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NPA Honors
Individuals for Excellence in the Networking
Industry
LAS VEGAS May
8, 2002 Six individuals were recognized
today as the Network Professional Association
hosted its first Awards for Professionalism
ceremony at Networld+ Interop 2002, which took
place at noon, May 8, 2002 at the Las Vegas
Convention Center. The award winners were
acknowledged for their outstanding achievements in
the field of networking administration.
In inaugurating this event, the NPA asked the
networking industry to recognize and promote the
excellence within it, and the industry has
responded with winners, said Chris Setz,
president, NPA Advisory Board. It is appropriate
that the professional body for networking provide
the framework for these winners to set ethical and
professional standards. It is in the nature of our
industry that future winners will continue to
raise those standards.
Presiding over this year's NPA Awards for
Professionalism were judges Jim Belasco, chairman,
NPA board of directors; Chris Setz, president, NPA
advisory board; Fritz Nelson, publisher, Network
Computing Magazine; and John Gallant, editorial
director, Network World Magazine.
Canadian Stephen Ibaraki took home the highest
honor as the recipient of the Best Networking
Professional Career Achievement Award. Ibaraki
is chairman of iGEN Knowledge Solutions Inc. and
senior faculty/head of research for Advanced
Professional Programs at Capilano College. As a
distinguished writer and speaker with a career
stretching over 35 years, Ibaraki has won numerous
awards, including the prestigious Gary Hadford
Professional Achievement Award, the highest of
international IT awards, presented to him by the
Canadian Information Processing Society.
The honor of Best Rookie was awarded to Henry
Penaranda, a Vice President in the Global Network
Services Group of Citigroup. In less than two and
a half years, Penaranda progressed from consultant
to assistant vice president to his current
position while accumulating numerous
certifications and completing his Masters degree
in IT Project Management from George Washington
University.
As a Systems Specialist with Ontario's Shaw
Cablesystems, Graham Reed is the NPA's award
winner for Youngest Networking Person. Reed, now
age 20, launched his career in networking at the
age of 11 by setting up his own dialup Bulletin
Board System (BBS). At age 15, he implemented a
peer-to-peer Ethernet network for the Coleman
County Medical Center in Austin, Texas. He has
since served as the network security specialist
for a Canadian Internet Service Provider (ISP),
where he maintained the provider's backbone using
wireless spread spectrum technology.
Doug Linman,
CEO and chief engineer of Network Anatomy,
LLC received the Award for the Most
Innovative Networking Project - System Integrator
Implementation , for his design of a
wearable communication system in the wake of the
events on September 11. The fully integrated
communications system that includes voice, data,
audio and video capabilities along with survival
elements and wound management fits in one
lightweight backpack system.
David Vaillancourt, founder of CompuSage, LLP
was awarded the Most Innovative Networking Project
Small Business Implementation for BatterUp, a
math skills game. Vaillancourt has implemented a
network version of BatterUp throughout the public
school system.
The Most Innovative Networking Project
Corporate Implementation Award went to William
Collins of the educational management
organization, White Hat Management. As network
technology manager, Collins designed and managed
the implementation of servers and network
configuration for charter schools and distance
learning academies.
We are very excited to kick off our first
awards ceremony," said Jim Belasco, chairman, NPA
board of directors. "It is a privilege to
recognize these individuals for their
contributions to the industry, and we congratulate
all the winners and finalists.
The Network Professional Association (NPA) is a
self-regulating, non-profit organization of
network computing professionals. With a membership
comprised of network professionals from around the
world, the NPA strives to advance the profession
of network computing by setting standards of
technical expertise and professionalism.
Originally formed by Novell as the CNE
Professional Association, the NPA became
independent of any one sponsor more than decade
ago and continues to receive industry-wide support
from all of the major networking organizations.
For more information, visit http://www.npa.org/or
call 714-573-4780.
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