IRMA FELLOW PROGRAM

The Information Resources Management Association unveiled its IRMA Fellow Program in 2000 IRMA International. The purpose of this prestigious award is to recognize individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the information technology area in terms of teaching, research and service. An IRMA fellow should command the respect of educators, researchers and practitioners from within the discipline as well as being visible outside the discipline. A Fellow must have a high level of professional integrity, be collegial and willing to mentor junior colleagues in teaching, research and service. New IRMA Fellows will be inducted by the President of IRMA.

In 2000, the association was pleased to announce the induction of Dr. Mo Adam Mahmood and Dr. Karen Loch as the first two inductees of the IRMA Fellow Program honoring their long-term service and contribution to making the Information Resource Management Association a major internationally-recognized organization of information technology resources professionals. In 2001, Dr. Janice Burn was selected and in 2005 Dr. Felix Tan joined the elite group.At the 2007 IRMA International Conference in Vancouver, Canada, Dr. Mehdi Ghods, The Boeing Company, was inducted into this select hall of fame during the President's Luncheon.

Dr. Mo Adam Mahmood is a past president of IRMA (1998-1999). Dr. Mahmood has spent countless hours working behind the scenes to make IRMA a strong, and well-respected professor association. Dr. Mahmood is a professor in the Information and Decision Sciences Department at the University of Texas at El Paso. He also holds the Ellis and Susan Mayfield Endowed Professorship at the College of Business Administration. He has recently been named as one the 2000 Outstanding Scientists of the 20th Century by the International Biographic Centre of Cambridge, England.

Dr. Mahmood is presently serving as the editor of the Journal of End User Computing. He has also recently served as the guest editor of the Journal of Management Information Systems. He has also served as the president of the Faculty Senate at the University of Texas at El Paso. In 1997, because of his technical expertise and leadership role, Governor George W. Bush appointed him to a Texas State Board. In 1998, because of scientific contribution, he was recognized by American Men and Women of Science, "as being among the most distinguished scientists in the United States and Canada."

Dr. Mahmood's research and consulting interests center on the utilization of information technology including electronic commerce for managerial decision making and strategic and competitive advantage. On this topic and others, he had published more than 65 technical research papers in some of the leading journals and conference proceedings in the information technology area.

Dr. Karen Loch was the first IRMA Vice President of International Relations. In this capacity she played a major role in establishing a network of IRMA worldwide representatives that has been instrumental in earning the association the reputation of being a truly international association.

Professionally, Dr. Loch is Director of the Institute of International Business and Associate Professor in the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. In this capacity, she directs undergraduate and graduate degree programs, including a specialized Masters in International Business, a study abroad portfolio, and is actively involved in the Atlanta international business community. Dr. Loch founded and serves as faculty advisor for the International Business Alliance, a student organization that offers students the opportunity to meet and network with international business leaders in Atlanta, Georgia. The IBA sponsors an annual Mentor Program which is now in its 10th year, having matched over 100 students with senior management executives.

Dr. Loch serves as Global Editor for the Journal of Global Information Management, Associate Editor of JGITM and on the editorial review for Information Resources Management Journal. She regularly reviews for the leading scholarly journals. Her research and consulting interests focus on international information technology transfer, ethics and IT, and organizational approaches to knowledge management. She has published in leading journals such as MIS Quarterly, Communications of the ACM, Information Systems Journal, Data Base, Journal of Business Ethics, Academy of Management Executive, Journal of Global Information Management and others. She is the PI of a National Science Grant which examines the role of culture and national IT policy in international technology transfer.

Dr. Janice Burn was bestowed the fellow designation in May 2001. Janice Burn has had a 30 year career in Information Systems and she is currently Foundation Professor and Head of School of Management Information Systems at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia and Director of the We-B research centre - Working for e-Business. She previously held senior academic posts in Hong Kong and the UK with Visiting Positions in Australia and Canada. She is a member of the Australian Research Council and an adviser to the Australian Government on IT.

Her research interests relate to information systems strategy and benefits evaluation in virtual organisations with a particular emphasis on social, political and cultural challenges in an e-business environment. She is recognised as an international researcher with over 150 refereed publications in journals and international conferences. Her fifth book - e-Business Strategies for the Virtual Organisation will be published by Heinneman in October 2001. She is on the editorial board of six prestigious IS journals and participates in a number of joint research projects with international collaboration and funding.

Janice has been closely involved with the Information Resources Management Association (IRMA) since 1993 and was appointed Vice President for Communications in 1997. In 2000 she assumed the role of World President (IRMA) and in 2001 she was elected Fellow. She will continue her association with IRMA as a member of the IRMA Board and a programme committee member for IRMA Seattle Conference in 2002.

Dr. Felix Tan is internationally recognized for his work in the global IT field. As a long time member of IRMA, Felix has taken an active role in enhancing the international aspect of this organization and faithfully participated in IRMA annual conferences once hels. In addition, he is the editor in chief of the IRMA journal, Journal of Global Information Management and is a member of the Executive Council of the association.

Felix Tan is currently Professor of Information Systems and Head of School at the Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. He also holds a Chair in Information Systems. Prior to joining AUT, Professor Tan worked at the University of Auckland for 12 years. In that period, he held visiting positions with the Department of Information Systems, National University of Singapore and Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. He has over 20 years experience in information systems management and information technology consulting with large multinationals in Singapore and New Zealand, as well as in university teaching and research in Singapore, Canada, and New Zealand.

Internationally known for his work in the global IT field, Dr. Tan's current research interests are in business-IT alignment, electronic commerce, global information management, management of IT, national information policy issues and cognitive mapping/narrative methods. His research has been published in MIS Quarterly, Information Management, and the Journal of Information Technology, as well as other journals and refereed conference proceedings. His other professional activities also include serving as Director of the Centre for Research on Information Systems Management, editing ISWorld Net's EndNote Resources page, and assisting the Region 3 (Asia Pacific) Council for the Association for Information Systems. He has also published six books in the global IT field and is editor of the IGI Global book series, Advanced Topics in Global Information Management.

Dr. Mehdi Ghods joined The Boeing Company in 1989, and was selected as a Senior Principal Scientist (1991) / Associate Technical Fellow, which he currently holds. He has been conducting research and has represented Boeing in collaborative research with industry and universities, including Boston University, MIT, University of Texas, Kansas University, University of Utah, Ohio State University, IBM, and other companies. He is a member of Boeing External Technical Affiliations Integration Board and represents Boeing in the Information Resources Management Association (IRMA)..

Prior to joining The Boeing Company, he was a faculty member in the Department of Radiology at Michigan State University, where he did research in medicine, radiology, radiation physics, and research methods. He also served as research director for the department, its Radiology Residency Programs and affiliated hospitals in the State of Michigan. From 1974 through 1981, Dr. Ghods was Technical and Administrative Supervisor for High Energy Physics Laboratories and Cherenkov Laboratory, Michigan State University Department of Physics, conducting and supervising research on-site and in collaboration with Fermi National Accelerator Lab, Brookhaven National Accelerator Lab, and Stanford Linear Accelerator Laboratories. During this period, various high energy physics experiments were funded by the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy.

Dr. Ghods has been involved with IRMA for many years. He served IRMA as its VP for Industry Relations for three years, and was the local conference chair of the 2002 International Conference of IRMA in Seattle Washington, USA. Dr, Ghods has been active in various IRMA research and its official journals. He serves the association in several capacities, including Associate Editor, Information Resources Management Journal (IRMJ), Associate Editor, Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations (JECO), and Associate Editor, International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies. In addition, during 1998-2001, he served IRMJ as a member of its Editorial Review Board. Dr. Ghods’ current research interest and involvement include mathematical and statistical methods, IT research methods, operations research, business intelligence, data mining, data warehousing, IT architecture, IT outsourcing, measurement, evaluation and benchmarking, and IT innovations and emerging technologies. His research publications, throughout the years, have appeared in Physical Review Letters, RADIOLOGY, Investigative Radiology, MISQ, CACM, Decision Support Systems, Journal of Information Technology Management, European Journal of Information Systems, and various other sciences and IT/IS journals and conference proceedings..

The Information Resources Management Association is proud and excited with the addition of Dr. Ghods to this select group. IRMA takes great pride in recognizing these leading scholars for their selection as IRMA Fellows.