Florida Trend | Florida's Business Authority

Northwest Fla. Business Players - October 2010

Ken Ford
Ford
» Willis Holcombe, chancellor of Florida's state and community college system, is retiring. He will step down after Education Commissioner Eric Smith names a replacement.

» NASA awarded its highest honor, the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, to Ken Ford, CEO and director of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, for his contributions to the NASA mission. He's chairman of the NASA Advisory Council and serves on the Space Florida board. He's a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. The institute, based in Pensacola with a branch at Ocala, conducts research focused on human-centered computing, artificial intelligence, robotics and computer science.

» Gov. Charlie Crist has appointed Tom Dannheisser Escambia County judge, filling a position vacated by former Judge David Ackerman. Dannheisser has served as Santa Rosa County Attorney since 1986.