directors' biography

Dr. Wade M. Poole—Career Educator, Military Retired Veteran, Golf Enthusiast, Junior Golf Advocate and Mentor serves as the first Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer with the Executive Board.  A native of Fort Smith, Arkansas, Dr. Poole is a Computer Scientist, past-Presidential Management Fellow in the Obama Administration and the Acting Director of the Special Projects Directorate for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) –Office of Information and Technology (OIT).  Additionally, Dr. Poole is an Adjunct Professor at Hood College, Department of Computer Science & Information Technology in Frederick, MD where he teaches graduate and undergraduate studies.  Prior to joining VA, Dr. Poole lectured undergraduate studies—Computer Science and Machine Learning at University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) where he was awarded the Distinguished Dwight D. Eisenhower Fellowship ($103,000.00) from the U.S. Department of Transportation(USDOT)/Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Universities and Grant Program. During that time, Dr. Poole became the first African American student to receive a PhD in Computing Science at UALR and the distinguished fellowship nationally with a merit ranking of 7 out of 10 students among all colleges and universities in the U.S. since the award inception. This accomplishment was featured in the National Society of Black Engineers’ February 2007 convention magazine Research Spotlight—“From Faith to Fellowship”. His scientific contributions included the publishing of the Case Study: The Need for Integration of an Enterprise Information System (EIS) within Business Opportunity and Workforce Development Centers (BOWDC).  In 2007, Dr. Poole’s research titled; “Business Process Modeling Using an Interactive Framework for Immersive Research, Support and Training (I-FIRST)” was selected for publication in the 5th International Workshop on Modeling, Simulation, Verification and Validation of Enterprise Information Systems (MSVVEIS) held in Madeira, Portugal.  Prior to his research work and teaching in academia, Dr. Poole served proudly in the United States Air Force, Arkansas Air National Guard and Reserves where he received numerous awards and recognitions for his service of twenty-one (21) years with two tours in the Gulf War (Desert Shield/Storm) and one tour in (Enduring Freedom) before retiring in August 2003.  Some recognitions includes being awarded the Citation of the Air Force Commendation Medal for meritorious service for developing a United States Air Force Base Regulation; awarded the Citation of the Air Force Achievement Medal for meritorious service and outstanding accomplishments during an immediate response in the aftermath of a terrorist car bombing at the Wing Headquarters building in Frankfurt, Germany; and awarded the Citation of the Air Force Achievement Medal for outstanding achievement as a member of the Beirut Mass Casualty Identification team which aided in the identification, preparation and return of the remains of 238 military members killed in action, Beirut, Lebanon to name a few.  Dr. Poole is a member of the National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE); volunteer as the Program Chair and Coordinator for the African American Youth Male Leadership Summit (AAYMLS) and most recently nominated and selected as the next board member of the NASBE Foundation. Moreover, Dr. Poole was a member of the Fall Class 2019 PGA HOPE (Professional Golfers’ Association Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) which is the flagship military program of PGA REACH, the charitable foundation of the PGA of America held at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, MD.  Dr. Poole currently holds an Associates of Science, (AS) Degree in Military Applied Science from the Community College of the Air Force; Bachelor of Science (BS) Degree in Criminal Justice Administration from Park University; Masters of Science (MS) Degree in Operations Management/Industrial Engineering and Masters of Science (MS) Certificate in Business Management, both from the College of Engineering, University of Arkansas; and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Degree in Computing Science with research emphasis: Artificial Intelligence (AI), e-Commerce, Object-Oriented Programming, Multi-Criteria Decision-Making and Risk Analysis from UALR George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology.

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