>> My name is Cynthia Wilson.
I am the Director of Governance and External Relations at the American College of Cardiology.
So, the college is the [inaudible] cardiovascular organization
that its mission is to improve heart health.
We have 39,000 members worldwide and 2,000 of them volunteer
and I coordinate the volunteerism that our members show.
It's interesting if you work with volunteers you have to be prepared to work
on a volunteer schedule which means you work nights and you work weekends because that's
when volunteers work, but generally speaking working
at non-profits is really a wonderful place to work.
So even though you are expected to put in the extra hours people are very caring
and very people focused and so there's a lot of flexibility
to take off the time that you need to take off.
What I do is I have to be very familiar with all the different areas
of the American College of Cardiology.
Lots go on in terms of research and new medical therapies, so I have to be aware of what's going
on and what's the next big thing, what's on the cover of the New York Times today.
We have advocacy.
You have to be aware of what's going on in Capitol Hill and you have to stay current.
You have to know what's going on and then with that knowledge it's being ready for anything.
So you have to set a task that you came to do and maybe you need to think a whole lot
of volunteers in a meaningful way but really what you have to do is you have
to welcome the guests that come in and show them where their membership dues
and where their time is going and give them the VIP tour
and VIP treatment because there's no small parts.
So if they are a member, they're a VIP member so you have to treat them that way.