Arkansas Academy of Computing Inducts 11 Members

The Arkansas Academy of Computing, an honorary academy associated with the University of Arkansas, recognizes significant contributions to the computing profession in Arkansas and supports computing and information technology education through scholarships. At its annual meeting held in Springdale, Ark., on April 12, the academy inducted 11 new members honored for their career contributions to computing in Arkansas.

• Steven Brothers – Brothers is executive director, field service at American Greetings, where he oversees all support functions for a 12,000 member team of merchandisers. This role includes scheduling systems and retail hardware. His computer science skills have been used to drive process improvements, data analytics, simulations modeling and hardware controls, among others. Brothers has a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Arkansas.
• Dathan Gaskill – Gaskill is president and chief financial officer of Black Oak Partners, a data, technology and analytics company in Little Rock. He has a bachelor's in computer science and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He spent 13 years in the securities industry as a senior analyst and director of research, focusing on the software, information technology and telecommunications industries. He joined Acxiom Corp. in 1999 and served as corporate finance leader and treasurer, leading Acxiom's investment banking and commercial banking relationships and was responsible for Acxiom's mergers and acquisitions, capital structure, investor relations and special projects
• John Haley – Haley is president of the Circumference Group,  an investment and advisory company specializing in IT and telecommunications. In a distinguished technical and management career spanning almost 35 years, Haley has served at multiple levels of executive management at Systematics, Alltel and FIS. He has an undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley. He is an active member of board of the Center for Commercialization of Innovation at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
• Scott Hambuchen – Hambuchen is the business development leader at PrivacyStar, a smartphone privacy application. He is responsible for the international expansion of PrivacyStar through its relationship with Syniverse. He leads the research and analysis related to the specific regions where PrivacyStar is needed and may be deployed. He also provides leadership and direction for the development of PrivacyStar features in various geographies. Hambuchen has served as president of Gryphon Networks, a leading provider of telecommunication products and services. Prior to joining Gryphon, Hambuchen enjoyed an 18-year career at Acxiom where he served as a senior executive and was a member of the company leadership team.
• Govan Hornor –Hornor is the chief information officer for Distributors Corporation of America. Hornor recently assumed responsibility for the IT function at this privately owned parent company of four wholesale distribution companies in the Mid-South area. His previous role was a technical principal analyzing current business needs, creating solutions and recommending technology architecture at FedEx Services. During his 27 year career at FedEx, he held positions including vice president of IT operations, managing director of IT operations and IT manager of enterprise data warehouse development. Hornor has a bachelor's degree in business data processing from the University of Arkansas.
• Steven F. Jennings –Jennings is the founding program director of the graduate program in bioinformatics at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He is also the founding executive director of the MidSouth Bioinformatics Center at UALR.  Jennings received a Ph.D. in computer science from Iowa State University and has held senior management positions at several companies in the development of specialized systems software, software for medical devices, internet websites, and embedded software for mobile devices. He managed development of the networking software for the International Space station and has consulted for several Fortune 500 companies including US West, IBM, Kodak and American Express.
• Kerry Kilker ­–As the senior vice president and chief information security officer for Walmart Stores Inc., Kilker is responsible for all IT security and compliance systems and processes for the company globally. He obtained his degree in computer information systems at Bryant Institute in 1985 and joined Walmart that same year as an information systems applications programmer. He has held a number of positions within Walmart's information systems divisions since then.
• Vance Moore – Moore is the senior vice president of operations at Mercy Health. He joined Mercy Health in 2002 after 17 years in healthcare with Baxter/Allegiance, Cardinal Health and the healthcare division of UPS Logistics. He is responsible for corporate oversight of Mercy Technology Services, which operates one of the largest and most highly integrated provider-based IT platforms in Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas.
• Randall Mott – Mott is a vice president and chief information officer at General Motors. He has a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Arkansas and has been named a Distinguished Alumni by the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. He has served as executive vice president and chief information officer of Hewlett-Packard and senior vice president and chief information officer for Dell Inc. He spent 22 years at Walmart Stores Inc., where he held a variety of technical and management positions and pioneered retail and supply-chain systems automation. He eventually became senior vice president and chief information officer of Walmart and was named "CIO of the Year" by InformationWeek magazine.
• John Steuri – Steuri  is the retired chief executive officer of Alltel Information Services. He  enjoyed a successful career in computing for 35 years, having risen to a senior executive role within IBM, then bringing his skills to Arkansas in 1988 when he was named CEO of Systematics (which later became ALLTEL Information Services).  At the time, Systematics had annual revenue of $160 million and was known as a high quality company serving small and medium-sized banks throughout the U.S. Through the next eight years Steuri helped grow the company to almost $1 billion in annual revenue, serving some of the largest banks around the globe. He serves on the boards of three companies: Safe Foods, Little Rock; Heartland Agri Partners, Des Moines; and NanoMech Inc., Fayetteville. He previously served four other company boards:  Northwestern Mutual Life, Milwaukee; Superior Financial Corp., Little Rock; National Computer Systems, Minneapolis; and Alltel Corp., Little Rock.
• Kevin Zaffaroni – As  senior vice president for Acxiom IT Outsourcing, Zaffaroni oversees the mainframe, server and cloud computing technologies that enable technology executives to reduce the complexity of their environments, minimize risk and deliver greater flexibility to better serve changing business demands.  He has served as Acxiom senior vice president of manufacturing and distribution, was an organization leader for Acxiom's European business and was a group leader for one of Acxiom's largest global financial accounts. Zaffaroni also spent 22 years with IBM in various leadership positions.

The Arkansas Academy of Computing was established in 2006 to recognize those individuals who have made a significant contribution to the computing industry in Arkansas. The academy includes many computing industry pioneers whose long-term dedication and effort developed the computing industry in Arkansas and created employment for thousands of Arkansans.

The academy's purpose includes the promotion of the pursuit of technical education for Arkansas students. Toward that end the Academy provides scholarships, and in 2013 will award 40 scholarships to students majoring in computer science, computer engineering or information systems at the following institutions: University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, University of Arkansas at Monticello, University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, University of Central Arkansas, Arkansas State University, Henderson State University, Southern Arkansas University and Arkansas Tech University.