Ambassador of the Year 1999 

1999 Ambassador of the Year - Richard Douglas (Doug) Taylor

The Ambassador of the Year Award was introduced by the first Executive Secretary of GMIS International, Jack Humphries. The GMIS Board approves this special recognition award to the GMIS Member, who by recruiting new members has helped his/her organization to grow. It is my pleasure to congratulate our 1999 Ambassador of the Year, Richard Douglas (Doug) Taylor. The 1999 Ambassador of the Year Award recipient is a dedicated, loyal GMIS member that is always working for the benefit of GMIS. He recruits new members, contacts and welcomes new members and is always willing to answer a lot of questions about and for GMIS. Doug has been employed with the City of Tuscaloosa, Alabama since 1983. Prior to that he was employed by Tazewell County, Virginia and the US Air Force. He attended Bluefield State College in Bluefield, West Virginia and majored in Business Administration and later in Computer Science. Doug is married to a lovely lady, Norma and they have a son, Matthew. Doug's strong commitment to GMIS started years ago when he discovered the many benefits of being involved with an organization of his peers. Doug credits his GMIS membership with providing him the knowledge and inspiration to achieve the City of Tuscaloosa's goals in information technology. Meeting and talking with other government information technology people has allowed him to gather first-hand knowledge about many computer systems and applications, which otherwise, he would have had to "pioneer". Doug also points out that trial and error are not the best way to learn, nor to keep one's job. He has said that you can always determine who are the "pioneers" by the arrows in their backs. Doug's dedication to GMIS is indicated by his involvement and years of work for the betterment of the organization. He became an involved member in 1986 by 1991 he was President of the Alabama State Chapter. In 1990 he served GMIS International as Exhibits Chair for the conference in Mobile and was co-chairman for the very successful 1997 Conference hosted by the Alabama Chapter. Doug found time to serve on the International GMIS Audit Committee and the Executive Committee prior to his six year commitment to the International GMIS Board of Directors. He has served each officer position on the Board and served as the President of International GMIS for the term 1997-1998. I think Doug would say one of his most satisfying accomplishments would be the cooperative agreement he signed while President with our sister organization in Sweden, KommITS. This sharing between like organizations with similar goals in other countries serves to prove that state and local government agencies are ready for the world eCommerce facing the new millennium. Please join me and the GMIS Board in congratulating Doug Taylor as the 1999 Ambassador of the Year.