IT Hall of Fame Honors Innovators at CompTIA Annual Member Meeting

The term “Hall of Fame” is used across all facets of our lives, including business, sports and communities, but its significance is rarely acknowledged properly. In many cases, the designation is given to a set number of individuals each year, even during periods when few actually deserve it. Over time, this diminishes the value of the hall of fame, and those who truly are worthy of the honor.

While this dilemma plays out in other industries, CompTIA is looking to continue and build on the legacy of the IT Hall of Fame which was established years ago by CRN magazine. The revamped program includes an IT Channel and IT Innovator Wing for respective honorees. The first is for individuals who have made significant contributions or provided exceptional service to the IT channel, while the second recognizes those responsible for extraordinary technology innovations. The first group was inducted during this week’s CompTIA Annual Member Meeting, including Earl Pace, Phil Katz, and the CompTIA A+ Originators team.

Earl Pace

The first IT Innovator honored during today’s Hall of Fame ceremony was Earl Pace, founder of Black Data Processing Associates. He started his career as a computer programmer for the Pennsylvania Railroad and held a series of increasingly senior positions in the IT industry over the next decade. In 1976, Pace struck out on his own, founding Pace Data Systems, a full-service IT firm with a number of banks, financial institutions, and other customers in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Pace was also a co-founder and president of Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) in Philadelphia. In 1978, he helped move the organization into a national association, which has grown into the largest U.S. professional organization representing minorities in the IT industry. During his acceptance speech, Pace promoted hi association’s purpose, “The BDPA gives underserved youth the soft skills and expertise needed to move up in IT industry.”  

Phil Katz

The other IT Innovator was inducted posthumously for his development that made it easier to send and receive large volumes of data. Phil Katz founded PKWARE, Inc. in 1986 and created the PKZIP/UNZIP programs for data compression that many of us still depend on. His work helped the .ZIP file format become a globally open standard and his industry contributions made him a natural candidate for the Hall of Fame. He died in 2000.

IT Channel Wing

The final IT Hall of Fame inductee was actually a large group of dedicated professionals who spearheaded development of the CompTIA A+ certification. Aaron Woods accepted the award as representative of the group of 18 inductees, and also acknowledged the assistance of Jean Alexander, who was the CompTIA representative for the group during creation of the accreditation.
Members of the CompTIA A+ Originators group include James Brann, IBM (deceased); Richard Bulot, Epson America; Dennis Cagan, Century Computing Marketing; Joe Ciulla, IBM; Julie Faster, Apple Computer; Dave Garcia, Digital Equipment Corporation: Mark Hiltz, PC Parts; John Hlavac, Packard Bell; Alan Hupp, Drake Training and Technologies; Gus Kolias, Compaq Computer; Tim Kuhlman, Toshiba America; Terry Morrison, IBM; Dennis O’Leary, IBM; Sara Parks, Apple Computer (co-chair); Marshall Toplansky, US Robotics; Aaron Woods, Intelligent Electronics; Tricia Wurts, Wurts & Associates; and Bill York, CompUSA (co-chair).