Jack Sunderlage ’61 accepts Leadership and Service Award
Jack Sunderlage, Class of 1961, Cornell College recognizes your leadership and service over your long and successful career in technology, dedication to your alma mater, and commitment to your community, especially to higher education and to your faith.
The list of your accomplishments and awards is long. But before we list them, we must recognize what you and your wife, Jean, did at a time when most people would be satisfied to relax and enjoy their grandchildren. In 2010 the two of you went to Fiji as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. For two years, you worked to improve the lives of the islanders, and you did it at no small expense to yourselves. It is that type of commitment and dedication that has made you a success on multiple levels.
Your first job was with Burroughs Corporation, which made mainframe computers, and you were in on the ground floor of information technology. Through the years you advanced through a succession of positions at pioneering technology companies such as UNISYS, Digital Equipment, Compaq, and Hewlett-Packard. You retired from HP in 2002, but in a very real sense, you were just entering your mid-career.
After retiring, you did contract consulting with the Utah Partnership for Education, where you helped develop business partnerships for six new tech high schools. At the same time, you consulted with IT companies that wanted to expand into national and global markets. For five years you were president and CEO of ContentWatch, a firm that developed and deployed tools for parents to control the content their children were exposed to on the internet.
Your list of community activities is long. You are the past chairman of the board of trustees for the Utah Information Technology Association, and you serve as a trustee of the Utah Technology Council. You are past and founding chairman of the board for the World Trade Center Utah. In 2006, you were appointed to the Utah Science Technology and Research governing board for the State of Utah.
Your deep commitment to higher education is evident from your service on boards and councils at the University of Utah, Westminster College, Brigham Young University, and Utah Valley University, where you are the vice-chairman of the Board of Trustees.
Among your many awards are the 2007 Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology in recognition of your contributions to and impact on the State of Utah, and the 2009 CEO of the Year by the Utah Technology Council.
On behalf of the Alumni Association Board of Directors and the entire Cornell community, it is an honor to present you with the Leadership and Service Award.
Bio
Jack Sunderlage ’61 is a technology pioneer and entrepreneur. After graduation he took a job with Burroughs Corporation, a manufacturer of mainframe computers. Over the next 40 years, he advanced up the ranks at global technology firms UNISYS, Digital Equipment, Compaq, and Hewlett-Packard. He took early retirement from Hewlett-Packard in 2002 and became a consultant to information technology firms and to the Utah Partnership for Education, where he helped launch six tech high schools. In 2005 he became president and CEO of ContentWatch, which created tools that allowed parents to control their children’s access to the internet. He is past chairman of the Utah Information Technology Association and is a trustee of the Utah Technology Council. He is past and founding chairman of the World Trade Center Utah, and in 2006, was appointed to the Utah Science Technology and Research governing board for the State of Utah. He has served in advisory capacities for the University of Utah, Brigham Young University, and Utah Valley University, where he is vice-chairman of the Board of Trustees. In 2010, he and his wife, Jean, embarked on a two-year mission in Fiji for the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints.
