Emmett Leahy Award Winners 1967 - 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, John McDonald 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.

David G. Goodman earned his Doctorate in Business Education after flying 25 B17 missions during World War II. He became Chairman of the Department of Business Education in the School of Business & Economics at Wisconsin State University, Whitewater, Wisconsin where he developed one of the first university records management courses and programs. These established a record of turning out ‘real-world’ records management graduates. Others have built on his work to establish successful university education programs elsewhere. An outstanding Professor and educational leader, he co-authored one of the first widely used records management textbooks – ‘Business Filing and Records Control’ – which has since been published in many editions, with different co-authors, and widely used by records management professionals. David is one of the first five records management professionals who, together, began conceptualizing what became the Certified Records Manager (CRM) examination and the Institute of Certified Records Managers (ICRM), established in 1975. He also led the establishment of the ARMA Chapter in Milwaukee and across Wisconsin.

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.

A visionary records manager and educator, he began his career in records and information management at the Newcastle 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.
   

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.
     

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.
      

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.”

Patricia Acton has been a records management and library consultant for more than 20 years, during which time filing systems became information management and keypunch cards have been replaced by personal computers and email. Her career has taken her to China, the USA and Canada, and New Zealand where, in 1986, she was commissioned by the New Zealand State Services Commission, in cooperation with National Archives, to head a review of public sector records management. She has watched, experienced, studied, advised and often shuddered at the conceptions and misconceptions that prevailed about records and information management. 

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..

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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.

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.

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.

Artel Ricks’ contributions to the information and records management profession have been his innovation, ingenuity and persistence which have identified him as one of the foremost representatives and able proponents of records management in the USA. He joined the National Archives and Records Service (NARS) in 1952, transferring to its Office of Records Management, Washington in 1954 where he spent the next 20 years until his appointment as NARS Regional Commissioner for Regions 9 and 10 with headquarters in San Francisco, and has served as Director of the Paperwork Standards and Automation Division. He was instrumental in designing and instituting the basic concepts and methods contained in many NARS records management handbooks, and primarily responsible for its records management workshops, launching the first on Forms Improvement in 1957. Used throughout the Federal Government they widely spread to business and industry reaching over ¾ million people in government and beyond. His national symposia, launched in 1962, have reached thousands of people with new ideas and challenges, assisting in meeting Presidential goals for economies and savings. A Certified Records Manager, frequent speaker and consultant, his participation in the Society of American Archivists, Association of Records Executives and Administrators, and role as President of ARMA in 1976-77 have enabled him to help advance the records management profession with an emphasis on automation.

John W. Porter, Manager, IBM Records Management, received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Boston University. He began his records career as an archivist with the National Archives in 1947. He later served as the Archivist of the Marine Corps, Chief of the Federal Records Center, New England (1950-1957) and Chief of the Records Management Division of the General Services Administration (1957-1960). He joined International Business Machines Corporation in 1960. His varied records management activities include consultant in paperwork management to business and industry and lecturer at Harvard and New York University. Mr. Porter is a past president of the Association of Records Executives and Administrators and a member-at-large of the American Records Management Association. 

Donald Avedon’s early career began with Bell Laboratories. He became an imaging consultant writing many publications initially on micrographics and then electronic imaging. He served as Technical Director of AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management).

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.

Chief, Records Management Division, State of California. Woodall was cited for his exemplary leadership of the State of California's records management program.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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).

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.