GSA Technology Council

Dr. Richard “Ric” Routh is the Director of the Institute for CIO Excellence and a full-time faculty member in the Department of Informatics at USC Upstate.  He teaches courses in LAN, WAN, Information Security, Corporate Communications, Java programming and the Senior Seminar to prepare graduating seniors to understand the challenges that face a corporate CIO and how to communicate in a political corporate environment as business strategists.

Dr. Routh is also the president of The GINESYS Corporation—a company that specializes in mentoring CIOs and IT Directors in their challenge to be more effective executive level business strategists. From 2002-2005, he was the host of the Upstate´s “Executive IT Forum.’ Dr. Routh has served as adjunct technical advisor to the Cabinet of the President of the United States (Reagan Administration-1988), as founder and first Director of the U.S. Army´s Artificial Intelligence Training Facility (1985-1988), as an e-commerce and business strategy consultant for a broad cross-section of business and industry (1988 – present), and as the president of a successful dot.com business which rose to be the top retailer in a niche sporting goods market, and was sold at a profit in 1999.  He has numerous publications including being the author of the authoritative chapter on Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge Systems in the prestigious H.B. Maynards Industrial Engineering Handbook.

In 1978 he graduated from the United States Military Academy (West Point) and was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He served as an Army officer for over ten years in the capacities of those jobs listed above as well as: Operations Officer for a strategic communications battalion, Platoon leader for cable and antenna construction platoon, Aide-de-Camp to the Deputy Commanding General of the Army´s Communication Command, and Staff Officer responsible for telecommunication computer studies. His highest rank attained was Major (in the U.S. Army Reserves).

In 1982, he completed a Masters Degree in Business Management from the University of Phoenix. His Thesis work was titled Basic Principles and Guidelines for the Successful Management of a Small Business. In 1983, he completed a Masters of Science degree in Computer Systems from the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT). His thesis was titled A Spoken English Recognition Expert System. In 1985, he completed a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from AFIT. His dissertation was titled Cortical Thought Theory (CTT): A Working Model of the Human Gestalt Mechanism.

Dr. Routh is married to the former Edith Caroline Nichols of Savannah, Georgia. They have five children ranging in ages from 24 to 11. They make their home on a cattle ranch in the mountains of western North Carolina.

Industry
The Silver Crescent Foundation has launched Camp Success, a summer camp program aimed at luring more young people into engineering and technology related careers.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, overall engineering employment is expected to grow by 9 to 17 percent by 2014. “Competitive pressures and advancing technology will force companies to improve and update product designs and to optimize their manufacturing processes. Employers will rely on engineers to further increase productivity as investment in plant and equipment increases to expand output of goods and services. New technologies continue to improve the design process, enabling engineers to produce and analyze various product designs much more rapidly than in the past. Unlike in other fields, however, technological advances are not expected to limit employment opportunities substantially, because they will permit the development of new products and processes.”*

Many engineering related jobs are among the highest-paid in South Carolina. In the Columbia area alone, the mean annual salary for industrial engineers is in excess of $66,000. In the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson area, electrical engineers may earn more than $75,000 per year.** Yet many high school and college students are not considering engineering and technology as career options either because they are unaware of the opportunities or they consider the work outmoded.

As a way to connect with tomorrow’s business leaders, the Silver Crescent Foundation has created a summer camp focusing on engineering, for students entering grades 7 or 8. Camp details are online at www.campsuccess.org. This state-of-the-art day camp helps students develop the creative, innovative thinking skills that are behind all the latest technologies. Campers will gain hands-on problem solving and design experience by solving real problems.

“Campers won’t be saying, ‘Why must we learn this,’ or ‘will this be on the test,’” Minnie Blackwell, director and curriculum coordinator for the Trident Education Business Alliance, said. “They will actually tackle real community projects, enjoy technology and build working relationships. They will be introduced to the nature of engineering using rigor, relevance and relationship. The campers’ week will be a fun, full week tied to issues young people are already thinking about, but most important, they will be able to solve a problem for their customer and walk away knowing the essence of the field of engineering.”

Camp Success will be held June 11 – 17 at Midlands Technical College and June 18 – 24 at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College. Application forms and detailed information can be found at the Camp Success web site, www.campsuccess.org, or by contacting Midlands Technical College (Permelia Luongo) at (803) 738-7743 or luongop@midlandstech.edu, or Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College (Denise Kearse) at (803) 535-1409 or kearsed@OCtech.edu.

Camp Success 2006 is made possible by funds from the U.S. Department of Education and through the support of the South Carolina Congressional Delegation, Midlands Education and Technology Alliance, Midlands Technical College, Next Generation Manufacturing Technology Initiative, Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College, the Office of Career and Technology Education, South Carolina Department of Education, and Carolina Careers.

*Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-07 Edition, Engineers, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm.

** South Carolina Employment Security Commission

via <A HREF=”http://www.salutetomanufacturing.com/” TARGET=”_blank”>Silver Crescent Foundation</A>



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Arguably one of the hottest technologies to emerge from Microsoft over the past several years, Microsoft Office Sharepoint Services and Microsoft Office Sharepoint Portal Server enable large and small groups alike to collaborate in new and exciting ways.

The February Enterprise Developer’s Guild meeting will discuss how developers can easily develop custom web parts that expose data froma variety of sources in a clean, approachable portal environment.

The GSP Developers Guild meets Feb. 21st at 6:00pm at Greenville Technical College, Bldg 103 Rm 142.

Learn more about this and other Upstate IT groups in the Forums.
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The American Society for Training & Development (ASTD), a national organization dedicated to workplace learning and performance professionals has announced the charter of a new chapter in the Upstate. The Upstate South Carolina ASTD chapter, which received its charter in December 2005, has 50 charter members. The organization has also announced the election of the following members to the Board of Directors: President- Jeff Sinkele, Principal, Summit Strategy, Inc.; President-Elect- Genelle Owens, Director of Training & Development, Buck Mickel Center/ Greenville Technical College; Treasurer- Bill Ellis, CFO, Communication Works, LLC; Secretary- Myrna Walker, Training & Development Director, Hubbell Lighting; Director of Membership- Jeff Gossett, Director of Training & Organizational Design, Bowater Inc.; Director of Professional Development- Barbara Darby, Manager of Workforce Development, The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc.; Director of Communications- Doris Loretta, President, DataBasicx, Inc. There is more information about the chapter and its events at www.upstatescastd.org.
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ScanSource has been named to Forbes Magazine’s Platinum 400, Best Big Companies in America list for 2006. Based on its five-year total return of 18.7% as computed by Forbes, ScanSource ranked 6th out of all technology companies and number 203 overall.

Forbes Magazine develops its Forbes Platinum 400 list by first starting with companies having more than $1 billion in revenue and then evaluating these companies’ sales and earnings growth over five years and the last 12 months. The companies are ranked within 26 different industries based on governance, earnings quality and financial soundness.

“To be recognized by an industry-leading magazine such as Forbes for two years in a row is a testament to the effort of our employees, our manufacturer partners and our shareholders,” said Mike Baur, president and CEO of ScanSource, Inc. “Our goal is to provide best-of-breed products and value-added services to our solution providers and we appreciate their continued business and support.”
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