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Ken G. Close Award 

An award in memory of Mr. Ken Close, a long time member and supporter of HEEP, may be given to honor one or more members at the annual meeting each year. Suggestions for the award may be made to the President for consideration. The President will make the final determination of any nominations and canvass the HEEP Officers for approval. The award is not necessarily presented annually. Although no specific criteria have been established for determining eligibility, recipients should reflect the goals of HEEP.

Kenneth (Ken) G. Close was a special projects engineer for the Federal Highway Administration and served as the Secretary of the AASHTO Subcommittee on Data Processing, now known as the AASHTO Subcommittee on Information Systems. Ken was also the FHWA-designated delegate to the HEEP organization. In the 1970’s the HEEP organization did not enjoy the collaborative working relationship with AASHTO that we enjoy today. Ken worked with Norm Baker of the Iowa DOT and Myron (Mike) Bacon of the Wisconsin DOT to improve and expand the working relationship between the AASHTO IS Subcommittee and the HEEP organization. This was a daunting task given the fact that the two venues had few common attendees; however, the team prevailed, laying the groundwork for the supportive relationship between the two organizations. Tragically, in 1984 Ken and his wife were involved in a fatal automobile accident while returning from the AASHTO subcommittee meeting.

In 1985, HEEP President Jerry Coleman of the Maryland DOT made the recommendation that HEEP establish a mechanism to recognize HEEPers who have provided long term support for the organization. Jerry further suggested that the organization turn the tragic loss of Ken Close into an opportunity to honor Ken's memory and significant contributions to HEEP via the establishment of the Kenneth G. Close Award. He, with the approval of the Board of Directors, established the award in 1985.

This award is given at the discretion of the current IHEEP president.

Past Recipients

1985

Ron DeCloak & Hubert Henry

1986

Bob Hansen

1987

Walter Verrill

1988

Frank Tracy & Mike Bacon

1992

Glenn Sikes

1993

Richard Hand

1994

Gerry Gingras

1995

Jack Stanton

1996

Al Yocom

1997

Al Cole

1998

Chick Yates

1999

John Penzien

2001

Raymond E. Halperin

2003

Petr Pospisil

2004

Ellwood "Woody" C. Neiman

Don C. Peterson

2005

Jon Ogden

2006

Rande Robinson

2007

Diane Gunsch

2008

Paul Fort

2009

Douglas Fees

2010

Michael G. Arthur

2011

Judy Skeen

2012

Dan Belcher

2013

Dan Buhler

2014

J.D. D'Arville

2015

J.D. D'Arville

Dan Belcher

2016

Mark Suarez

2017

Denise Reis

2018

Rachelle VanDeventer

Michael Dyrdahl

2019

Rennie Lovisa

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