The OATUG is only as strong as the members that make up this users group, so we like to give individual thanks to stand- out members like Michele Cafferkey who help keep our organization valuable and relevant.
A senior manager of IT application development for Skokie, Ill.-based Forsythe Technology, Michele takes advantage of her ever-growing network of contacts from her almost 18 years working with Oracle products and 11 years with the OATUG to spread the word about the benefits of OATUG membership. She routinely encourages colleagues from her own team at Forsythe Technology to attend OATUG Special Interest Group (SIG) meetings relevant to their business and take advantage of the most appropriate OATUG whitepapers, newsletters and eLearning sessions.
“The Oracle community is smaller than you think when you connect with others who are experiencing similar Oracle issues and can share best practices,” said Michele. “The knowledge sharing and valuable networking opportunities provided through OATUG membership help everyone, including me, do their jobs better.”
Not only does Michele push others to join SIGs and committees, she herself is an active and valuable member of the OATUG Marketing and Communications Committee for the past year and a half. This committee develops and reviews marketing initiatives, message development and channels of communication, so it is valuable to have such a strong voice as that of Michele’s to help carry out that mission.
The committee also makes recommendations for enhancing the member and prospect experience, so Michele defers to her own personal and professional list of contacts to get feedback and information to relay back to the committee.
In addition, she is a member of the Order Management SIG and looks forward to receiving and reading the latest information from that specific, application- focused group. The SIG provides a forum for the sharing of information, experiences and best practices in the implementation and effective usage of the Oracle Order Management Application.
Michele also helps share her knowledge with the OATUG community by speaking at COLLABORATE conferences. At COLLABORATE 11, she presented a case study of a successful project in regard to auto-creating purchase orders and how her team piloted a different testing process for this.
At COLLABORATE 15, she talked about the value of taking a deeper dive into one’s process as a solution. It is not always a technical fix to an issue, but oftentimes a tweak or tightening of one’s overall process that has an impact.
When she isn’t evangelizing the member benefits of the OATUG and promoting quality content to like-minded individuals, Michele spends her time with her three children as they root for their favorite college football team, Ohio State. Just as Ohio State’s strong ranking makes the Big Ten stronger, so too does Michele’s contributions and active participation make the OATUG stronger.