NEW YORK — Brig. Gen. Dana L. McDaniel, a 29-year veteran of the Ohio Army National Guard who currently serves as commander of the Land Component Command, 73rd Troop Command and Homeland Response Force-Ohio, has been recognized in the global intelligent community as a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient from the Intelligent Community Forum of New York City.
The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), a New York-based think tank dedicated to studying the use of information and communications technology to create the community of the 21st Century, awarded McDaniel, the Dublin, Ohio deputy city manager and director of economic development in his civilian job, its third-ever Lifetime Achievement Award at the ICF’s annual Summit June 7 in New York.
The Intelligent Community Lifetime Achievement Award is given by ICF’s founders to those who quietly and tirelessly dedicate their careers to improving their communities in ways that exemplify the global Intelligent Community movement.
Whether it is creating or keeping more than 12,000 jobs in his home community of Dublin, or helping develop a regional high-speed Internet network to boost economic development for much of Ohio, McDaniel has worked to build economic success and embrace the opportunities provided by technology to be successful, according to ICF.
Since 1988, when he was a management assistant with the city, he has contributed to the transformation of Dublin from a village suburb of Ohio’s state capital, Columbus, to a twice-recognized Top7 Intelligent Community. Named as deputy city manager in 2004, he envisioned the need for a state-of-the-art fiber-optic network. His development strategy steered clear of the legal battles that have met other community networks while driving deployment of the network, called DubLink, which is an engine for the city’s economic transformation.
McDaniel also established the city’s first entrepreneurial center, a program that has averaged nearly 20 new start-up companies per year since 2007. His ability to position Dublin as a city with a high quality of life and access to a robust communications and social infrastructure has helped attract or retain 12,800 jobs in a city of just 41,000.
“As one of the broadband economy architects of DubLink, a crowning achievement among so many others, Dana McDaniel extended Dublin’s connectivity and its influence throughout the region,” said ICF co-founder Lou Zacharilla. “Over a remarkable career, he has carried out his duties and succeeded beyond all expectations with extraordinary humility. We are in awe of his accomplishments. He is someone from whom ICF learns daily.”
McDaniel earned his bachelor’s degree in public administration from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He has a master’s in public administration from The Ohio State University and a master’s of strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College. |
