Stephen Abram, MLS, is an association junkie. He was President 2004-2005 of the Canadian Library Association, president 2002 of the Ontario Library Association and has served twice on the SLA international board of directors, in addition to his beloved Toronto Chapter, CASLIS and SLA’s LMD. He is currently also Vice President Innovation for SirsiDynix where he helps predict the future of libraries, technology and user behavior. He has been VP of Corporate Development for Micromedia ProQuest and Publisher Electronic Information for Thomson. He has run libraries for Suncor, Coopers & Lybrand, Smith Lyons Torrance Stevenson and Mayer and The Hay Group. Stephen has been listed by Library Journal as a "Mover and Shaker", one of the ’key’ people influencing the future of libraries and librarianship. He has been awarded SLA's John Cotton Dana Award as well as being a Fellow of the SLA. He was Canadian Special Librarian of the Year and Alumni of the Year for the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Information Studies. Stephen gives well over 50 international keynote talks annually to library and information industry conferences and articles and columns for, among others, Information Outlook, Feliciter, Multimedia & Internet @ Schools, and Library Journal. Recently he has enjoyed a few radio and television appearances promoting libraries. Stephen is celebrating his 25th year since his MLS graduation with his two children (Zachary, 20 and Sydney, 17) and his wife Stephanie Smith Abram, an author and teacher. He sleeps very well but not a lot.

Candidate Speech - January 2006
SLA Leadership Summit
Houston, Texas