2019 Hall of Fame Inductees

Lieutenant General (Ret.) Otto J. Guenther, then MG Guenther, served as the Commanding General for the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command from July 1992 until January 1995. As Commander, MG Guenther exploited all core Command capabilities and firmly established the organization’s role as the Department of the Army/Department of Defense leader in critical defense technology generation. He successfully captured the attention and support of the Chief of Staff of the Army in “Digitizing the Battlefield.” MG Guenther leveraged Advanced Technology Demonstrations (ATDs) within the CECOM Research, Development and Engineering Center to ensure currency of ATDs and to disseminate the capabilities to the Warfighter. Under MG Guenther’s guidance, CECOM led the U.S. Army in patent generation and was also the Army leader in Technology Transfer Agreements with industry and academia. In recognition of his abilities and contributions to all organizations he served, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in January of 1995 and assigned as Army DISC4 now known as Chief Information Officer (CIO)/G6. He was the first CIO of the Army and retired from Active Duty in June 1997. Click here for interview video.

MG (Ret.) William H. Russ served as the Commanding General for the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command from July 2001 until his retirement in June 2004, ending his 32-year Army career. During his tenure, he led the Command through its immediate response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, as well as the aftermath, including the Command’s efforts in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM and Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, all while working to transform the organization for the future. Those major initiatives included an enterprise engineering approach to centralize and synchronize the end result of engineering across the Army for C4ISR systems and an initiative to increase the unity of command across the community, resulting in the designation of “Team C4ISR.” Under his tenure, a 24-hour Emergency Operation Center was created, providing over a million different repair part items in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. MG Russ’s focus on efforts to support forward-deployed personnel by creating and leading a strong team, united in their effort of supporting the Warfighter, continue to resonate in today’s focus on readiness. Click here for interview video.

Mr. Mark A. Sagan served as the CECOM Chief Counsel from 2002 until 2009. His remarkable record of accomplishments, exceptional technical knowledge, outstanding leadership, ability to devise new strategic solutions, futuristic vision, and commitment to the Warfighter were unparalleled and directly contributed to the recognition of CECOM as the finest and most innovative Legal Office in the Department of the Army (DA). Mr. Sagan was recognized as the “go-to” attorney within DA and was frequently handpicked to participate in the most complex and politically sensitive matters. His expertise and sage counsel were relied upon with absolute confidence by DA’s and the Department of Defense’s senior leaders in conjunction with the Army’s most critical, complex, and controversial multibillion-dollar programs, including advising on the U.S. Army Recruiting and Advertising Program, the Iraqi Reconstruction Project, the Stryker source selection, and the Counter Remote Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare (CREW) system contract. Mr. Sagan was widely recognized for his efforts; his recognitions include the Presidential Rank Award in 2008 and the Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service, along with a host of others. Click here for interview video.

Mr. David G. Sharman retired from Civilian Service in April 2011 with 31 years of service to our Nation as the Director of the Logistics and Readiness Center (LRC) and a member of the Senior Executive Service. As the Command’s senior leader for logistics, he was responsible for not only the management of over 2,000 military and civilian employees but also the creation of the vision, strategy, and implementation plans necessary to achieve an integrated enterprise approach to logistics sustainment for all the Army’s C4ISR weapon systems. Mr. Sharman’s achievements during his various positions in the LRC were outstanding and made a lasting impact on CECOM in the areas of national inventory control point, national maintenance point, security assistance to allied nations, production and industrial base management and planning, integrated logistics planning, secure communications systems, and field technical assistance, with a global footprint encompassing over 20 countries and 100-plus sites. Mr. Sharman was recognized with the Exceptional Civilian Service Decoration and many others. Click here for interview video.

Mr. Edward C. Thomas served as the Deputy to the Commanding General for the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command at Fort Monmouth, NJ, and then at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, from 2007 until 2011. He is recognized not only for his long list of achievements during his career where he rose from intern to the Senior Executive Service, but even more so for his remarkable leadership during the Base Realignment and Closure legislated move while maintaining support to the Warfighter. That required shutting down one installation while creating new state-of-the-art facilities and relocating 60 percent of the workforce to another—an unprecedented success. Prior to becoming Deputy to the Commanding General, Mr. Thomas led the Software Engineering Center as director from 2001 until 2007, where he provided state-of-the-art software products and services to the Army and the Department of Defense, managed critical software development projects, and provided overarching global software support for more than 200 Army and joint C4ISR systems. His efforts were recognized with multiple awards, including the Presidential Rank Award in 2008 and Department of the Army Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service, along with many others. Click here for interview video.