[Asis-l] For Immediate Release - Dick Hill set to retire.

[Nadia Caidi]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 27, 2016

With mixed feelings, regret for ourselves but happiness for him, the ASIS&T
Board learned that after 27 years at the service of our organization, our
Executive Director, Dick Hill, will be passing the baton at the end of the
year in order to retire to his rural farm, and a lengthy (and growing) “to
do” list, including serving as a volunteer officer in a couple of
environmental groups.

Dick Hill joined ASIS&T in 1989, having previously run a DC trade
association, his own business, teaching English in several private schools,
and other endeavors.  He then spent the next 27 years at ASIS&T, worked
with 27 different ASIS&T presidents and engineered 3 office moves.  His
tenure involved moving from a Control Data computer with 14 inch disk drive
that had to be changed to run a complete mailing list (he still has a
couple of the disk covers serving as plant saucers) to remote storage and
automatic backup. Dick and ASIS&T started using e-mail in the early 1990’s
courtesy of Clifford Lynch and the Coalition for Networked information,
getting our own domain and service a year or so later.  We went on the web
with a rudimentary site in the mid 90’s.

Under his direction, ASIS&T has gone from a deficit to a sizable surplus
which is conservatively invested.  The contract with Wiley-Blackwell for
publishing JASIST has been renegotiated in our favor twice, and JASIST has
gone from 6 issues to 12 per year; the ASIS&T Digital Library was
inaugurated in cooperation with Wiley-Blackwell and goes back to Volume 1,
issue 1 of what is now JASIST.

Dick perhaps is proudest of two accomplishments: 1) the staff size is the
same now as it was in 1989, and the same core of the team has remained in
place since the early 1990’s, through all the moves, increased revenues and
workload; and 2) building the IA Summit and RDAP Summits and the
communities that have coalesced around those events.

After almost three decades devoted to our Association, Dick certainly
deserves a break. He will be sorely missed by his staff, the Board and
officers, as well as our members. A constant presence at the Annual
Meetings, and a fervent advocate for the field and our organization, Dick
has mentored and nurtured an impressive number of officers, and has been an
incredible leader for his team at the ASIS&T headquarters. On a recent
visit to the ASIS&T headquarters in Silver Spring (just outside Washington,
DC), President-Elect Lynn Silipigni Connaway and I were touched by the high
esteem that Dick’s team holds for him. Vanessa, Jan, Carline, and Stephan
all spoke with great affection and respect about their “boss,” and it is
clear that his shoes will be hard to fill.

We are all very grateful to Dick for his hard work, dedication and passion
toward making ASIS&T what it is today. I know you will join me in thanking
him and wishing him the best for the next chapter of his life. Dick's
retirement date is yet to be finalized, and he was kind enough to give us
assurance of his commitment to ASIS&T until the new position is filled. The
Board will be hard at work on this matter, and we will keep you updated
regularly. The Board is grateful to Dick and his staff for their
flexibility and cooperation as we turn a new page in the history of our
organization.

There will be ample opportunities at the Annual Meeting to celebrate Dick’s
tenure with ASIS&T. Bring your best stories or photos, and use this chance
to say ‘Thank You’ to Dick and his staff.

Nadia Caidi, ASIS&T President (on behalf of the ASIS&T Board).


Dr. Nadia Caidi
Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
President (2016) of the Association for Information Science & Technology

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