBI was perfectly normal, the same routine as all his predecessors. In fact, he crammed three years of service into 24 months and still accomplished more than many. He will have a lasting impact.

The process of becoming chair of NCCBI is intended to be a bit methodical because the executives who lead the organization are all busy people who only have so much time to give. They start by serving on the board of directors, then become an officer and leisurely move up the leadership ladder from second vice chair to first vice chair and then, with all that experience under their belt, become the chair. Eveland’s route to the top was a bit quicker, caused by the unexpected retirement of Bill Coley of Duke Power, the Duke Power executive who was ahead of him in the leadership ranks. That year, he also willingly pitched in for Sue Cole when she had to miss some NCCBI functions because of the illness of her husband.

Eveland was a workhorse, for sure, but I believe he will be remembered as the person who helped NCCBI conceive its new identify for a new era. Using the invaluable marketing experience he gained in 39 years at IBM, he spearheaded a campaign to “rebrand” NCCBI with a new mission statement, a new logo and — more importantly — a new focus on serving members. You’ll be reading much more about those pivotal developments in the months ahead.

Our new mission statement is shown below. It’s simple, clear and about one-third the length of our old one.

What you might call NCCBI’s new theme is the concept of connections — when members connect with NCCBI, good things happen to you and us. Thus, we have adopted Connections as the new name of the NCCBI News section of the magazine to emphasize the importance of the connections between members and the NCCBI staff.

As you read this, Eveland, who officially retired from IBM last month, probably is out sailing on Lake Norman. If you spot him, tell him thanks. He did a great job under trying circumstances. Normal, one supposes, for an IBM engineer. --Steve Tuttle