ACS has announced four Fellows and two Honorary Life Members (HLMs) for 2020.
Members Wayne Fitzsimmons of Victoria, Ian Warner of Tasmania, Nick Brant of Queensland and Sandeep Mathur of NSW have been elevated to the status of Fellow.
The two HLMs are Richard Baecher of NSW and John Price of Queensland.
ACS congratulates the Fellows and Honorary Life Members on their service to the Australian technology sector:
Fellows
Wayne Fitzsimmons
Wayne Fitzsimmons OAM is an outstanding ICT executive and ambassador for Australian innovation and has made many significant and distinguished contributions to Australian ICT.
Wayne established Data General Australia and built this into a $25m company.
He went on to Data General Corporation and played a major role in its development into a global powerhouse during the early years of IT industry development.
At this time, Wayne was asked to lead trade delegations for the United States to protect IT copyright in Brazil.
He was also a co-founder of OpenDirectory and a founding board member of several significant Australian companies.
Wayne has been Chairman of the Pearcey Foundation since 2007, leading many ICT policy and heritage initiatives, roundtables and important industry recognition for the Australian IT industry through the annual Pearcey Medal and Hall of Fame awards, where he held the role of head judge.
Ian Warner
Ian Warner has made a distinguished contribution to ICT in the field/s of software engineering, process engineering and as an ICT entrepreneur.
With over 30 years of industry experience and strong partnerships with IBM and more recently Microsoft, Ian has lead ISW to become a five-time winner of the Tasmanian Export Awards for ICT with the creation of an international business based out of Tasmania with offices in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Hobart and Europe with over 1,000,000 users of the ISW Kudos platform.
Ian has contributed significantly to the Tasmanian economy by being an active leader and board member on various advisory councils for government and industry, creating new ICT jobs, and supporting education and employment pathways for ICT graduates.
Ian has supported the ICT profession by representing Tasmanian ICT businesses, serving on the TASICT Board (twelve years as treasurer, two as president) being a senior member of ACS and as a judge for the Digital Disruptors Awards.
He has been a member of the IBM’s business partner ecosystem advisory council for ASIA Pacific for the last three years.
Nick Brant
Nick has made a significant contribution to the ICT industry in technology leadership, innovation, and effective governance.
He has a demonstrated history as an early adopter through leading the implementation of many extraordinarily successful innovative ‘industry firsts’ in the airline industry.
These include the first carrier in the region to launch check-in kiosks at airports, online web check-in capability, PDF and SMS itineraries, and SMS booking confirmations.
Additionally, he led the implementation for the first major carrier in the world to implement online change functionality.
Nick has a significant history of volunteer activity through assisting with running and planning the 2010 World Computer Congress held in Brisbane and the 2014 G20 ICT Forum.
He has spent a decade on University ICT industry advisory boards promoting ICT professionalism.
Sandeep Mathur
Sandeep Mathur has made a distinguished contribution to ICT by raising the maturity of project and program management in Australia.
He achieved this by working with Standards Australia to produce standards in this field and then by successfully promoting their use, both in his work in ICT and in academia.
A long-term member of Standards Australia’s IT-030 Committee for IT Governance & Management standards, the peak Australian committee that oversees the development and international alignment of standards in this area, he authored several Standards Australia publications including acting as principle author and editor of “SA/SNZ TS 8019:2016 – Governance of Benefits Realization for IT enabled Investments”.
In related work, he contributed significantly to the Project Management Institute’s “The Standard for Program Management” and “The Standard for Portfolio Management” that made available standards previously unpublished in Australia.
He has been able to use the successful application of these standards in his professional career to enthuse and encourage the students that he teaches, with particular recognition from students from migrant communities.
Honorary Life Members
Richard Baecher
Richard Baecher has made an outstanding contribution to ACS through his active participation in the affairs of the Society at both its national and branch levels.
He has served on the NSW BEC for 17 continuous years, in roles including Chair (for 4 years), Vice Chair, Chair of the NSW Fellows Committee and Ordinary Member.
He is recognised for his ongoing contribution over many years to increasing member engagement in the NSW Branch, developing ACS relationships with Government, and his work in recognising and supporting ACS Fellows.
Richard has also served on the Management Committee, in the ACS Congress, and the Disciplinary Committee.
He was Chair of the MC Subcommittee responsible for the move of the ACS into its new Barangaroo Office and has been instrumental in increasing the profile of the ACS in the NSW Government.
John Price
John Price has made an outstanding contribution to the ACS, and to the ACS Foundation Board which he joined in 2008.
Consistently generous with his time, he has unstintingly supported the ACS as a member and Fellow, and as a Board member in ACS Foundation.
As an ACS Fellow, John developed and presented a series of presentations on Emotional Intelligence, Career Development and Interviewing Skills to NSW Branch members.
He delivered the Ethics component of the ACS Professional Year Program and assisted in designing a Communications Skills Course.
John constructed and presented ICT career/ interview skills workshops on multiple visits to eight Australian universities, plus workshops for NSW members.
John then developed a multi series webinar on the same subject, which is still in use today.
Appointed to ACS Strategic Initiatives Advisory Committee in 2012-13, he led planning workshops with the CEO on brand leverage and joint marketing with ACS Foundation.
During this time, John mentored two ACS Presidents in ACS governance and key strategic human resource matters.
In 2014, John was invited to become chief judge of Australia's longest running, innovation recognition awards by its steering committee.
He was subsequently commended for his leadership and tireless effort in making the event an outstanding success during a challenging year.
Since 2015/16 John has continued mentoring and coaching ACS members (some with disabilities) on workplace confidence and employment strategies.
John’s contribution reflects his outstanding ability as an ACS Fellow and a Foundation Board member to achieve strategic and operational consensus between both organisations while contributing significantly to the daily work of each.
