ETEC presents 2012 Muddy Boot awards, Young Professional Medal

The East Tennessee Economic Council on Friday named three new recipients of the Muddy Boot Award, a tribute to individuals who through their work and community activities make East Tennessee a stronger region. It also presented the eighth annual Postma Young Professional Medal.

This year’s Muddy Boot honorees were Bonnie Carroll, chairman of the board and chief knowledge officer of Information International Associates, or IIa; Jenny Freeman, vision implementation manager of Strata-G; and Jim Campbell, president of ETEC.

The 2012 Postma Young Professional Medal winner was Rebecca Crowe, small business advocate for Oak Ridge Associated Universities.

The council’s annual celebratory event was keynoted by Kimberly Greene, executive vice president and chief generation officer of Tennessee Valley Authority.

The Muddy Boot Award was created in the 1970s to honor individuals who have gone above the call of duty—like those who served the nation during the Manhattan Project—to make the community, the state of Tennessee and the nation a better place to live and work. More than 70 people have received the award since that time. A full list of recipients and more information about the award can be found on the ETEC website at www.eteconline.org.

“Each of these honorees makes a strong personal commitment to building a better community,” said Barry Stephenson, ETEC board chair. “You see it in how they go about their work, their volunteer commitments in the community, and their personal values.”

Here is more information from an ETEC press release:

As founder of IIa, chairman of the board, and chief knowledge officer, Carroll brings a cross-cutting vision of information management, policy, and technology and a deep commitment to providing excellent service to all of IIa’s clients and partners. Her leadership roles outside of the corporate structure put her at the forefront of strategic futures for information management.

“Bonnie Carroll has been a pioneer in her industry and in the Oak Ridge community,” said Parker Hardy, CEO of the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, “She has been—and remains—in the forefront of transformation changes associated with the collection, storage, management and dissemination of data. She applied her technical and business acumen in a host of community endeavors as well. The Oak Ridge Chamber, ETEC, Rotary, the United Way and Altrusa are among the organizations that have benefited from her leadership.”

For almost four decades, Carroll has participated in research and development projects related to information and knowledge management. In addition to her responsibilities in managing IIa, Carroll is executive director of CENDI, the federal scientific and technical information managers’ group, and has been a consultant to a number of federal science mission agencies. She serves on the National Academy of Science, National Research Council’s Board of Research Data and Information, and is the U.S. national representative to International CODATA.

Carroll served as the first executive secretary for two White House Science Office Interagency Working Groups: the Interagency Working Group for Digital Data, and the Biodiversity and Ecosystems Informatics Working Group. She has served as president of the American Society for Information Science and Technology and as chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Section on Information, Computing and Communications. Carroll has also been a consultant to foreign and international organizations including the International Atomic Energy Agency; the Kingdom of Jordan; United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; and the International Council for Scientific and Technical Information.

Among her awards and recognitions, in 2004, Carroll was named one of Federal Computer Week’s Federal 100 for her work through CENDI to harness “the energy of scientists across government and around the world to launch the first government Web portal on science information.” In 2005, Carroll was awarded the Department of Interior’s Conservation Service Award for her role in developing the National Biological Information Infrastructure and in other biological informatics efforts.

Prior to founding IIa, Carroll worked at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information as director of Program Development and International Activities and deputy and acting assistant manager for Information Services at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

She holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and an master’s degree in library and information science from Columbia University.

“For more than 20 years, Jenny Freeman has brought her passionate energy and inclusive productivity to bear on the region’s most important challenges, including job creation, worker safety, environmental stewardship and expanding opportunities for small businesses,” stated her nomination letter, which was signed by a host of public and private sector leaders. “Jenny Freeman was born with a rare and unequivocal passion.”

As Strata-G’s vision implementation manager, Freeman creates networks and builds bridges for the company and its clients. She also works as the facilitator for the Savannah River Site’s Citizens Advisory Board. Before coming to Strata-G in 2006, Freeman was the executive director of the Energy, Technology, and Environmental Business Association (ETEBA). She helped grow the organization from 80 member companies to 150, and make its annual Business Opportunities Conference one of the largest of its kind in the Southeast. Freeman has also worked for CDM Federal Services providing business development and proposal writing skills in their Oak Ridge office.

One of her most notable recent accomplishments is the development and organization of the Oak Ridge Business Safety Partnership, a group of DOE prime and subcontractors that are dedicated to performing work safely on the DOE Oak Ridge sites. Over the last seven years, there have been regular focused events around safety issues.

Freeman’s history also includes consulting for environmental organizations on issues such as clean air, hazardous waste laws and regulations, and land use planning. She is a long-standing member of Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, one of the oldest grassroots environmental organizations in Tennessee, and has won awards for her efforts in preserving land on Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau. A traveler at heart, she took a year off before her time with ETEBA, and with her husband and then 11- year old daughter, traveled the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

“Ms. Freeman is a gem, a one-of-a-kind individual who has transformed the Oak Ridge landscape,” concluded the nomination letter. “And we in Oak Ridge are truly lucky to have been the beneficiaries of her leadership and energy.”

As president of ETEC, Jim Campbell has spent almost two decades championing federal and state initiatives designed to create prosperity, promote regional development, and expand possibilities for growth in East Tennessee.

“Since assuming leadership of ETEC in 1995, Jim has led the organization to become one of the most effective in the country in supporting the local federal agenda, fostering economic spinoff opportunities, and developing strong regional partners,” said Bob Van Hook, past ETEC chairman.

“Jim has been for many years the leader of Oak Ridge’s highly successful efforts to develop a common set of federal funding priorities among the contractors and community leaders. He has made ETEC one of the most dynamic organizations of its kind anywhere. Visitors are amazed that 150 to 200 people gather for ETEC’s morning programs at 7:30 a.m. every Friday,” added Homer Fisher, also a past chairman of ETEC.

Prior to joining ETEC, Campbell served in various positions at The Oak Ridger, Oak Ridge’s daily newspaper founded at the end of the Manhattan Project. He was editor of the newspaper from 1987 to 1994. During that time, he was also a contributing editor to the Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy, a publication of the University of Tennessee’s Energy, Environment and Research Center. An Oak Ridge resident for over 30 years, Campbell has assisted in the publication of two books on Oak Ridge history.

Campbell is a graduate of Maryville College and the University of Oregon. He has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in economic history. Campbell is a past chairman of the United Way of Anderson County, and has served on the boards for the American Museum of Science and Energy, the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation, the Oak Ridge Sister City Support Group, and Tech 20/20.

The East Tennessee Economic Council is a nonprofit membership organization that focuses on bringing people together to create new opportunities for federal research, national security and environmental programs, and to support technology transfer and economic development programs.