June 20, 2007

Ronald Brunt Named SCTE's 2007 Member of the Year

By Monta Hernon

What more could SCTE look for in a Member of the Year than resurrecting a chapter? That's what this year's recipient, Ronald Brunt, system engineer for Deployment Technologies, is credited with doing for his West Virginia Mountaineer Chapter.

Upon hearing hhis name, Brunt quipped that if he’d known, he "probably would have done something with my hair." On a more serious note, he said his efforts were only to "pay back what I owed to SCTE."

In addition to holding four SCTE certifications, Brunt, an SCTE member since 1992, currently is president of the Mountaineer Chapter, which was in danger of folding a few years ago. Brunt worked to revitalize it via Vendor Days, helping to increase chapter membership in 2006 from 45 to 97. The Mountaineer Chapter also garnered three awards at this year's Chapter Leadership Conference (CLC).

Thomas Gorman, up on stage a couple of times, in acknowledgment of his election as chairman of the SCTE Board and his induction into the Hall of Fame, joked, "I imagine you probably are sick of seeing pictures of me." He also promised that he wouldn't "let the Society down."

Yvette Gordon-Kanouff selected the recipient of this year's Chairman's Award. She chose fellow board member Sally Kinsman, who will be "scooting" around the show floor this year with a broken leg. "She demonstrates to us all what an SCTE member should be," Gordon-Kanouff said.

Carolyn Terry, regional director of engineering for Time Warner Cable's Los Angeles division, was this year's Women in Technology Award winner. Her original ambition was a career in the film industry, but she took a job at Comcast Cablevision after college and discovered cable as her true calling. "I really loved what I did. I loved working with the guys in the field, and I loved the organizations I had the opportunity to be a part of," she said. Over her 20-year career, she has also worked for KPMG, Digeo, Altrio and Adelphia.

Mark Eyer, director of systems, technology standards office, Sony Electronics, was presented the SCTE Excellence in Standards Award. Eyer recently served as the project leader on a sticky revision to ANSI-J-STD-042, a joint standard with CEA, dealing with emergency alert messages for digital cable.

Justin Ko-Cheng Chang, who will attend the University of Pennsylvania in the fall, won the Milton Jerrold Shapp Memorial Scholarship. This $20,000 award, funded by Motorola in honor of cable pioneer and former Pennsylvania Governor Shapp, is given to a high school senior with a parent working in the telecommunications industry. Chang, who recently graduated Valedictorian from Norcross High School in Norcross, GA, earned an 800 on the SAT and was a National Merit Semifinalist.
  
Although the chapter awards were announced at CLC, Chapter of the Year, Mount Rainier, from northwest Washington, was acknowledged at yesterday's luncheon, as was Chapter Member of the Year, Brenda Hunt, president of Arizona's Cactus Chapter. Nods also were given to the remaining top seven chapters and the Safety Award recipients.

- Monta Hernon