IEEE Herz Award Goes to Jonathan Dahl

Former senior director for IEEE Global Sales receives the major staff award

2 min read

Photo of Herz Award winner Jonathan Dahl.
Photo: Jonathan Dahl

THE INSTITUTEJonathan Dahl, former senior director for IEEE global sales, has been selected to receive this year’s IEEE Eric Herz Outstanding Staff Member Award “for leadership in and contributions toward the extraordinary growth in the awareness and reach of the IEEE’s electronic libraries.”

Dahl retired from IEEE in 2017 but returned later that year to work as a consultant for IEEE Educational Activities. He left that position in April.

He began his career at IEEE in 1990 as sales and marketing senior director. While he was running the marketing department, it grew to include sales for the print publishing group. Eventually the sales and marketing department became responsible for selling subscriptions to the IEEE Xplore Digital Library.

Dahl says one of his key accomplishments was working with volunteers to establish a common pricing methodology for society publications. That gave IEEE the tools to establish a robust sales strategy for IEEE Xplore, he says, and distribute net revenues back to the organizational units.

“The entire IEEE has benefited enormously from being a major player in digital publishing,” one of his nominators wrote. “Thanks to the vision and hard work of many volunteers and members of the staff, IEEE has a successful publishing enterprise. Jon Dahl is the single most crucial actor in making IEEE publishing a lucrative business.”

The IEEE Board of Directors created the Herz Award in 2005 to honor Eric Herz, an IEEE Life Fellow and longtime volunteer who served in many capacities, including IEEE general manager and executive director. He died in 2016 at the age of 89.

The award recognizes a present or past full-time IEEE staff member. It consists of a framed certificate, a cash prize, and travel expenses to the award presentation.

The nomination deadline for the 2020 Herz Award is 15 January. For more information, visit the awards website.

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