Being the Value: An Interview With SAME President Charlie Perham

On May 3, during the 2023 JETC in San Antonio, Col. Charlie Perham, F.SAME, USAF (Ret.), was sworn in as the 104th SAME National President. Perham, who professionally is Vice President with Matrix Design Group, joined SAME in 1997 and was named a Fellow in 2020.

Within the Society, he has held numerous leadership positions, including Chair of the Academy of Fellows (2021-2022) and SAME National Vice President (2020-2022). He also served as SAME Elected Director (2018-2020) and Southwest Regional Vice President (2013-2015) on the Board of Direction; as Southern Arizona Post President (2009-2010); and was Co-Chair of the 2025 Strategic Plan Task Force.

TME recently chatted with Perham on his personal journey to Society President, how he is applying previous leadership experiences to his role, and the ways he continues to find the value in his membership.

TME: Can you tell us about your SAME journey and how you got involved with the organization?

Perham: My journey within SAME began in a typical way for the officers of my generation. I was “voluntold” to come to a meeting and encouraged to sign up for the Society. I am not sure if my journey would have begun without some strong encouragement!

I started at the Southern Arizona Post, took a pause while overseas in the Azores, then resumed with the Virginia Peninsula Post while I was assigned as an eager captain to the HQ Air Combat Command Staff at Langley AFB, Va. That Post had some fairly well-known volunteers and a host of peers to get involved with and have fun. It was during this time that I attended my first JETC. I was hooked from there.

I continued Post membership, but with lighter involvement while assigned to Capitol Hill and then the HQ Air Force Staff. I got fully engaged with the Southern Arizona Post again when I returned to Tucson for my first command and was inspired to reinvigorate the Post, returning meetings to the installation after an eight-year hiatus following 9/11. We also reinvigorated our fundraising with a golf tournament. After a brief break while at the National War College and an assignment to OSD, I was invited to be the first Regional Vice President for the newly formed Southwest Region. I was very grateful that there were folks on the National Leadership Team who knew me and my desire to serve, which created that opportunity.

Being a Regional Vice President was a pleasure, especially while serving as an active-duty colonel in command of a 3,000-person unit at Nellis AFB, Nev. The reception I had from the Posts in the Region were amazing. To no surprise, most members were glad to hear from “the Colonel.”

After retirement from the military, I wanted to continue my journey and applied to be an Elected Director. I was fortunate to get voted in and had the pleasure of working on developing the 2025 SAME Strategic Plan with my good friend and mentor, Sal Nodjomian. That experience inspired me further, and I drafted a Fellows package, with the sole reason being that it was the only criteria required to serve on the National Leadership Team.

My first attempt at Fellowship was unsuccessful, but my desire to serve and give back remained, so I stayed involved and submitted again—successfully—the following year. Once a Fellow, I was able to apply to be a National Vice President, which eventually set me up to serve in this role. While Vice President, I had the amazing opportunity to lead the technical Communities of Interest, then serve as Chair of the Academy of Fellows. These roles, combined with my previous years on the Board of Direction, gave me the confidence that I was prepared to serve as Society President.

TME: How do you see some of the unique opportunities you had to view other SAME Presidents up close impacting your tenure?

Perham: Good luck and timing have followed me throughout my career! I was Executive Officer to Maj. Gen. Del Eulberg, USAF, when he was SAME President in 2007; then a decade later, I was working alongside Sal Nodjomian when he led the Society. After my wife, Crissy, donated a kidney last year we started to call it “kidney karma.” While some may say you make your own luck, I firmly believe it was simply good fortune to have worked for (and now with) leaders like Del and Sal.

I will never forget the magical stage presence that Del brought to his remarks at JETC while he was SAME President. He took a raucous crowd from cheers to silence with inspirational stories relating the campfire tales told by the Spartans of Thermopylae and comparing it to the stories shared by SAME members today. Similarly, Sal had the gift of inspiring others—not only with his words, but with his amazing work ethic and ability to connect with and accept teammates and Society members from across our amazing, diverse population.

Having worked for both these leaders offered countless mentor moments that I accumulated to form my own style. This relates to one of the greatest benefits of SAME—being exposed to generous leaders and mentors. In the military, you get plenty of opportunities because of the dynamic nature of service and changing jobs and/or bosses frequently. For civilian members, that is not always the case, so being involved in SAME can create additional opportunities to learn from other leaders.

TME: What progress have you seen to date on building up Posts and their programming, which has been a main focus of your term?

Perham: While we did not apply a metric to measure this goal specifically, I have seen discussions among the Board of Direction, Executive Committee, and leadership from our Regions and Communities of Interest that tells me they are focused on mentoring Posts to develop programs and offer events that produce value for members.
The anecdotal results are positive: membership is up, and feedback I am hearing from individuals while traveling on behalf of the Society is very positive. Take a look at the SAME website and you can see a truly great mix of events and other activities happening every week at our Posts (www.same.org/events-programs).

This question really goes straight to the heart of my mantra for the year: find the value, then be the value for others. If leaders at all levels encourage those that find value to volunteer and give back, the sky is the limit.

TME: You co-led development of the 2025 SAME Strategic Plan—how are you drawing on that experience now with the development of the 2030 SAME Strategic Plan?

Perham: The most important role I have played this go-around is to ensure we have a stellar team in place to lead the development of the 2030 SAME Strategic Plan. With Sharon Krock, SAME President-Elect, and co-chairs Brian Duffy and Albert Romano, leading the way, I am 100 percent confident that the results will be phenomenal.

The importance of developing a new strategic plan is really in the process of planning and getting membership engaged, so I have purposefully tried to stay out of the way and not overly influence the outcome. No single one of us has all the answers; but collectively we can chart the course to be a better Society that serves the nation. I really look forward to the final recommendations and then getting behind the new plan and being a champion for implementation.

TME: You have spoken before about how SAME boils down to “finding the value and being the value.” Let’s start with the first part of that: how do you see SAME providing value to members, and how are you advancing that during your tenure?

Perham: Our 25,000 members find unique value in thousands of different ways. I see it at local events, at regional events, and at national events. From volunteering to teaching, mentoring, coaching, leading, serving…it is all there for the taking.

I know our members and other attendees at our events are finding more value than ever because we keep breaking attendance records. The recent Federal Small Business Conference in San Antonio was the perfect example. We had more than 5,000 attendees, which is a new record for the Society. Additionally, over 500 of those registrants signed up as new SAME members during the conference! The programs organized by our volunteer leadership and amazing National Office staff are leading the way, so I view my role to clear the path for that to continue.

TME: As a follow up, how can members then be the value to others, and how are you increasing those opportunities as SAME President?

Perham: There are so many opportunities for members to be the value for others that I would not say I am increasing them—rather, I want members and event attendees to realize that their enjoyment and reward of involvement with the Society increases significantly if they get involved at a higher level and help others along the way.

Both my professional opportunities and volunteer experience over the last 30 years gives me a perspective to understand this truth, and, after my “find the value and be the value” mantra came to me amid quiet reflection during pandemic isolation, I am compelled to share it with others who may not have the same level of experience to afford them this perspective. Giving is truly better than receiving.

TME: What’s been your favorite part of being SAME President?

Perham: The entire experience has been overwhelmingly rewarding. I simply cannot pick a favorite part. Getting to work with the National Office and new Executive Director Mike Wehr, collaborating with the highly committed National Leadership Team and Executive Committee, working with the service chiefs to help solve the challenges facing our nation, and representing the Society on the national and regional stage are some of the highlights that come to my mind.

Serving as SAME President has helped me grow personally and professionally, increased my friend and business circle, and brought credit to my firm (Matrix Design Group). I could not be any more proud and will cherish the back half of my presidency.