2014 Information & Data Quality Awards Presented to Dr Fisher, Dr Talburt & Mr Walenta

RICHMOND, Va. - Oct. 9, 2014 - PRLog -- IAIDQ presented Dr Craig Fisher (Professor Emeritus, Information Systems, Marist College, NY) with the 2014 Outstanding Achievement Award. This award recognizes his decades of dedication to the information and data quality profession and outstanding contributions including books, article publications, seminars, services and training courses around the world.

The 2014 Distinguished Member Award, which recognizes IAIDQ members who have distinguished themselves through their outstanding contributions in the field of information and data quality, was awarded to Dr John Talburt (Chief Scientist, Black Oak Partners, Little Rock, AR). At the same time, past president of IAIDQ Mr Christian Walenta (System X, Lenovo) was awarded with the 2014 Distinguished Service Award. This recognizes an IAIDQ member with dedication and exceptional service to the association, to its members and to its Board of Directors.

Dr Craig Fisher has worked tirelessly as an academic and educator for the past quarter century in the information and data quality field following a twenty year corporate career in information technology. His seminal work in getting IQ courses in academia resulted in developing the curriculum and teaching one of the first IQ courses at the undergrad level. His unstoppable enthusiasm for educating the next generation of IQ researchers and practitioners led him to publish numerous excellent papers with many focusing on IQ Skills, and impact of data quality on decision-making.  He was the lead author of one of the first IQ textbook, “Introduction to Information Quality”, first published in 2006
Dr John Talburt’s award is a testament to his outstanding contributions to the information quality discipline and profession worldwide. Whether it is as an advisor to the IAIDQ board, or as a Professor of Information Sciences at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), or as Executive Director of the UALR Center for Advanced Research in Entity Resolution and Information Quality (ERIQ,) or also as chief scientist at a startup Black Oak Partners, LLC, John deserves kudos from all angles as he is fulfilling all of those roles concurrently!

John was instrumental in establishing the Master of Science program in Information Quality at UALR, the first such program in the US. He helped set-up the PhD program that followed. As a professor and as Coordinator for the Information Quality Graduate Program, he has guided the research, academic excellence and professional success of countless students from across the globe. In addition, his academic leadership and research have significantly advanced the disciplines of information quality and entity resolution both nationally and internationally.
As an advisor to the IAIDQ Board of Directors, Dr Talburt continues to shape the strategic direction of the organization and has played a vital role in the development of IAIDQ’s Information Quality Certified Professional (IQCP) credential. He also co-authored IAIDQ’s seminal 2011 study the “Job Analysis Report: The Job of the Information/Data Quality Professional”

Professor Talburt is an inventor of several patents related to customer data integration. His current research interests are at the intersection of information quality and information integration, focusing in the areas of entity resolution and entity identification. He has authored or co-authored a long list of research papers, and four books on various aspects information quality and entity resolution. Additional contributions to the discipline include serving as a frequent chair or co-chair of the annual International Conference on Information Quality (ICIQ). John is the winner of the 2008 DAMA International Academic Award and is an IAIDQ Information Quality Certified Professional (IQCP). He is also Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP) from the Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals. Prior to his appointment at UALR he was a leader for research and development and product innovation at Acxiom Corporation.

Christian Walenta has been a founding member of IAIDQ, served multiple roles on the board, and has been its longest serving President. One of the great driving forces behind the Information Quality Certified Professional Certification (IQCP) program, currently he is an advisor to the IAIDQ board. Christian achieved various professional certifications, including the IAIDQ Information Quality Certified Professional (IQCP) and the PMI Project Management Professional (PMP). He holds a Master degree in Computer Science and Business Administration, as well as an MBA in International and Strategic Management. Having had a long career with IBM in Germany, UK and United States, Christian has recently joined Lenovo as part of the Server business unit divestiture. For his dedicated, steady, long-term commitment to the association, its members, and the broader community, IAIDQ confers its 2014 Distinguished Service award to Christian.

Dr Fisher, Dr Talburt and Mr. Walenta are consummate professionals who have played important roles in the Information and Data Quality field. These awards are a small token of the gratitude from the members and the Board of Directors for their hard work and investments into making IAIDQ the successful organization it is over the past decade.

For more details, www.iaidq.org
Contact: Piyush Malik (piyush.malik@iaidq.org)

From left: Dr Craig Fisher, Dr John Talburt, Mr Christian Walenta

About IAIDQ

The International Association for Information and Data Quality (IAIDQ) is a not-for-profit, vendor-neutral professional society of people who strive towards increasing the trustworthiness of information by promoting data quality as well as its governance. IAIDQ is a leading source of credible and unbiased best practices on how to improve information quality to deliver great business results. The mission of IAIDQ is to advance the quality of information around the world by building a community, supporting learning and sharing knowledge for the benefit of the profession and information consumers. Its members hold a wide range of positions, live across the globe, and work in all business-sector industries.

Continuing with its annual tradition, IAIDQ will be celebrating World Quality Day this year along with its tenth anniversary with a special webcast on Nov 13th which is open to the public to join in for free. More at http://iaidq.org/webinars/2014-11-13.shtml