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Lifetime achievement award for Henke

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Apr 13, 2006

Dr Russell F Henke will receive the 2006 CAD Society Lifetime Achievement Award for his life-long dedication to the CAD industry.

The CAD Society has revealed the winner of the 2006 CAD Society Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr Russell F Henke was selected to receive this year's award for his life-long dedication to the CAD industry as a top-level engineer, educator, corporate executive, consultant and respected industry analyst.

The CAD Society Lifetime Achievement Award is presented for a lifetime of outstanding technical and business contributions to the CAD industry.

The award will be presented at a ceremony on 22nd April 2006, at COFES2006: the congress on the future of engineering software, being held in Scottsdale, Arizona, from 20th to 23rd April 2006.

Dr Henke is currently President of Henke Associates, business/management consultant to over three-dozen high-technology client companies worldwide for the last ten years.

Henke Associates is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

During the previous 25 years - while serving as corporate officer, board member or entrepreneur - he was active in developing, marketing, selling and supporting commercially successful applications software and global professional services in electronic design automation (EDA); finite element analysis and mechanical CAD/CAM, as well as in industrial and electronics manufacturing.

He held consecutive corporate executive positions at Mentor Graphics Corporation, Automation Technology Products, Gould Electronics, Schlumberger Applicon and SDRC.

He started his career in the machine tool training program at the Cincinnati Milling Machine Company and simultaneously earned ME, MS and PhD degrees at the University of Cincinnati.

Dr Henke also "moonlighted" as an adjunct assistant professor, teaching mathematics and engineering for 13 years.

In 1989, Dr Henke received a Distinguished Alumnus Award from UC.

A member of ASME, IEEE and the SME, he was elected an SME Fellow in Class of 2000, one of only 225 Fellows in SME's entire history.

He was also elected in 2001 by the SME Membership as an International SME Director.

Dr Henke received an award for Professional Leadership from the IEEE in 2002, and was elected an ASME International Fellow in 2003.

"Dr Russ Henke is one of the best senior executives I have encountered in my 38 years in high tech", said John Isaac of Mentor Graphics Corp.

"He has an understanding of all aspects of a business including financial, engineering, marketing and sales".

"He is the most organised and thorough CEO level executive I have ever worked with".

"I met Russ Henke on my very first day of work as a new employee of SDRC in 1979".

"Russ was giving a seminar to key SDRC customers in Southern California on the benefits of CAD/CAM/CAE", said Jeffrey Young, VP and General Manager, ATA Engineering.

"I attended Dr Henke's seminar as part of my training/orientation".

"His vision of the future of CAD/CAM/CAE, and his ability to communicate that vision, dramatically reinforced the good fortune of my decision to join SDRC".

"I had joined a company committed to changing the way mechanical engineering was done, lead by a team of people like Dr Henke with the ability to make it happen".

"Later I learned about Dr Henke's passion for balance and ethics in our business and how it was communicated to every employee as a set of specific goals and objectives".

"I applied what I learned from Russ throughout my 20 year career at SDRC, and later when I spun off a new consulting company (ATA Engineering) with a group of my SDRC colleagues".

"He continues to inspire".

"I've known Russ just a few years, but have come to realise and appreciate the breadth and depth of his knowledge in both the MCAD and EDA arenas", said Jeff Rowe, President, CAD Society.

"He has accomplished a great deal on many different levels and capacities during his distinguished career, and, therefore, is a very worthy recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, and the CAD Society applauds both he and his accomplishments".

The CAD Society is a not-for-profit industry association with the goal of fostering a community and encouraging open communication among those who make their living within the CAD industry including AEC, mechanical, manufacturing and GIS.