ACS Elects New Leadership Team
Monday 22 September 1997 - The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has today named Vice-President, Prins Ralston, as President-elect to lead the Society towards the Year 2000.
Mr Ralston was one of seven people elected to fill prominent positions within the Society during a meeting of the ACS Council in Darwin. He will take over from current President, Tom Worthington, for a two year term on 1 January 1998.
In accepting the position, Mr Ralston stated his intention to build the Society’s profile within the industry to ensure members receive higher recognition from their peers, as well as working closely with government and industry organisations to develop the information industries and grow Australia’s IT exports.
"Over the past several months, the ACS has significantly raised its profile both within and without the industry, providing valuable input to various Government Committees including the Information Industries Taskforce, the Senate Inquiry into Internet Regulation and others."
"We will continue actively lobbying the Government to give IT a higher priority as it plans for this nation’s future, ensuring that Australia is equipped to play a major role in the Information Economy," he said.
Mr Ralston concluded by saying he appreciated the honour which had been bestowed upon him and he looked forward to the challenges of his presidential term.
In addition to Mr Ralston’s election, the ACS Council has also re-elected Denis Street and elected Philip Argy to fill the two positions of Vice President.
Andrew Freeman has been re-elected Director of the ACS Community Affairs Board while Glenn Stewart will take over the Directorship of the Society’s Publications Board from Professor John Hughes.
Council placed on record its appreciation for the services rendered by Professor Hughes to the ACS, particularly in the area of publications, where he was instrumental over many years in ensuring the ACS produced quality magazines in both the technical (ACJ) and issues (InformationAge) arenas.
Dr Don Walker has been re-appointed to the Chair of the ACS Health Informatics Committee, and Associate Professor Anne McDougall has been named as Chair of the ACS National Computer Education Committee (NCEC) and consequentially as the ACS representative on the National Board of the Australian Council for Computers in Education (ACCE), and as Australia's representative on the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Technical Committee on Education (TC3).
In announcing Professor McDougall’s appointment, the Council paid tribute to the hard work and numerous achievements of Associate Professor Sandra Wills, who held these positions for the past 13 years.
NT Government Reception
Mr Ralston’s election was announced on Friday afternoon at a special reception held by the NT Government to welcome the ACS Council to the Northern Territory.
The Minister for Communications and Advanced Technology, Mr Peter Adamson, met with ACS officials on Friday morning to discuss the Government’s directions with regard to the Information Industries, its recent formation of the new Ministry, and its involvement with the strategic South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation Conference, SEARCC’98, to be held in Darwin next year.
Speaking at the afternoon reception, Mr Adamson highlighted the importance of the IT industry to the Territory as it seeks to build a stronger presence in the Asian region.
"Through initiatives such as our new Ministry and our support for SEARCC’98, we are positioning ourselves to take full advantage of the many opportunities information technology can offer in terms of export development, job growth and general lifestyle improvements.
"We greatly value the role the ACS plays in providing independent, expert advice on IT issues and policy directions as we work to establish the NT as a key provider of IT goods and services through the Asia-Pacific," he said.
This media release is located on the Web at: http://www.acs.org.au/news/newpres.htm
ENDS
Media Enquiries:
Prins Ralston, ACS National Vice President, Tel: (0411) 755069, Email: P_Ralston@ntu.edu.au
Caroline New, Caroline New PR, Tel: (02) 9980 8060 or (0411) 889 456, Email: cnew@acslink.net.au
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