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Distinguished Society Service Award

The Distinguished Society Service Award, established in 1973, recognizes Society members who have at least fifteen (15) years of accumulated, devoted service and contribution to organizational units of the Society and its members.

2009 Honorees

Citation:

In recognition of outstanding service and contributions to the Society and its Members.

Mike Huereca
Rawson, Houston, Texas, USA (Houston Section)

About: Huereca, an ISA member for 20 years, has demonstrated dedication and commitment to ISA by his active involvement serving in the Section officer positions of President in the Tampa Bay Section and the Panhandle Section. In addition, he has served on numerous Section Committees and has most recently held the position of Secretary and Treasurer of the Houston Section. He has also served at the Society’s executive level as District Vice President on the ISA Executive Board, Vice Chair of the Board of District Vice Presidents, and in numerous Society Committee positions.

Huereca graduated from Texas Tech University in Lubbock Texas with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology.

Huereca is Project Engineering Manager for Rawson in Houston, Texas, USA and is considered an expert on control valve sizing especially for noise and cavitation in gaseous and liquid fluids and an expert on the use of engineering applications software.

Shigeo Kuroiwa
ARC Advisory Group, Kitasaku-gun Nagano, Japan (Japan Section)

About: Kuroiwa has been a member of ISA for 26 years. He has demonstrated dedication and commitment to ISA by his active involvement in the Society serving as President of ISA Japan Section for nine years. In addition, he has participated in numerous ISA conference events and has helped to further liaison relationships with other associations in Japan such as the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers (SICE) and Japan Electric Measurement Instruments Manufacturers Association (JEMIMA).

Kuroiwa was a Senior Director for ARC Japan Office, from November 1999 to December 2008. Prior to joining ARC, he was engaged in Fuji Electric over 30 years. He was also a director of Fieldbus Foundation and a director of SICE.

Kuroiwa received the B.E. and M.E .Degrees from University of Tokyo in 1964 and 1966 respectively.

Dale C. Merriman
MerTech Inc, Houston, Texas, USA (Houston Section)

About: Merriman, an ISA member for 25 years, has demonstrated dedication and commitment to ISA by his active involvement serving in numerous positions in the Houston Section including Secretary, Treasurer, and President. He has also held positions in the ISA Analysis Division, including Symposium Chair, Honors & Awards Chair, and Division Director and was twice named Analysis Division Member of the Year. In addition to his Section and Division activity, Merriman has served at the Society level in numerous Committee positions including ISA EXPO Host Committee Chair, ISA EXPO Program Committee Chair, Finance Committee Member. He has also served multiple terms on the ISA Executive Board as Automation & Technology Department Vice President and Board Parliamentarian.

Merriman is President of MerTech Inc. in Houston, Texas, USA.

R. Russell Rhinehart, Ph.D.
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA (Tulsa Section)

About: Rhinehart has been a member of ISA for 23 years. He has demonstrated dedication and commitment to ISA by his active involvement in the Society serving as Editor-in-Chief of ISA Transactions, the Society’s peer reviewed journal, for 10 years. In addition, he has held numerous positions, including Director of ISA’s Automatic Control Systems Division (ACOS), ISA’s delegate to the American Automation Control Council (AACC) and a member of numerous task forces and committees.

Rhinehart is a Professor at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA.

J. Todd McKinney
Westlake CA & O Corp, Paducah, Kentucky, USA (Paducah Section)

About: McKinney, an ISA member for 18 years, has demonstrated dedication and commitment to the Society by his active involvement in the ISA Paducah Section serving as Section Program Chair, Secretary, Vice President, President, and member of the Section’s Executive Board. 

McKinney obtained a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla and is a registered professional engineer in the state of Kentucky. He is a Senior Instrumentation and Controls Engineer for Westlake Chemical Corporation in Calvert City, Kentucky, USA.

Dennis J. Fundzak
Middough Inc, Brunswick, Ohio, USA (Cleveland Section)

About: Fundzak, an ISA member for 35 years, has demonstrated dedication and commitment to the Society by his active involvement in the ISA Cleveland Section serving as chair of numerous Section Committees as well as the Section officer positions of Treasurer and President. In addition, he has also served as the Section’s Delegate to the Society’s highest governing body, the Council of Society Delegates.

Fundzak is an Engineering Manager for Middough Inc., in Brunswick, Ohio, USA.

Anna Marie Spargo
Process Measurement Co., Omaha, Nebraska, USA (Omaha Section)

About: An ISA member for 19 years, Spargo has demonstrated dedication and commitment to the Society by her active involvement in the ISA Omaha Section serving for 11 years as Section Secretary, Newsletter Editor, and more than 15 years as Meeting Coordinator. 

Spargo works in Customer Service and Sales for Process Measurement Company of Omaha, Nebraska, USA.

Award and Presentation:

The Distinguished Society Service Award may be conferred annually to up to 10 ISA members. The Award presentation consists of a plaque presented to each recipient during the annual honors and awards program.

Qualifications:

This award was established to give Society-wide recognition to those dedicated members who through long service have contributed much to the Society and its organizational units. A minimum of three years must have elapsed following receipt of a Society level service award (an award made by the Society Honors and Awards Committee) and /or membership on the Society Exective Board, Society Board of Department Vice Presients, or Society Board of District Vice Presidents in order to be considered. No individual may receive this award more than once.

Nomination:

Nominations are accepted from any member.The Honors and Awards Committee selects up to a maximum of ten (10) Service Award recipients. Nominations are made in writing on the appropriate form.

Previous Honorees: