Excellence in Records & Information Management
Biographical Sketches of Previous Recipients Of the Emmett Leahy Award
Edward Rosse 1967 (Deceased), a supervising social insurance operations analyst of the Social Security Administration and known informally as "Mr. Microfilm," was the first recipient of the Emmet J. Leahy Award. Rosse's outstanding contributions to the information and records management profession included the design and installation of a Computer Output Microfilm (COM) system in the Social Security Administration.
William Benedon 1968, Director, Corporate Administration Services, Lockheed Corporation, was the second recipient of the Emmett J. Leahy Award. Benedon's selection was based on his records management achievements as an analyst and consultant with the National Records Management Council; as Supervisor of Public Records for the State of New Jersey where he authored one of the first legislative acts for records management and implemented one of the first state total records management program; and at Lockheed Corporation where he implemented and managed a multi-division records management program. Benedon originated the ARMA Records Management Workshop, the Records Management Correspondence Course, and the Records Management Quarterly and served as president of the Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA).
Everett O. Alldredge 1969 (Deceased), Assistant Archivist for Records Management at the National Archives and Records Service was the third recipient of the Emmett J. Leahy Award. Alldredge's leadership in strengthening federal records management programs and in promoting records management across all industries was the basis for his selection.
Charles MacBeth 1970 (Deceased), Manager, Corporate Records Management, Hughes Aircraft Company, was the fourth recipient of the Emmett J. Leahy Award. MacBeth's contributions to the information and records management profession included fifteen years of service to records management and records management innovations in the aerospace industry.
Loretta Kiersky 1971 (Deceased), Director, Central Research Library, Air Reduction Company, was the first woman to receive the Emmett Leahy Award. Kiersky's contributions to the information and records management profession included her participation in standards work through the National Microfilm Association and the Special Libraries Association and innovations in information delivery service that were accepted industry-wide.
William Warren 1972 (Deceased), Supervising Management Analyst, New York Port Authority. Especially noteworthy contributions to the information and records management profession that Warren made include the introduction of a "calculated risk" to records management techniques that identified "low value records" that could be destroyed and a cost benefit technique for reviewing and approving forms and reports.
Donald F. Evans 1973, Records Manager, Union 76 Division, Union Oil Company of California. Evan's contributions to the information and records management profession included his "missionary efforts for the records management profession" and the installation of a machine indexing system for the Union 76 records center, which was the first instance of such an installation in the United States.
Harold J. "Mark" Koenig 1974 (Deceased), Assistant Archivist for Records Management, National Archives and Records Service. Koenig's leadership of the federal government's records management program, especially with record records managers in the Executive and Judicial branches, was cited as the basis for his selection.
Helen Harden 1975, Corporate Records Manager, Frito-Lay, Inc. Harden's efforts to improve records management within her company and ARMA were cited as the basis for her selection. An especially noteworthy innovation was the installation of a computer application for records retention schedules in Frito-Lay that several other companies adopted.
Edward Johnson 1976 (Deceased), Chief, Bureau of Archives and Records Management, Florida Department of State. Johnson held key records management positions in state and federal government records management programs. His contributions to the information and records management profession included documented records improvements that saved millions of dollars at the Alien Registration and Naturalization Service, the National Archives and Records Service, the International Cooperation Administration, and the Office of Civil Defense and Mobilization.
William L. Rofes 1977 (Deceased), Manager-Record Analysis and Control, IBM Corporation. Rofes' outstanding contributions to information and records included the design, development and installation of records management policies, systems, and procedures that had a world-wide effect on the companies employing them.
Benjamin F. Oliver 1978, Retired Director, Program Evaluation Division, Office of Records Management, National Archives and Records Service. Oliver's entire career as a records management was spent in federal agencies where he became the best known and respected records manager in federal service. His leadership in a study of records management in the federal government under the aegis of the Commission on Federal Paperwork resulted in findings and recommendations for improvement that were submitted to Congress.
Robert C. Woodall 1979 (Deceased), Chief, Records Management Division, State of California. Woodall was cited for his exemplary leadership of the State of California's records management program.
Gerald F. Brown 1980 (Deceased), Corporate Records Manager Missouri Pacific Railroad. Brown's records management contributions included installation of a complete in-house microfilm service and a computerized control system for the company's records center and design of flow-charting techniques to trace the life cycle of records from creation to disposition.
Don M. Avedon 1985. Currently Not Available.
John W. Porter 1986. Currently Not Available.
Artel Ricks 1987. Currently Not Available.
Fred V. Diers 1988. Recognized as both a practitioner and consultant for multi-national companies, Diers pioneered the globalization of Records Management practices and the profession through organizing and leading RIM exchange groups to Europe and the Far East and implementing international governance standards. He also is recognized for developing and implementing in the 70's, one of the first company wide records management software that enabled end-users to index, store and access records from their desks.
Anneliese Arenburg 1989 (Deceased). A true Records Management pioneer who established and promoted records management within Canada through active consulting work in both government and the private sector. Arenberg was instrumental in developing records management fundamentals for all levels of management and conducting records management training programs in that created a solid records management foundation in Canada.
Ira A. Penn 1990. Ira A. Penn is a former Senior Management Analyst with the U.S. Federal Government. He retired in 1997 after over three decades in Federal records management. Active in ARMA International at the Association level, Ira was the Editor of the Records Management Quarterly from 1984 until 1998. He received the Britt Literary Award in 1979, the Award of Merit in 1982, was inducted as an ARMA Fellow in 1990, and was presented with a Life Membership in 1998. Ira was also active in the Institute of Certified Records Managers. He was in the first group of records managers to receive the CRM designation and served on the ICRM Examination Development Committee for six years and on its Board of Regents for ten years. He was given the Institute's Award of Merit in 1992. During his records management career Ira wrote scores of articles, gave hundreds of speeches, and was a principal author of the Records Management Handbook.
Robert F. Williams 1991. Founder and President of Cohasset Associates, Inc., his contributions to the records and information professions have been achieved through his activities as a management consultant, educator and publisher. Cohasset has served clients throughout the United States since 1970 - and has come to be renowned one of the nation's foremost consulting firms specializing in management of document-based information. As an educator, he has delivered more than 1000 presentations at seminars, conferences and briefings that have been noted for their clarity and visionary understanding of records management and information issues. He also is the editor of two definitive legal research resources regarding the storage of records on alternative media along with authoring many professional articles and pioneering white papers. Bob Williams is the only person to be honored as a fellow of both AIIM and ARMA.
Patricia Acton, 1992. Currently Not Available.
E. Mark Langemo 1993. Mark Langemo, CRM, FAI, is Professor Emeritus at the University of North Dakota. His contributions to the Records and Information Management (RIM) profession have been achieved as a university professor, consultant, or speaker to 47 U.S. states, most Canadian provinces, and ten countries. His over 600 records management consulting assignments and seminars have been done for the U.S. and Canadian governments; health-care organizations; major corporations; energy and power companies; accounting firms; banks; educational institutions; law firms; ARMA and its chapters; and other organizations. The author or co-author of five books and 60 articles, Mark Langemo has received ARMA’s International’s Award of Merit and Company of Fellows award for
excellence in continuing education seminars.” He has earned University of North Dakota awards as “Teacher of the Year,” for “excellence in instruction,” and a College of Business Merit Award for excellence in teaching, research, and service.”
Donald S. Skupsky 1994. The President and General Counsel of Information Requirements Clearinghouse in Denver, Colorado, which is a major publisher of legal resources and references pertaining to records retention, legal compliance for records and information systems, and legality of alternative records and information media. He and his firm are also actively involved in records and information management consulting, training, and specialized research to prepare responses to proposed government regulations and analyze prevailing legal requirements. Skupsky's exceptional career in the records management profession first included several years as a staff attorney for the National Center for State Courts during which time he became an authority on records and information management in the United States court system. As a catalyst for change and modernization in court administration, he directly and indirectly improved operations of hundreds of courts through the use of improved records and information management programs.
Frank B. Evans 1995. His contributions to the records and information professions have been achieved through his activities as a historian, archival/educator, and records manager administrator. He joined the staff of the National Archives and Records Service (NARS) in 1963 where he became widely known for his leadership of the National Archives Summer Institute two week training course for archivists. This Institute, which linked archives and records management, was the only organized professional training for archivists for almost two decades. In 1976 he joined the staff of Unesco in Paris to create and manage the Records and Archives Management Program (RAMP), which he directed for 8 years. During his tenure, pilot records management programs were established in Africa, Asia, and South America, and a RAMP publication program was begun that addressed a wide range of archives and records management issues (72 publications by 1995). In 1984 he returned to the National Archives where he served as Deputy Assistant Archivist until his retirement in 1996.
Peter A. Smith 1996. A visionary records manager and educator, he began his career in records and information management at the New Castle local government. Under his leadership, the Records Management Association of Australia established the first Chapter for Local Government that developed a program for sharing information about records management among Local Councils throughout the State of New South Wales. This focus on sharing information led to his developing and teaching the first records management formal course at Newcastle Technical and Further Education (TAFE). This, in turn, evolved into a national records management course with twenty-two modules from which all States were able to draw on to structure their courses as well as offer portability, structure and standardisation. No other country has a nationally accredited records and information management suite of modules available or has produced standardised material. He promoted records management concerns and standards and played a key role in the development of Standards Australia IT/21 Records Management Committee, which is the first Australian Standard for records and information management and formed the basis for ISO 15489. In the international arena, he made numerous presentations on records management at international conferences and held leadership roles in the International Records Management Council.
James G. Coulson 1997. A Managing Director of Records and Information Management at Huron Consulting Group as a result of the acquisition of Records Improvement Institute (RII), an international records management consulting firm he founded. Coulson has provided records and information management expertise, leadership and vision to over 300 companies internationally. Jim is co-author of the Records Management Handbook, the Records Improvement Course at Northeastern University and comprehensive electronic records management software. He advises major corporations and information management vendors in the design, development and improvement of their electronic records and information management systems. He is a recipient of the Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA) International Britt Literary Award, the ARMA International Award of Merit, the ARMA Canadian Research and Development Award and has been inducted as an ARMA International Fellow.
David G. Goodman 1998. (Deceased).
John F. McDonald 1999. An information management consultant and educator who has undertaken projects for a wide variety of public sector organizations at the national and international levels. He was formerly responsible for a National Archives of Canada program that provided records management advice to federal government departments and agencies. He is the founder and former chair of the IM Forum, chair of the International Council on Archives' Committee on Electronic Records, and Chair of the Canadian Federal-Provincial-Territorial Records Management Council. In addition to his consulting projects he has written numerous articles on the management of electronic records and has taught records and information management courses at the university and community college levels.
Mary F. Robek 2000. Currently Not Available.
John T. Phillips 2001. Currently Not Available.
Christine Ardern 2002. Currently Not Available.
Bruce Miller 2003. Bruce Miller is President of RIMtech, a vendor-neutral e-records consulting services firm. Mr. Miller is widely regarded as the inventor of modern electronic recordkeeping software. He co-founded Provenance Systems in 1989, where he pioneered ForeMost, the world’s first commercial electronic recordkeeping software, now owned by EMC/Documentum Corp. In 1997 he achieved the world’s first e-Records software certification against the US DoD 5015.2 standard, and has since presided over several successful 5015.2 certifications. He founded Tarian Software in 1999, where he developed the world’s first e-Records software engine for business software. That year he received ARMA Canada’s National Capital Region’s Ted Ferrier Award of Excellence for his contribution to the field of records management. Tarian was the first e-Records technology in the world to be certified against the revised 5015.2 June 2002 standard. In November 2002 Tarian was acquired by IBM, where Mr. Miller served for three years as IBM’s e-Records Strategy and Business Development Executive. He is currently authoring a book entitled “Implementing Electronic Recordkeeping Software – a Methodology for Success”, scheduled for publication in 2009. Bruce holds a Diploma in Electronics Engineering Technology, and a Masters in Business Administration from Queen’s University.
Eugenia Brumm 2004. Currently Not Available.
Charles Dollar 2005. A historian at Oklahoma State University (1968-1974), an electronic records program manager at the National Archives and Records Administration (1974-1994), an archival educator at the University of British Columbia (1994-1999), and a Senior Consultant at Cohasset Associates (1999 to the present), he was a pioneer in establishing the electronic records preservation program of the National Archives in the 1970s. He had a major leadership role in early efforts of the Society of American Archivists and the International Council on Archives to address the challenges of electronic records. He served on the Standards Board of the Association of Information and Image Management and Technical Committee 171 of the International Standards Organization and was the author of ISO 18492, Long Term Preservation of Electronic Document-Based Information (2005). His book on The Impact of Information Technology on Archives Theory and Practice (1993) and Authentic Electronic Records: Strategies for Long Term Access (1997) advanced the profession's understanding of the challenges of digital preservation.
Luciana Duranti 2006. Chair of the Master of Archival Studies at the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies of the University of British Columbia, Canada, and a Professor of archival theory, diplomatics, and the management of digital records in both its master's and doctoral archival programs, she has had a major influence in framing digital preservation issues.. She is the Director of InterPARES, a multinational, collaborative and interdisciplinary research project on the long-term preservation of authentic electronic records. For her research contributions she was honoured in 1999 with the Academic of the Year Award given by the Canadian Universities Faculty Associations; in 2006, with the Killam Research Prize of the Canada Council for the Arts; and, in 2007, with the Jacob Biely Research Prize, the University of British Columbia's "premier research award." For her overall contributions to the records and information field, she was appointed by Italy's Government to the Supreme Council for Cultural Properties (2007-2010), and by the President of UNESCO to the International Advisory Committee of the Memory of the World Program (2007-2011).
Anne Thurston 2007. An educator, practitioner, publisher, director and development specialist, she is acknowledged as a leading authority of records and information management. Recognizing that good records are fundamental in underpinning good governance, the reduction in corruption, the protection of individual entitlements and human rights, and the effective and efficient administration of government programs, she led a study of the state of record keeping systems in over 32 countries across Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Based upon this study she created a master's program and post-graduate research program in records and archives management that focused on the needs and requirements in these countries. Subsequently, she realized that there was a continuing need beyond the university program for ongoing records management tools development and staff education and training, so she undertook a new initiative to create additional education and training opportunities and delivery methods for developing countries. To support this initiative, she created a non-profit organization, the International Records Management Trust (1989) to develop records management tools and techniques that can be incorporated into a training and development program and employed in specific 'country project' programs. In 2000 Queen Elizabeth made her a member of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her service in promoting records management in developing countries.
Kenneth Thibodeau 2008. Director of the Electronic Records Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration, he has defined an extraordinary vision of the management and preservation of electronic records. He has had major leadership responsibilities within the archival community, both nationally and internationally. His written publications and presentations on the preservation of electronic records have had a profound effect on the records and information profession and have raised this awareness in other disciplines, including library and information science, museum studies, computer science, electronic engineering, statistics, natural science, and the humanities. His role in the development of DoD 5015.2 and conceptualization of ISO 14721 helped to establish a conceptual architecture for the persistent preservation of electronic records that formed the basis for the design, deployment, and roll out of the Electronic Records Archives (ERA) Program of the National Archives and Records Administration.