W. Ross Stone
Biography
W. Ross Stone has had a long, diverse, and accomplished career in engineering. He’s been involved in 16 different startups and has made key contributions to the field of cellular and wireless communications. However, it is his work with IEEE publications for which he is best known in the engineering community. Stone has held leadership positions with the Technical Activities Board (TAB) for more than 40 years, and in that time has transformed the way the TAB Periodicals Committee (PerCom) operates. The result: more efficient, informative, and useful publications for all IEEE members. Stone has created many programs to revitalize the operations of IEEE publications and developed strategic plans for their future. He has improved the process for proposing new publications, brought automation to the periodical-review process, and developed necessary procedures for revitalizing or terminating publications in distress. Overall, he has built a tremendously successful publication program that includes substantial financial savings for IEEE. As chair of the TAB Periodicals Committee, Stone reorganized PerCom’s operations through ad hoc committees. All PerCom members were members of at least two of the 15 ad hoc committees Stone established to further the publication goals of IEEE. These committees met often and resulted in real advances in TA publications objectives, including the development of new evaluation metrics, a mentoring program for publications, and long-term strategies in the areas of open access and open science. The Accelerated Partnership for Chinese Publications that Stone recently helped to initiate is potentially one of the most significant IEEE publication programs in a generation. Extending PerCom’s interaction outside of TAB to other IEEE boards has significantly improved the planning and future strategies of publications across the IEEE. While he’s known for his rigor and results-oriented approach, those who work with Stone never fail to describe him as a gentleman. He’s invariably polite, open to discussion, and handles any disagreements sensitively and respect-fully. Stone has a kind word for every collaborator and displays an unwavering sense of humor in the most complicated situations.
An IEEE Life Fellow and HKN member, Stone is the president of Stoneware Limited, San Diego, California, USA.
