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Debbie MacConnel has been a world traveler, volunteer worker and farm girl, and she thinks those experiences will come in handy this year when she goes on a Peace Corps-like mission to the Philippines.
MacConnel, an IBM manager who works out of her home in Winchester, is one of 100 IBM employees worldwide and one of just 26 in the United States selected to serve in IBM's new Corporate Services Corps.
The 100 IBM employees will be divided into teams that will travel to Romania, Turkey, Ghana, Tanzania, Vietnam and the Philippines for monthlong missions assisting with economic development and information technology projects.
"It's interesting because this comes at a time of my life when I'm really thinking what I want to give back to the community," said MacConnel, who will head to Davao City, Philippines, in September for her Corporate Services Corps stint. She also sees the trip as a learning opportunity, she said.
More than 5,000 IBM workers applied to participate in the program initially. IBM intends to enable 600 of its employees to participate in the program over the next three years.
MacConnel and the other Corporate Services Corps members are considered by IBM to be "emerging leaders."
"They want to make a contribution. They want to learn and grow, and they want to make a difference. This offers them all of those opportunities," said Stanley Litow, IBM vice president for corporate citizenship and corporate affairs.
"I think we are really onto something. This is the 21st-century way to develop global leaders. I don't think this is a short-term effort at all," Litow said.
"It was just such an exciting opportunity," said MacConnel, who found out about the program on IBM's intranet system.
"I talked to my manager (about applying) and he kind of laughed. He said, 'chances are you won't get in,'" she said.
"I know that she was recommended very highly by executives in our software business. I know they felt she had a lot of creative skills in terms of software development," Litow said.
MacConnel, who is 44 and has worked for IBM for about 14 years, said she's been involved in "all sorts of different parts of the business" over the years, including sales and marketing strategy. Currently, she leads a group of 21 IBM employees from throughout the world who manage an internal sales Web site.
"I manage from afar," she said.
Her Corporate Services Corps team will include IBM workers from China, Korea, Italy, Sweden, India and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States. The team will be working with the Chamber of Commerce in Davao City to develop computer-based systems to track the progress of small and medium-size businesses that receive loans and grants from the Philippine Development Assistance Program, among other things.
"It's a group of people who have complementary skills who are going to be on the ground to help solve this problem in the Philippines," Litow said. "It's not a vacation. It's not eco-tourism. It's really about making a significant contribution."
MacConnel, whose vacation travels have included trips to Africa and Asia, said she's already been studying up for her trip by going to the Davao City Chamber of Commerce Web site.
"It appears that a large part of the population speaks English. Whenever I travel in a country, I try to learn at least enough (of the country's language) to get by," she said.
MacConnel, a horse lover who rides competitively and has done a lot of horse-related volunteer work, will have to put her equine interests on hold while she is in the Philippines. She might move her horses to her trainer's farm for the month she's away, she said.
Her 19-month-old son Trevor will stay with his grandmother and grandfather at their home in Oregon while his mother is overseas.
"It will be a little hard for me to give him up," MacConnel said.
