Weingarten steps down as executive director

Fred "Rick" W. Weingarten, CRA's executive director for the past five years, has taken on a new role with the association. He will be devoting his full attention to government affairs and policy issues. As of September 1, he is working part time for CRA and part time in a senior policy advisory position with another non-profit association.

CRA expects to complete its search for a new executive director early this fall.

CRA has reached a major milestone in effectiveness and recognition and now has an opportunity to move forward to the next level of broadened activity.

Since CRA renamed and reorganized itself in 1990, a major goal has been to become one of the primary institutions on policy issues related to computing research. For several years this meant knocking on doors and explaining who we were and why we might have something valuable to contribute. Anonymity is no longer an issue for CRA, and today we are consulted routinely.

Our membership has grown to 140 computer science and engineering departments, 20 industrial laboratories and four affiliated professional societies. Not only did we expand our membership, we also expanded services to our members.

However, the person who beat the halls of Congress also ran CRA's headquarters. "The CRA Board was thrilled with Rick's performance in his dual role, but he convinced us that it was in the best interests of our field to split the job," said CRA Board chair David A. Patterson. "Since Rick's first love is policy issues, we followed his advice and will seek a new executive director while he spends his time with policy makers."