Annual Awards Luncheon Recognizes Key Members

In August, the chapter hosted its Annual Awards Luncheon ceremony to recognize the outstanding contributions of the chapter's key members. The event took place at Wynlakes Golf and Country Club in Montgomery, Alabama, and drew a full house of military, industry and government personnel. The following individuals were recognized with chapter-level awards: Capt. Jesse Wayne, USAF, Young AFCEAN of the Year; Master Sgt. Patterson Collins, USAF, Government AFCEAN of the Year; Dr. Joe Besselman, Industry AFCEAN of the Year; and John Hardt, Lifetime Achievement Award. Additionally, the following individuals were recognized for their recent awards from AFCEA International: Cheryl Brown, Medal of Merit; Kameke Mitchell, Meritorious Service Award; Denise Baylor, Small-Business Person of the Year; Adam Vencill, Regional Distinguished Young AFCEAN of the Year; and Master Sgt. Neil Stewart, USAF, Emerging Leadership Award. The chapter also was the recipient of the following awards: 2014 Model Chapter; 2014 Young AFCEAN Program of the Year; and 2014 Model Young AFCEAN Program–Large Category. Before the ceremony, the following education-related awards were distributed: $5,000 each to the robotics programs of Wetumpka High School and Macon County Schools and to Maxwell Air Force Base Elementary-Middle School's FIRST Lego League; and a $1,000 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) scholarship to Dr. Melvin Lowe, educational coordinator, Macon County career and technical education. Additionally, the following generous donations to the chapter's Education Foundation were made by local companies: $5,000 from Integrated Computer Solutions (ICS) and $4,000 from Unisys. The luncheon also featured a presentation from Lt. Gen. Michael Peterson, USAF (Ret.), vice president, strategic initiatives, AECOM. Peterson shared his thoughts on the world of cyber during his presentation and mentioned that the Air Force is set to gain upward of 6,000 of the best and brightest personnel for cyber mission sets. He said joint services will help focus advanced capabilities to mitigate threats. Peterson noted today's combination of communication and computer career fields and predicted eventually the same will occur in the cyber world, yielding increased security and efficiency. He stated the importance of critical infrastructure protection and the Army's and Navy's ongoing efforts to move ahead in this area. He highlighted that big data is no longer relative to just the intel community and that commitment to the cloud via step-by-step understanding of payoffs of standard configuration tools is critical. The chapter congratulates all award recipients on their achievements and wishes all robotics programs continued success. The chapter also extends gratitude to ICS and Unisys for their generosity and continued support of the Montgomery Chapter Education Foundation. Finally, the chapter thanks Peterson for donating his time to speak to luncheon attendees.

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