Congratulations to the Pioneer Award Winners

The PPDM Association would like to extend our sincere appreciation and congratulations to the winners of the PPDM Association's 25th Anniversary Pioneer Award for Dedication. The winners of this special award were announced on Wednesday, October 26, 2016, as a part of the 2016 Calgary Data Management Symposium, Tradeshow & AGM.




Winners of this award were selected based on their contributions to the PPDM Association from its early days and their dedicated and sustained involvement over our development years. The award recognizes their pioneering role during the journey from near the start to where we are now.

Congratulations to:
Wes Baird – Wes started off at a technical school in Edmonton way back in the 1970’s with a specialization in geology, and today is Chief Product Architect at geoLOGIC Systems. Wes has been involved with PPDM since the early nineties as a Board Member (off and on), a contractor, a modeling group member and where ever else he can contribute.
Art Boykiw – Art is Vice President – Information Services, at Alberta Energy Regulator. He has been involved as a PPDM work group participant in the development of the PPDM Data Model, on the Board of Directors including as Chairman for 10 years and treasurer, and continues to play a role in Committees.
Dave Fisher – Dave is a retired geologist whose career began in mineral exploration and then oil exploration in Canada. The latter part of his employment was in data management and in that role he was director of the PPDM Association from 1993 to 1999.
Mel Huszti – Mel was a part of what eventually instigated the PPDM Association in 1991, coming out of his work as the coordinator of exploration mapping systems with Gulf Canada. Mel Huszti became PPDM’s first paid Executive Director in January 1995 and the rest is history!
Pat Rhynes – Pat started work in the Oil industry in 1973 and has nearly 40 years of experience. Pat was part of the committee that designed the first version of the PPDM Data Model, as member of the Data Model Sub-Committee.
Yogi Schulz – Yogi has over 40 years of Information Systems experience of which over 30 has been spent as a consultant. Yogi served as a member of the Board of Directors of the PPDM Association for twenty years, and is a vocal advocate of PPDM, never hesitating to share his wisdom and knowledge to ensure we are all achieving the best possible end result.
Chuck Smith – Chuck has been part of the oil industry for decades, and has expertise in data, data management and Geographic Information Systems. As a long-time supporter, Chuck became involved with the PPDM Association as one of the original founding and executive committee members.

We applaud these individuals for their tremendous commitment and dedication to PPDM, and extend a heartfelt thank you for helping the PPDM Association get to the point where we are now.

Read Winners Complete Biographies Here >