2011 Hugi Award Winners
Leadership Award: CURT PEDERSON
The 2011 Hugi Leadership Award honors Curt Pederson for his many years of service, leadership, and invaluable efforts to further the goals of NWACC, OSU, and computing in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
Since joining the NWACC Council in 1997, Curt has served on the Executive Committee, the Membership Committee (chair), the Excellence Award Committee (chair), the Coho Open Source Study Committee, and the Nominating Committee.
In 1998, as chair of the Membership Committee, Curt steered it through some very difficult conversations. His report, which was delivered in October 1998, outlined a coherent transition plan from NWACC’s earlier role (as an internet service provider) to its new role (as a framework for IT collaboration in education and research). The report provided a thoughtful description of different classes and fees for membership and recommended that the door be opened to new members.
When the report was presented to the Board, it met stiff opposition from those who felt that NWACC's newly found wealth (from the sale of NorthWestNet) should not be diluted by sharing it with a larger membership. The report recommendation was put to a vote and soundly defeated, but Curt took it in good spirit and carried on the crusade. In 2003, he participated in a Membership Task Force that once again proposed admitting new members. This time the Board approved the recommendation and eventually NWACC opened its doors to new members. Without Curt's tireless efforts in support of inclusiveness, NWACC might have gone in a very different direction.
Lifetime Achievement Award: BOB GILLESPIE
In the mid 1980s, when the provosts of more than half a dozen universities in the Pacific Northwest decided to partner with the Boeing Company, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and WICHE to establish a regional computer network, they turned to Bob Gillespie to coordinate the development and submission of a proposal to the National Science Foundation. Thanks to Bob's outstanding work as a consultant, the funding was approved and in 1987 NWACC came into existence. It would be entirely fair to say that Bob is NWACC's "founding father" (or at least its "founding midwife").
A decade later, when the then-executive director of NWACC, Eric Hood, launched an effort to spin off and sell the networking component of NWACC, Bob was retained by the Board to facilitate the sale. Thanks to Bob's depth of experience, NWACC successfully navigated some very intricate legal and financial complexities and eventually consummated the sale to World Net Access, Inc. (later Verio, Inc.), thereby creating the endowment that supports NWACC activities to this day. Following the sale of NorthWestNet, the Board drafted Bob to serve as NWACC's President and Chief Operating Officer for three years, until his (nominal) retirement in 1999.
NWACC owes Bob a unique debt of gratitude, not only for helping to establish NWACC nearly a quarter century ago, but for ensuring, through the creation and stewardship of its endowment, that it will continue to be a resource for technology in education and research in the NorthWest for many years to come.