Stephen started working with technology in 1965 and founded one of the first user groups so very much believes in volunteerism, the power of community connection, helping IT professionals managing change, and supporting their career/skills growth. A few of Ibaraki’s more than 40 international recognitions for his lifetime contributions are profiled here as a founding CIPS Fellow: http://www.cips.ca/?q=stephen-ibaraki. This year, he received a Computer World TOP 10 Blogger selection for his significant contributions to the IT Manager Connection blog-- http://blogs.technet.com/cdnitmanagers. Moreover, in late October, the leader of the official opposition provided her congratulatory note, and on behalf of the government, the Premier provided his special congratulations regarding a ceremony with the Mayor, Minister of Advanced Eduction and Labour Market Development, Academic Leaders, one or more MPs from the Federal Government, and Senior Industry/Business Leaders from across the country, where Stephen was awarded, the top industry-based ASTTBC “Advanced Technology Award for Leadership in Information Technology,” for his lifetime body of work. As noted by the Premier, "Congratulations on being honoured for your Advanced Technology Award... you have distinguished yourself in your field of endeavour promoting pioneering efforts in technology and this award will recognize your considerable contributions with respect to the applications and adaptations of advanced technology to new uses. I commend you for your many achievements and thank you for your commitment to industry excellence."

Ibaraki is a past multiple award-winning tenured college educator and computing-head in business and technology; multi-company founder/entrepreneur; 2008/9 Chairman of the Global Board for Culminis (world's largest alliance of IT organizations representing 1125 groups/associations, and nearly 3 million business/IT members) past 2007/8 Chairman and President of the National Board of CIPS (Canadian Information Processing Society) and currently serving on the Office of the Executive Council (OEC); Vice-Chair of the international NPA (Network Professional Association) and publisher/managing editor of the NPA Journal; Executive Board Director and Chief Strategy Officer for ChinaValue reaching 100+ million business and IT professionals in Asia; Board Director for Computer for Success (Computer for Schools); Judge MSDN Code Awards; Judge and Advisor, annual Canadian Business Magazine All-Star Executive Search (awarding the top executives in the top performing corporations); Advisory Board Director for the Prithvi Institute in India, an NGO working in 300 villages to empower children and women; Chairman of the Board of iGEN Knowledge Solutions Inc.; Advisor to the UN-Founded IFIP International Professional Practice Partnership (IP3) which is launching a global IT professionalism/certification program in 2009 (he presented on this program at the MVP Global Summit and the UG Global Summit); Member of the IEEE-CS, ACM (and PD Committee), Global IT Advisory Council, Gerson Lehrman Group (and Gerson Lehrman Scholar, a distinction for the top advisors in industry worldwide), Society of Industry Leaders Vista Research Group (unit of Standard & Poors), 2006/7/8 Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD); Advisor to Mckinsey; Advisor to the National Council of IT Deans (opening keynote at their summit and opening again in 2009-- As noted by the National Council Chairman David O’leary, Academic Dean and CIO at Northwest College, "Words cannot express the gratitude we feel for this generosity. The Committee was absolutely over the moon with his willingness to consider our invitation. We are definitely seeing an increase in enrollments and Stephen’s work last year was a definite contribution to this turn-around; we also know that he is much in demand and can make a lot of $$$ assisting those with deeper pockets." ); Advisor to Sector; Advisor to Governments; ... and much more. Here is a Microsoft profile from Stephen’s opening day keynote at the invitation-only Strategic Architecture Forum (SAF) which received a 97.5% recommendation rating spotlighting the keynotes: http://www.microsoft.com/canada/csaf08/keynotespeakers.aspx#stephen.