September 2022
Kathy’s Next Adventure
Dawn Stevens, Comtech Services
As most of you know, Kathy Madison is retiring at the end of September after almost seven years here at Comtech / CIDM. Her adventure with us started when JoAnn Hackos, the founder of Comtech and fellow birder, noticed Kathy was carrying a tote bag from Wind River, one of our past clients and CIDM member as well as Kathy’s former employer. They got talking and realized they worked with many of the same clients, including Qualcomm, HPE, Juniper Networks, Nortel, Intel, Tektronix, Agilent, Motorola, and Nokia. Kathy decided to leave the world of software sales and joined Comtech, bringing her management, marketing, and software engineering skills to the role of CIDM Member Liaison.
She quickly immersed herself in the information-development community, recruiting new CIDM members, working with clients on process and user studies, moderating round tables and webinars, conducting member surveys, contributing to the CIDM newsletters, and of course, networking. When she wasn’t interacting with clients, members, or our vendor partners, Kathy always volunteered to take on new endeavors such as redesigning the CIDM website, writing consulting proposals, and being my sounding board for business decisions that have benefited most of you. As a non-stoppable ball of energy and optimism, Kathy has been an integral part of our team.
Colorado Greenback Cutthroat Trout
Outside of work, Kathy loves all things outdoors; she volunteers at her local nature center and is on the board of directors of Evergreen Audubon. She’s an avid hiker, kayaker, birder, snorkeler, and quilter, where she often creates nature-inspired works of art.
Aspens Through the Seasons
In her retirement years, Kathy plans to travel the country with her husband doing the things she loves — I believe there is a camper of some sort in her future! There will also be some international travel, with Costa Rica, Belize, Bonaire, and New Zealand high on her bucket list. When not traveling, she’ll be busy with the nature center and her quilt projects — she is known for making wedding quilts for her nieces and nephews, of which three are getting married in 2023. She also has plans to create a fabric collage quilt of an owl which she already knows will take many hours to make.
Evergreen Nature Center
Birding at Evergreen Lake
Kathy’s last day is September 29th. Please send her retirement wishes and advice ([email protected]). On behalf of Comtech and CIDM, we will miss seeing her always smiling face but rest assured, you’ll be in good hands with Trish Grindereng, who’s taking over Kathy’s responsibilities.
About the Author: Dawn Stevens is CIDM’s Director and President of Comtech Services. She has over 30 years of practical experience in virtually every role within a documentation and training department including project management, instructional design, writing, editing, and multimedia programming.