Keith Stevens, BESc ’70, MESc ’71, to receive L.S. Lauchland Medal at Homecoming

Western Engineering News | May 6, 2011

Selected by a volunteer committee of Western Engineering alumni and friends, Keith Stevens,
BESc ’70, MESc ’71, will be presented with the
2011 L.S. Lauchland Engineering Alumni Medal.

An active member of the Western community, and engineering community as a whole, Stevens has been an instrumental member of the Execulink Telecom Inc. team since 1975. Over the years, he has served as President & CEO for the company (from 1975 to 2006) and Chairman of the Board of Directors (from 2006 to present).

Through his progressive leadership at Execulink,
the company has grown from approximately 1,300 local telephone customers to more than 50,000 customers with services for residential, business and wholesale sectors that include local telephone, digital phone, internet and cable television services.

Throughout his career, Stevens has been involved in issues related to telecommunications, in particular those serving the communities in Southwestern Ontario. He served as Director (1999-2004) and President (2003 – 2004) of the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce, and received the Medal of Good Service (1992) and Medal of Merit (2006) for his volunteer activity with Scouts Canada.

Stevens was also recognized in 1993 by the Canadian Independent Telephone Association with the Telephone Person of the Year Award and in 1999 with a Life Membership for the Ontario Telecommunications Association.

As an engineering student, Keith served as president of the Undergraduate Engineering Society. He maintains his strong ties to Western, as a corporate sponsor of the Go ENG Girl event and an annual presenter of the Dr. James A. Vance Gold Medal & Prize in Civil Engineering, in honour of his grandfather, who was a civil engineer in Southwestern Ontario and played a part in establishing the department of Engineering Science at Western in the mid-1950s.

For over 13 years, Stevens has been a Warden of Camp 11, serving as Chief Warden from 2005 to 2011, which organizes the annual "Ritual of the Obligation of the Engineer" (Iron Ring Ceremony) at Western. He is now a Warden for the Corporation of Seven Wardens for Canada.

In honour of his outstanding contributions to the engineering profession, business leadership and community involvement, Stevens will be presented with the L.S. Lauchland Engineering Alumni Medal at Homecoming 2011 (more details to follow).

The L.S. Lauchland Medal was initiated in 1976 to mark the retirement of Professor L. Stuart Lauchland, past President of the A.P.E.O. The Committee inaugurated a series of medals to be presented annually to a Western Engineering graduate unless it decides that in a particular year no suitable nominations have been received.

Western Engineering alumni, faculty, staff and students are invited to submit nominations for this award each year.

Since its inception, the medal has been awarded 22 times to the following recipients:
1977 Dr. Ross Leonard Judd, BESc'58
1979 Dr. Michael Owen Toll, BESc'68
1981 Mr. Carl Erik Kohn, BESc'64
1982 Mr. Steven Killing, BESc'72
1984 Dr. John R. Grace, BESc'65
1986 Mr. Peter C. Maurice, BESc'60
1989 Mr. John Thompson, BESc'66
1990 Mr. Brian Hewat, BESc'59
1991 Mr. Ron Yamada, BESc'64
1994 Mr. Bill Etherington, BESc'63
1997 Mr. Jack McBain, BESc'66
1998 Mr. Henry Yip, BESc '73
1999 Mr. John Westeinde, BESc '62
2001 Mr. John Jardine, BESc '65
2002 Mr. Douglas Muzyka, BESc ’77, MESc. ’78, PhD ‘85
2003 Mr. Ted Aziz, BESc '60
2004 Dr. G.S. Peter Castle, BESc '61, PhD '69
2005 Mr. Keith Zerebecki, BESc '72, MEng. ‘73
2006 Mr. Charles Ruigrok, BESc ’78, MESc ‘84
2007 Mr. Boris Jackman, BESc ’72
2008 Ms. Catherine Karakatsanis, BESc ' 83 MESc '91
2009 Ms. Sarah Shortreed, BESc '89

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Contact

.: Virginia Daugharty
Spencer Engineering Building, Room 2073
T: 519-661-4209
F: 519.661.3808
vdaughar@uwo.ca