John M. Berra, executive vice president of Emerson with responsibility for the process management business, has received the Life Achievement Award from ISA - The Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society.
Berra received the award at the Honors and Awards Banquet in Chicago Sunday evening, held in conjunction with ISA 2002, North America's largest exhibition, conference, and training event for instrumentation, systems, and automation professionals, taking place 21-24 October at McCormick Place South.
The ISA Life Achievement Award traditionally has been a discretionary award of the Society created to honor individuals with a history of dedication to the instrumentation, systems, and automation community. Including Berra's award, the Society has recognized only nine individuals for life achievement in its 57-year history.
Honors and Awards master of ceremonies Perry L. Grady, ISA's president in 2000, announced, "On select occasions, ISA has the opportunity to recognize life achievements of special individuals. The citation reads, 'In recognition of long-term dedication and contribution to the instrumentation, systems, and automation community.'"
Berra was the chief architect of Emerson's PlantWeb ® digital plant architecture, an industry-defining process automation solution. Back in 1980, before the era of small computers, he envisioned a new frontier in global technology with "smart" field instruments as information servers that would allow process manufacturers to run their plants at their full potential. Berra helped revolutionize the process automation industry by vigorously effecting a special vision of technology both through his management approach at Emerson and his work with industry groups and standards bodies. To this end, Berra supported the establishment of three nonprofit organizations that would set industry-wide process communication standards: the HART Communication Foundation, the Fieldbus Foundation, and the OPC Foundation.
