Lifetime Professional Achievement Award

The Lifetime Professional Achievement Award recognizes professionals in government, industry, or academia who have demonstrated long-term leadership in AUTOTESTCON fields-of-interest. The Award supersedes the former AUTOTESTCON “Frank McGinnis Professional Achievement” and “Man of the Year” awards. The Award is presented at the AUTOTESTCON awards luncheon by the AUTOTESTCON Board Chair or Vice-Chair. The Award includes a check in the amount of $2,000.00 from the current AUTOTESTCON budget, plus a suitable permanent trophy. Prior to 2009, the Award consisted of one-year stewardship of a perpetual trophy, and when the perpetual trophy was awarded to another recipient the following year, the previous winner would receive a smaller “keeper” trophy or commemorative plaque, also sponsored by the then-current AUTOTESTCON committee from its budget. In 2009, the permanent award was given to the National Electronics Museum near Baltimore MD to be put on permanent display via a one-time grant from the Aerospace & Electronic Systems Society. The annual trophy for the current award is ordered by the Agent of the AUTOTESTCON Board, and as previously noted, paid for by the current AUTOTESTCON Committee.

• Nominees must have clearly demonstrated professional (technical or managerial) achievements in AUTOTESTCON fields-of-interest spanning a career.
• Nominees should have name recognition within the AUTOTESTCON community.
• The Nominee’s demonstrated achievements should have significant impact across the AUTOTESTCON community, beyond the normal functional duties of his/her organization.
• Nominees should have visible participation in AUTOTESTCON.
• Nominations may be submitted by any individual, regardless of affiliation.
• Nominations should be accompanied by a short biographical sketch, along with a short (300-500) word summary recommendation.

Nomination & Balloting Process

• Each year, the AUTOTESTCON Board of Directors will solicit nominations via a variety of means, including AUTOTESTCON attendees, AUTOTESTCON exhibitors, IEEE Sponsoring Societies (I&M, AESS), personal contacts, etc.
• Award nomination solicitations should be publicized via I&M Magazine and AESS Magazine announcements, along with notices sent to various trade publications and organizations concerned with automated tests.
• Nominations are to be sent along with the nomination form to Jessie Reisman (jreisman@conferencecatalysts.com) by June 30, 2025.
• Once nominations are received, which should occur no later than June 30 of each year, balloting shall occur among Board members, with each member having one vote.
• Ballots shall be sent to Board members with instructions to note 1st choice, 2nd choice, etc. Ballots shall be tallied by adding all numbers per candidate, with the lowest count winning. A ballot received with a blank space by a candidate’s name shall be counted as a number representing the highest number of candidates on the ballot.
• Ballots shall also have a “no award” entry, and if a simple majority of votes cast indicate “no award”, then the Lifetime Professional Award will be not presented for that year.

Eligibility

• The Lifetime Professional Achievement Award may only be received once by the same individual. Recipients of the former “Frank McGinnis Professional Achievement” and “AUTOTESTCON Man of the Year” Awards are not eligible to receive the Lifetime Professional Achievement Award.
• Current members of the Board of Directors are not eligible for the award.
• Eligible nominees can also be those who are retired.

Award Notification

The Board administrative assistant will inform the AUTOTESTCON Board Chairman of balloting results and shall cause the awardee to be so notified to help assure his/her attendance at the current AUTOTESTCON. The awardee will be asked to submit a current photograph and biographical sketch to the Agent at least 90 days prior to the current AUTOTESTCON to allow publication in the Proceedings and the Conference Program.