NFAIS Names James P. McGinty as 2005 Miles Conrad Awardee

February 28, 2004 -- Philadelphia, PA -- NFAIS, the premier membership association for organizations that aggregate, organize and facilitate access to information, announced today that James P. McGinty, Vice-Chairman of the Cambridge Information Group, was presented with the prestigious Miles Conrad Award on February 28, 2005 at the NFAIS 47th Annual Conference in Philadelphia, PA.

According to Linda Sacks, President, the objective of the Miles  Conrad Memorial Lecture, established in 1965 in commemoration of NFAIS founder, G.Miles Conrad, is to recognize and honor those members of the information community who have made significant contributions to the field of information science and to NFAIS itself. "Jim is a strategic visionary," stated Sacks. "This has been exemplified by his successes at Cambridge in new product development, in acquisitions, and in the establishment of strategic partnerships. Under Jim's leadership, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA) was an early adopter of Internet technology  (their URL was the 3,878th issued), and they were one of the first bibliographic publishers to have a product offering on the Web. In addition, under Jim's initiative, CSA took a leadership role in the effort to link bibliographic information to full text in order to provide researchers with all of the information that they need to be effective. Jim is a well-known and highly respected member of the Information Community and has been a very strong supporter of NFAIS. I speak for the entire NFAIS Board in saying that we are very pleased to bestow our organization's highest honor upon him.

McGinty expressed similar sentiments. "I am pleased to have been chosen as the 2005 recipient of this award. The list of Miles Conrad Lecturers is impressive and now to have my name listed there as well is quite an honor."

McGinty's career in the industry is impressive. He was named Vice-Chairman of the Cambridge Information Group (CIG) on December 7, 2004 where is is currently responsible for overall strategic planning, executive development, and exploring opportunities in overseas markets. Prior to this promotion, Jim had served as CIG President for four years and as President of Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA) for eight years from 1992 to 2000. Prior to joining CSA, Jim spent more than 20 years with Dun & Bradstreet Corporation where he served in a variety of capacities, from sales manager, through a variety of senior executive positions, and finally as Managing Director of D&B North Pacific based in Hong Kong.

Jim has been active within industry associations, serving as a member of the NFAIS Board of Directors from 1996 to 2000, and on the Information Industry Association's Board of Directors from 1984 to 1988. Currently, Jim serves on the Board of Directors of MarketResearch.com and the Management Board of Sotheby's Institute of Art, Uk Ltd. He holds a B.A. and M.B.A. from St. Johns University in New York, and received an Honorary Doctorate from St. Johns in 1984.

Mr. McGinty joins a list of past Lecturers who are representative of the leaders and creative thinkers of the information world. His lecture entitled, What it takes to gain MindShare From the Perspective of Academic Librarians, will be made available on the NFAIS Web site in March 2005.  This was the 38th such lecture in a series that has continued unbroken since it began in 1968. (For a complete list of Miles Conrad Lecturers, go to: http://www.nfais.org/about/Miles_Conrad_Lecturers_List.htm).

Founded in 1958, NFAIS Is a premier membership organization of approximately 50 of the world's leading producers of databases, information services, and information technology in the sciences, engineering, social sciences, business and the arts and the humanities. For more information on NFAIS and its member organizations, on NFAIS Annual Conferences and meetings, or on the Miles Conrad Memorial Lecture series, contact Jill O'Neill, NFAIS Director of Planning & Communication, (jilloneill@nfais.org or 215-893-1561) or visit the NFAIS Web site (www.nfais.org).

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