Reston Association approves creating committee to address IT issues

Reston Association has taken a step forward in reviewing the future of its information technology needs.

The RA Board of Directors unanimously approved the creation of an IT Committee during its meeting on Thursday (March 25).

Tasked with reviewing and monitoring the association’s IT services, the committee will also advise the board of directors and staff on “how to ensure proper oversight and monitoring of the security, risks, processes and projects are in compliance with best practices,” according to the approved item in the board’s packet.

It will also conduct an annual review of RA’s IT landscape, provide advice on possible solutions to issues that arise, and recommend long- and short-term initiatives.

The committee will advise RA’s IT director and the board on best practices and policies, including standards, data privacy, disaster recovery, and data security, according to the board packet.

“This is not etched in concrete,” Board Director Caren Anton said. “It’s very possible that once the committee is formed, they will want to tweak what some of their approaches will be.”

RA’s IT director will serve as a non-voting member of the committee, which will feature seven members, including at least one board director and one RA member. Committee members will serve in their role for three years.

To be considered for the committee, individuals will need to have technical experience in the following fields:

• Computer and networking technologies
• Communication technologies
• Application of computer technologies, preferably in a government or nonprofit environment
• Application of computer technologies for improvement of business processes and controls
• Enterprise architecture, cloud, and customer relationship management (CRM)
• High-level information technology managerial experience
• Experience with the application of computer technology to organizational financial systems

Anton said committee members could potentially be approved when the board meets in May, so the group could “conceivably have their first meeting in June.”

“In summary, we were not looking for perfection here. That was not our goal,” Anton said. “Our goal was to have a means to proceed with forming this committee, which is something that has been a hot topic and something we very much wanted to do.”

The creation of the IT Committee follows calls from four board members to address RA’s IT challenges and security needs. That includes the website abruptly being taken down due to outdated technology and stability issues, the loss of some financial records, and limited backups.

Directors Ven Iyer and Sarah Selvaraj-D’Souza initially called a special board meeting on Feb. 8 to present an initial draft amendment to establish an IT Committee.