The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has elected two new board directors and elevated six members to the status of Fellow at its latest meeting in Brisbane over the weekend.
One new board director is Rathika Suresh, who will serve as director of the community affairs board, which drives ACS policy initiatives in the areas of education, health, ethics, legal and community issues.
An IT professional for more than 20 years, she currently works as IT manager at Pymble Ladies College in Sydney, providing IT infrastructure and resources for a network of some 2400 laptops for staff and students.
Tom Worthington has been appointed director of the communications technologies board.
A former ACS president (1996-7), he spent several years within the Department of Defence and now consults in the Internet and broadband space within Australia and overseas as well as contributing to policy submissions.
ACS president Edward Mandla said the new board directors are well qualified to contribute to the ongoing work of the ACS.
"Both Rathika and Tom have substantial experience relevant to their portfolios and I am confident they'll have many opportunities to help further the society's goals and initiatives," Mandla said.
"I'm delighted to announce that six additional members have now been named as ACS Fellows in recognition of their outstanding achievements."
The new Fellows include Jeff Ferguson, who has enjoyed a career both in industry and academia, latterly teaching at the University of Western Sydney, where he was a member of the global information technology group; Malcolm Grierson, who is director general of the Department of Public Works in Queensland; and Simon Hackett, described as one of the Internet's true pioneers in Australia.
Also chosen as ACS Fellows are Professor Lakshmi Narasimhan, who served for several years as principle research scientist at the Australian Defence and Science and Technology Organization and is professor and Chair in software engineering at the University of Newcastle; Professor Paul Swatman, who served as director of the ACS information systems board from 1995-7; and Stephen White, who has participated in extensive litigation cases in the federal court relating to telecommunications systems and technology against leading technology firms.