Congratulations to Jonathan Jew, winner of this year's Harry J. Pfister Award for Excellence in the Telecommunications Industry. That's essentially a 'lifetime achievement award' given annually by the industry's educational association, BICSI. The association honored Jew and several others with awards on Wednesday night, January 20 as part of its annual awards banquet in Orlando, FL.
Unfortunately for me I was on my way home, somewhere between Orlando and New Hampshire and most likely tens of thousands of feet in the air, at the time Jew received his award that night. I'm remiss that I didn't shake his hand and congratulate him personally.
Here's what BICSI had to say about him when it announced him as the award winner. "Jew has devoted countless hours of volunteer time, effort, and expertise that have resulted in immeasurable benefits to BICSI members and ITS professionals globally. He has been a subject matter expert contributor to numerous BICSI manuals and has acted as a co-chair, vice-chair, editor, and a project lead on many standards and working groups."
From a professional standpoint I can echo BICSI's praise of, and appreciation for, Jonathan Jew and his selfless efforts. Cabling Installation & Maintenance has benefitted from articles he has either written or been quoted in on such topics as the TIA-942 data center standard, The TIA/EIA-606 series of labeling and administration standards, and other data center issues such as humidity and electrostatic discharge.
From a personal standpoint, I can't overstate my appreciation for how willing Jew has been to contribute his time and expertise to these articles and other information products. Recently, he made a presentation during a webcast on TIA standards. He nonchalantly told me he would put his presentation together while he was on his way to an ISO standards meeting in China. I smacked my forehead in appreciative awe; Jonathan Jew went about his business as usual.
Jonathan Jew is one of many individuals who travel the country and the world constructing standards that govern the design, installation, and maintenance practices for structured cabling systems. But one thing that separates him from so many of his standards-making colleagues is that he is not employed by a manufacturer that sells products in the cabling market. He is a principal of J&M Consultants, a data center design firm based in San Francisco. As far as I can tell, he makes these efforts on his own time and his own dime. As he's helping to create North American and global standards, there are no long-term dollar signs for him in the form of thousands of his company's products being sold into the market as a result of the standard being published. He does the work because it will benefit the industry as a whole.
The world seems to have gone from "What-have-you-done-for-me-lately?" to "What-are-you-doing-for-me-right-now? (And-what's-taking-you-so-long?)" For anyone reading this blog, there's a chance that Jonathan Jew is doing something right now that will be to your benefit. Remember, if you're reading this in the middle of the night, a global standards meeting could be happening right now somewhere in the Asia-Pacific region. And even if Jonathan Jew isn't doing something right now, this very second, for you ... I can just about guarantee that he has done something lately - very recently - for you.
Just as I'm remiss not to have seen Jonathan receive his award from BICSI on January 20, I feel a little foolish not to have nominated him for that award in the first place. I just selfishly call or email him when I'm looking for information on a topic. (What can you do for me right now?) His response is almost always immediate, and is always insightful.
Congratulations to Jonathan Jew, a very worthy recipient of the 2010 Harry J. Pfister Award for Excellence in the Telecommunications Industry.
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