PResiDent (7/1/10 – 6/30/12)

alain chesnais cto, scenecaster richmond hill, ontario, canada

Biography acm and siGGRaPh activities ˲ ˲ Since July 2008 ACM vice president ˲ ˲ Since July 2005 ACM SIGGRAPH past president ˲ ˲ 2006–2008 ACM secretary/treasurer ˲ ˲ 2005–2006 SIG representative to Council ˲ ˲ 2002–2005 ACM SIGGRAPH president ˲ ˲ 2002–2004 SGB past chair ˲ ˲ 2000–2002 SGB chair ˲ ˲ 2001 SIGGRAPH Conference International Resources Chair ˲ ˲ 1999–2000 SIG Governing Board (SGB) Vice Chair for Operations ˲ ˲ 1999 ACM EC Nominating Committee ˲ ˲ 1998 ACM Executive Search Committee ˲ ˲ 1998 SIGGRAPH Nominating Committee ˲ ˲ 1997 SIGGRAPH Conference International Chair ˲ ˲ 1995–1999 ACM SIGGRAPH Vice Chair ˲ ˲ 1993–1995 Member at Large ACM SIGGRAPH Chapters Committee ˲ ˲ 1993–1995 ACM Director of Professional Chapters ˲ ˲ 1993–1995 ACM Local Activities Board/SIG Board Liaison ˲ ˲ 1992 Organized the local groups’ booth for the SIGGRAPH 92 conference ˲ ˲ 1991–1995 Chair of the Paris SIGGRAPH chapter

Professional experience
˲ ˲ Since June 2007 C TO at
SceneCaster
˲ ˲ July 2005–May 2007 Vice
President Product Development at
Tucows Inc
˲ ˲ March 2004–July 2005 Director
of Engineering at ATI
˲ ˲ May 2000–November 2003 Vice
President, Engineering at
TrueSpectra
˲ ˲ 1996–2000 Director of Engineer-
ing, Alias|Wavefront
˲ ˲ 1993–1996 Rendering Manager,
Wavefront Technologies
˲ ˲ 1992–1993 CG Consultant
˲ ˲ 1987–1992 CTO, Studio Base 2
˲ ˲ 1983–1987 Research Scientist,
Centre Mondial Informatique
˲ ˲ 1982–1985 Research Assistant,
CNRS

education
˲ ˲ 1981 L’École Normale Supèrieure
de L’Enseignement Technique
˲ ˲ 1980 Diplome d’Etudes Appro-
fondies, Université de Paris XI
˲ ˲ 1979 Maîtrise Structure Mathé-
matique de L’Informatique, Univer-
sité de Paris VII
˲ ˲ 1979 Maîtrise de Mathématiques,
Université de Paris VII

awards/achievements
˲ ˲ Articles in various journals and
conferences.
˲ ˲ Systéme particulier selected for
film show SIGGRAPH 87.
˲ ˲ Opening Sequence selected for
film show SIGGRAPH 91.
˲ ˲ Participant in the SIGGRAPH
Future Search conference in Snow-
bird, 1994.
˲ ˲ Participant in the SIGGRAPH
strategy meetings in 2000, 2001,
2005 and 2006.

statement

I was first introduced to ACM through the annual SIGGRAPH conference over 20 years ago. I immediately joined the local SIGGRAPH chapter in Paris, France and started volunteering for various activities. I haven’t stopped since. Throughout my volunteer career I have focused on many aspects of ACM activities, ranging from chapters, to SIGs, to Council. I have also been a very active volunteer in SIGGRAPH, our largest SIG. With over 20 years of management experience in the software industry and already 6 years of service on the ACM executive committee, I feel well equipped to tackle the issues that the president of this organization is expected to manage. In my role as SIG Governing Board chair, I led the task force that proposed and implemented a new allocation model for the SIGs, anticipating the technology downturn that was to come when the bubble burst and the impact we expected it to have on ACM finances. That model was adopted by the SIGs and helped the organization weather the storm despite multimillion dollar losses engendered by our largest SIG. I then focused my efforts on ACM SIGGRAPH, after being elected president, and took the SIG’s finances from a 2½ million dollar loss when I came in, to generating a modest surplus in my last year.

Today, ACM is a healthy organiza-
tion that has weathered the recent
recession and sees membership
rising. The key challenges that I see
for ACM in upcoming years have to
do with our becoming a truly inter-
national organization and attract-
ing younger members into the
organization. As a French citizen
residing in Canada, I have firsthand
experience of what it means to be a
non-American member of our orga-
nization. I believe that I can use
that experience to help ACM truly
become the international organi-
zation it should be. Specifically, I
believe that we should strengthen
our presence in China and India,
continuing the effort that we have
started during my terms as trea-
surer, then vice president of the
ACM. I also believe that our general
presence worldwide can further be
enhanced through the changes in
the chapters program that I pro-
posed to the executive committee
and were then adopted by Council
last year.