November 12, 2009

Rick Cook, Network Administrator for Catawba County’s Technology Department, was recently named winner of the 2009 James S. Cooper Award by the North Carolina Local Government Information Systems Association or NCLGISA. The award is given annually to an individual or agency for service above and beyond his, her or its normal performance of duties, with regard to inter-agency cooperation.

The inter-agency nature of the award was exemplified by the fact that Cook was nominated for the honor by Jim Chandler, Assistant Executive Director and Director of Public Services with the Western Piedmont Council of Governments and Parviz Mollahassani, who works with the City of Newton’s Technology Department.

“I did not have the pleasure of meeting Mr. Cooper, but I understand that he exemplified the spirit of NCLGISA with his humble nature and willingness to share his knowledge and help others,” Chandler wrote in his letter of nomination. “With this in mind, Parviz Mollahassani and I submit the name of Rick Cook for consideration of this annual award.

“I have known Rick for about 20 years, both in his former life as an IT consultant and as an employee of Catawba County,” Chandler continued in his letter. “During this time, Rick has helped me and our neighboring small towns on numerous occasions, patiently giving his time and expertise to help us deal with problems beyond our abilities. Rick has been the primary force in implementing and maintaining our county fiber Wide Area Network (WAN), in implementing our shared broadband Internet connection, and many other collaborative efforts. He is directly and indirectly responsible for much of the technological advancement that has occurred in the public sector throughout Catawba County, yet he never seeks credit or acknowledgement. Rick is a true public servant.”

As Network Administrator for Catawba County, Cook is responsible for overseeing Wide Area Network and Local Area Network transmission; operation, maintenance, repair and development of all operating systems; networks and network infrastructure, including servers and hardware components; wireless development, maintenance and access; the purchase of systems and network components; provision of internet services, including systems security, authentication, disaster ecovery and firewall; server backups; remote access capability; knowledge and implementation of protocols; provision of telephone services, including long distance, PBX, line management, voice mail, voice response and call conferencing; cable installation and maintenance; and network resource management and scheduling.

Cook graduated from East Burke High School and first worked for Valdese Hospital from 1979 until 1981, as a second shift operator. In 1981, he earned an Associate’s Degree in Data Processing from Catawba Valley Community College. He first started working for Catawba County in 1981 as a Programmer/Analyst, responsible for enhancing and maintaining the County’s tax collection and appraisal system. Cook also designed and wrote an accounts receivable system for the County’s ental Health Services, Landfill, Ambulance Billing and Building Inspections divisions.

In 1994, Cook left Catawba County Government to become Vice-President and part-owner of MRV Consultants, Inc. in Hickory. He supervised five technicians and assisted with sales, design and implementation of PC networks using Novell, Windows and Unix systems.

Cook decided to sell his interest in MRV Consultants in 1996 and returned to Catawba County Government as an Information Technology Project Supervisor. He was promoted to his present position of Network Administrator in April 2000. He was named Catawba County Employee Of The Year in 2007.

Cook and his wife, Faye, who works as a nursing instructor for Western Piedmont Community College, live in the Mountain View area.

“The James S. Cooper Ambassador Award was created in 1996 after Jim died of a sudden aneurysm in his 40s,” said Brad Benson of the City of Lexington, NCLGISA President. “Jim personified our organization in his quick acceptance of friends and ideas and in his willingness to share information and methods. This award represents many others who share those qualities as well - NCLGISA's early founders and our retired School of Government sponsor, Don Liner. Currently, this award seeks to recognize not only outstanding performance within the NCLGISA membership, but also recognizes cts of solidarity through the sharing of knowledge and good will to those outside of their organization units.”

“I am very proud of Rick for winning the James B. Cooper Award”, said Terry Bledsoe, Catawba County’s Chief Information Officer, who directs the department in which Cook works. “Rick exemplifies the spirit of collaboration and sharing that our department and Catawba County believes in. Working together with the municipalities and other organizations, we have been able to provide better services for our citizens and Rick has been a leader in all of those efforts.”