The Emmett Leahy Award is given annually to individuals who have had major impact on the field of information management. The award has been given since 1967, and honors Emmett Leahy, a pioneer in records management.
Introduction
The Emmett Leahy Award is an annual award that recognizes an individual whose outstanding contributions have had a major impact on the field of information and records management. First presented in 1967 and given in honor of Emmett J. Leahy (1910-1964), an American pioneer in records management, it is widely regarded as the highest award for individual accomplishment in the field. It is the significance of the individual’s overall impact that sets it apart from other awards, which recognize professional service or are presented to project teams, groups, companies or public organizations. Each year the independent Award Committee, comprising the last ten awardees, selects the recipient based on their creation of original records and information management principles and concepts, their demonstrable and substantive impact on records and information management practices, and their promotion of excellence in the profession through innovative thought leadership and direct engagement in records and information management education.
Recipients have included records managers, archivists, educators, users and consultants from the USA and internationally.
History of the award
The Emmett Leahy Award was created by Rodd Exelbert, founder of the Information and Records Management (IRM) magazine. In 1966 he was looking for a way to spotlight outstanding contributions to the IRM profession through an award when he heard a presentation by Christopher Cameron, Managing Partner of Leahy & Company, at the ARMA Convention in Houston about the work of Emmett J. Leahy. It inspired him to want to name the award after Leahy. Following discussions with Leahy & Company, and gaining the permission of Leahy’s widow Betty, the Emmett Leahy Award, for "a man or woman whose unique contributions to records control, filing, and information retrieval have advanced the information and records management profession", was born. Exelbert convened a committee of IRM experts who worked to develop a set of selection criteria and a list of candidates to evaluate against the criteria. The first award, in the form of a personalised plaque for the recipient to retain, was presented to Ed Rosse, US Social Security Administration, at the 1967 ARMA Annual Meeting.
Exelbert administered the award until 1980 using the IRM magazine to publicize it and solicit nominations, which widened its scope and increased the number of potential candidates. He introduced changes to the process by including at least one Emmett Leahy Award recipient on the selection committee. Around the same time ARMA decided that the award should no longer be presented at its meetings, since it was not involved in the process and were concerned it was competing against its own awards. They asked their official certifying body, the Institute of Certified Records Managers (ICRM), to assume administration of the award. At a meeting in late 1981 the Board of Regents of the ICRM considered this request and established a committee to examine the issue. Over the next three years discussions took place with Leahy Business Archives Inc. and Mrs Betty Leahy White, Emmett Leahy’s widow, about the award’s future administration. Formal delegation of authority was finally secured in 1983 and the award process resumed in 1984 with the next award being made in 1985.
The award has continued to be sponsored but it is the exclusive responsibility of the Emmett Leahy Award Committee to select the annual recipient. Following the initial sponsorship by the publisher of the Information and Records Management Magazine and then the ICRM, Pierce Leahy Archives became the sponsors in the late 1980s followed by Iron Mountain in 2000. Other sponsors have included Huron Consulting Group and Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP. In 2019 Preservica, a digital preservation company, became the award’s sponsor.
Nomination and selection process
The selection of the annual Emmett Leahy Award recipient is the exclusive responsibility of the Emmett Leahy Award Committee. Composed of the previous ten award winners, the Committee is independent and not associated with any other organization.
Any living individual who has had a major impact on the field of records and information management is eligible to be nominated. The Committee identifies potential nominees and nominations may also be submitted to the Committee Chair by any individual, organization, or institution. The Committee reviews all nominations and then invites an agreed final set of nominees who meet the award criteria to submit formal applications.
Individuals invited to apply are asked to submit their application in accordance with the content and format guidance provided on the award website. Since this award honors individuals who have had a significant impact on the records and information management field, applications need to make clear the individual's specific role in bringing about the impacts identified. They must demonstrate the individual's impact in four areas: (i) Program Development and Management, (ii) Innovation, (iii) Education and (iv) Professional and Organizational Leadership.
Each Committee member independently reviews and assesses the submissions of invited applicants against the award criteria. The Committee then meets to discuss each applicant in detail and ranks them to reach their decision about the successful applicant for that year. The Committee’s deliberations are conducted on the basis of objectivity, respect and consensus.
List of Recipients In reverse chronological order from 1967 to the present day. See the ‘Award Winners’ section of the Emmett Leahy Award website for further details of recipients.
1999 to present
Award winners since 1999 are:
Year Recipient Country Position at the time of receiving the award2025 Aída Luz Mendoza Navarro Perú Director, Archivo General de la Nación (AGN) 2024 Neil Beagrie United Kingdom Commissioner (trustee/non-exec) at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW) 2023 Nancy McGovern United States Director for Digital Preservation Instruction and Practice, Global Archivist LLC 2022 Joan Boadas Catalonia Municipal archivist of Girona2021 Laura MillarCanada Records, archives, and information consultant, independent scholar and author2020 Dinesh KatreIndia Senior Director & HOD, Human-Centred Design & Computing Group, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) 2019 Simon ChuPreservica congratulates 2019 Emmett Leahy Award winner | Preservica Hong Kong Advocate for an archives law in Hong Kong 2018 Trudy Peterson United States Consulting Archivist 2017 Richard Marciano United States Professor, iSchool, University of Maryland 2016 Adrian Brown United Kingdom Director, Parliamentary Archives 2015 Victoria Lemieux Canada Associate Professor of Archival Studies, iSchool, University of British Columbia 2014 Julie McLeod United Kingdom Professor of Records Management, Northumbria University 2013 Galina Datskovsky United States Independent Consultant 2012 David Giaretta United Kingdom Director, Alliance for Permanent Access 2011 Jason R. Baron United States Director of Litigation, National Archives and Records Administration 2010 Adrian Cunningham AustraliaDirector, Strategic Relations and Personal Records, National Archives of Australia 2009 Maria Guercio ItalyHead of the Archival, Library and Information Studies Department and Provost, University of Urbino 2008 Kenneth Thibodeau United StatesDirector of the Electronic Records Archives Program, National Archives and Records Administration 2007 Anne Thurston United KingdomInternational Director, International Records Management Trust 2006 Luciana Duranti CanadaProfessor of Archival Studies, School of Information, University of British Columbia 2005 Charles Dollar United StatesSenior Consultant, Cohasset Associates 2004 Eugenia Brumm United StatesManager, Records Management, Ross Products, Division of Abbott Laboratories 2003 Bruce Miller CanadaPresident, RIMtech 2002 Christine Ardern CanadaPresident, Information Management Specialists Consultancy 2001 John T. Phillips United StatesManagement Consultant, Information Technology Decisions 2000 Mary F. Robek United StatesProfessor Emerita of Administrative Services and Business Education, Eastern Michigan University 1999 John McDonald Canada Information Management Consultant and Educator
1985 to 1998
Award winners before 1999 are:
Year Recipient Country Notes 1998 David G. Goodman Professor, School of Business & Economics at Wisconsin State University 1997 James G. Coulson United States Huron Consulting Group 1996 Peter A. Smith Australia National records management course; Standards Australia IT/21 Records Management Committee, 1995 Frank B. Evans United States National Archives and Records Service; historian, archival/educator, and records manager administrator. 1994 Donald S. Skupsky United States President, Information Requirements Clearinghouse1993 E. Mark Langemo United States Professor Emeritus at the University of North Dakota. 1992 Patricia Acton Records Management and Library Consultant 1991 Robert F. Williams United States Founder and President of Cohasset Associates 1990 Ira A. Penn United States Senior Management Analyst with the U.S. Federal Government. 1989 Anneliese Arenburg Canada Consultant 1988 Fred V. Diers United States Consultant 1987 Artel Ricks Regional Commissioner, National Archives and Records Service (NARS) 1986 John W. Porter Manager, IBM Records Management 1985 Don M. Avedon Imaging Consultant
1967 to 1980
Year Recipient Country Notes 1980 Gerald F. Brown United States Corporate Records Manager Missouri Pacific Railroad 1979 Robert C. Woodall United States Chief, Records Management Division, State of California. 1978 Benjamin F. Oliver United States Director, Program Evaluation Division, Office of Records Management, National Archives and Records Service 1977 William L. Rofes United States Manager-Record Analysis and Control, IBM 1976 Edward Johnson United States Chief, Bureau of Archives and Records Management, Florida Department of State 1975 Helen Harden United States Corporate Records Manager, Frito-Lay 1974 Harold J. "Mark" Koenig United States Assistant Archivist for Records Management, National Archives and Records Service 1973 Donald F. Evans United States Records Manager, Union Oil Company of California. ARMA International President 1970-1971 1972 William Warren United States Supervising Management Analyst, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey 1971 Loretta Kiersky United States Director, Central Research Library, Air Reduction Company 1970 Charles MacBeth United States Manager, Corporate Records Management, Hughes Aircraft Company. 1969 Everett O. Alldredge United States Assistant Archivist for Records Management at the National Archives and Records Service 1968 William Benedon United States Director, Corporate Administration Services, Lockheed Corporation 1967 Edward Rosse United States Supervising social insurance operations analyst of the Social Security Administration
See also
Records management Archival science Information management Digital curation Digital preservation
References