Bills (Last?) Blog 6/20/12-Important Announcement

[Steven Donow]

Good Afternoon Teams,

This is Frank Merrick writing, with some news. Bill Miller has concluded his service at FIRST, after seven seasons as Director of FRC. Bill’s efforts with FIRST made a world of difference, leading us to double the number of teams in FRC during his tenure and positively impacting the lives of tens of thousands of students and mentors. FRC would not be where it is without his hard work and vision, and he will be greatly missed. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.

I served Bill as his Deputy Director for four years, and will be assuming duties as Acting Director of FRC during this transition period. I’m looking forward to this new challenge! You will soon start seeing regular blogs from me. We will be transitioning this blog from ‘Bill’s Blog’ to the ‘FRC Blog’, and you will be able to find the new blog here: http://firstroboticsblog.blogspot.com, starting immediately.

Frank

Bill will be missed greatly!

[jblay]

I wish Bill the best, his contribution to the FIRST community has been fantastic and I have always loved how frank his posts on Bill's blog have been.

[lemiant]

Many people I know along with myself personally talked with Bill less than a month ago, noone heard anything like this. The regional director I talked with yesterday didn't say anything about it either. I wonder what happened?

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by lemiant

Many people I know along with myself personally talked with Bill less than a month ago, noone heard anything like this. The regional director I talked with yesterday didn't say anything about it either. I wonder what happened?

My guess is that it might have been related to the field problems on Einstein.

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by ratdude747

My guess is that it might have been related to the field problems on Einstein.

I seriously doubt that.

[Jon Stratis]

It's not really worth speculating. 7 years as FIRST Director, 26 years at Polaroid, 6 years active duty in the military (as listed in his Bio on the FIRST website)... all of that could put him at retirement age. It could be related to Einstein. It could be a decision to make room for someone with more experience with issues they're anticipating over the next 5 years. Unless they tell us, we'll never know... and speculation isn't really worth it without facts.

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by ratdude747

My guess is that it might have been related to the field problems on Einstein.

By breaking down the wording of the post, we can easily infer that it was an abrupt departure that probably caught one side or the other off guard ('concluded his service'). Yet I don't think it's helpful, forward-looking, or otherwise useful to conjecture the circumstances of his departure.

I always liked Bill's posts. Hopefully the new 'frcrobotics' blogger can be as personable and clear as he was.

[shirraj]

Originally Posted by ratdude747

My guess is that it might have been related to the field problems on Einstein.

I don't think this is the reason that after all this years he will leave.. I mean, just one problem will make him leave? that isn't sounds right..

[IndySam]

I think it is in bad taste and unprofessional to speculate about the reason for Bill's departure. Lets celebrate what he has done for FRC and leave the rumors and other talk on the table for now.

[JB987]

Originally Posted by IndySam

I think it is in bad taste and unprofessional to speculate about the reason for Bill's departure. Lets celebrate what he has done for FRC and leave the rumors and other talk on the table for now.

Agreed 100%!

[Alexa Stott]

Originally Posted by IndySam

I think it is in bad taste and unprofessional to speculate about the reason for Bill's departure. Lets celebrate what he has done for FRC and leave the rumors and other talk on the table for now.

It wouldn't be CD without people picking apart what FIRST decides to do... >_>

Originally Posted by lemiant

noone heard anything like this

Noone never knows what's up. Nice guy, though.

[Kims Robot]

People move on for all sorts of reasons (retirement, other opportunities arise, financial reasons, family reasons, etc etc...). Most sources say the average stay in a particular job in the US is only 3-5 years, so its not uncommon for turnover to happen.

We wish Bill all the best in his future endeavors! I look forward to finding out who steps up to this difficult role

[lemiant]

Originally Posted by Kims Robot

People move on for all sorts of reasons (retirement, other opportunities arise, financial reasons, family reasons, etc etc...). Most sources say the average stay in a particular job in the US is only 3-5 years, so its not uncommon for turnover to happen.

But usually the post would explain that... And be from Bill himself

[Steven Donow]

Originally Posted by lemiant

But usually the post would explain that... And be from Bill himself

Not necessarily...especially when you don't know why. For all we know, it could be a personal reason (good or bad) or something as slight as him getting another job offer (was FIRST his job? did he get paid or was he a volunteer?) that he can't talk about.


Not speculating, but just giving examples to disprove that the way the blog was written doesn't imply at all that he left due to Einstein.

[Karthik]

I've posted a well deserved thank you to Bill here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...9&postcount=22

I'd like to congratulate Frank Merrick on a well deserved appointment as Acting Director of FRC. 1114 has worked closely with Frank during the Einstein testing and he has been open, honest, direct and thoughtful throughout the entire process. It has been clearly evident that Frank cares about the teams and is willing to go the extra mile to make things right. I am positive that he will lead FRC in a positive direction during this challenging period of transition.