Sam Wexler became involved with computers more than a half century ago when he programmed the IBM 650 at Watson Lab. He retired from IBM in 1993 after 30 years; half as a lab "techie" and the other half in headquarters. Sam has been associated with Computer and Technology User Groups for more than 25 years. Before there were user groups like the APCUG and FACUG, there was GUIDE which is an association of IBM mainframe users and during some of his time at IBM Sam was a GUIDE rep. He is a charter member of the IEEE and was also a member of the two groups who merged to form the IEEE.
During the past few years he ran and successfully tested the concept of Regional conferences; the APCUG Region 1 Membership & Speaker Development Symposium (August, 2007) and the APCUG Region 1 Membership & Leadership Development Conference (Palisades Mall, May, 2008). As FACUG President he is currently running the 2010 FACUG Technology Conference Bahamas Cruise which is on track to be the most successful conference ever and has started the planning process for another major conference event in 2011.
He has been an entrepreneur since 1980 creating, running and selling businesses at several locations on the US East Coast. In 1993 he co-founded one of the oldest and largest entrepreneur groups in the Northeast (FINE) and he hosts/runs their website. Sam believes the best way to increase membership, interest and speakers in your User Group is to run it like an entrepreneur and he has an excellent track record to prove it works. He gives presentations on this subject to entrepreneur and computer/technology user groups.
Sam has been on the FACUG BOD for the past 6 years, served as Secretary and currently is President of FACUG and of the Valencia Falls Computer & Technology Club in Delray Beach, FL since it was created in 2002, APCUG Advisor for Region 1 (Northeast states NY to Maine) and has taken strong stands in this position to protect the best interests of the membership. He divides his time between Poughkeepsie, NY and Delray Beach, FL. Sam has Bachelors and Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering and also a MBA.
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