Balancing a high-level job with a lot of pressures and the process of continually becoming more public as a gay man certainly makes for a level of anxiety, fear, and an exciting, evolving life.

Next week my company’s head of human resources will announce the formation of two initial resource or affinity groups: LGBT and veteran. She will announce that I will be the executive sponsor for the LGBT resource group. While I am out to everyone who will be at the meeting, this begins the start of a much higher public profile as a gay man. After years in the closet, and all the progress I’ve personally made in the last few years, it is still a little scary.

But rather than talking about fear, here are some of my personal goals:

• I really want to see my company march in the gay pride parades in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore in 2015.
• I’ve like to leverage my role as executive sponsor of the LGBT resource group to build relations with other gay leaders throughout the Washington/Baltimore region.
• I would like to be on the board of an LGBT organization, particularly an organization with a focus on health care or at-risk youth.
• I’d like to get more involved with the HRC and their work, which I respect tremendously.
• I’m looking forward to learning what it means to be an executive sponsor for an LGBT resource group, which I take to mean an out gay leader and role model in a corporate setting. It’s very new to me and I feel I have a lot to learn but excited to do so.
• I’d like to be able to attend one or two LGBT conferences over the next year and represent my company.
• I’d like to publicly come out to my whole organization proactively.

When I decided to come out at work I could see something unknown but exciting beyond what was immediately clear to me. I didn’t know where coming out would take me, but I had the hope that it would open new exciting vistas. While I’m scared, (which is ok), I’m also tremendously excited about what’s to come. Bring it on!!