Warren H. Nicholson is 2020 recipient of SoC’s Neil Henderson Distinguished Alumni Award

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Posted on April 27, 2020 by Udaykumar Nandhigama

Udaykumar Nandhigama

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Warren H. Nicholson has been named the 2020 recipient of the School of Computing’s Neil Henderson Distinguished Alumni Award.  The Neil Henderson award was established in 2011 to honor distinguished alumni of the University of South Alabama and the School of Computing.  The award is presented each year during the annual Spring Celebration scholarship dinner and is given to a graduate who has achieved noteworthy accomplishments through technology, service, and philanthropy.

While at USA, Warren was inducted into the Theta Lambda chapter of the Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society, received his undergraduate degree in 1982, and completed his master’s degree in 1989.  He is a lifetime member of USA’s National Alumni Association, and in 2015, was named an NAA Distinguished Alumni Award recipient.  Serving his alma mater, Warren sits on both the School of Computing Advisory Board and the College of Engineering Industrial Advisory Board for Electrical and Computer Engineering. 

Warren’s professional accomplishments include authoring a publication in 1990 for the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems and receiving the Governor’s Trade Excellence Award (Alabama) for Exporters in 2008.  He has also been awarded multiple US patents related to HDTV and taught courses at the University of South Alabama.

Warren and his wife, Kathy, are loyal supporters of USA and have named scholarship endowments in both the School of Computing and the College of Engineering, as well as contributions to support the MacQueen Alumni Center, the Melton Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Mitchell Cancer Institute.  Most recently, the Nicholson’s have created a matching gift challenge to build support for graduate students and programs in the School of Computing.

Having started his professional career in Princeton, New Jersey in 1982, Warren served as staff engineer at the RCA David Sarnoff Research Center where he was responsible for leading-edge technology and patent investigation as it related to the RCA operating divisions.  His responsibilities included research in the areas of NTSC television, colorimetry, progressive scan and frame comb filters.  His HDTV research resulted in multiple US patents.

Warren worked for ten years in Mobile, Alabama as executive director of research and development at Quality Micro Systems (QMS), a company that designed, manufactured and marketed intelligent laser printers.  He was chair of the patent review committee and handled day to day management of the research and development division.  He then spent five years with RTP Corporation in Florida where he was CTO and assisted the international company with designing, manufacturing and marketing data acquisition and control systems for industrial and nuclear power plants.

Returning to Mobile in 1999, Warren founded startup company, N-Tron Corporation, and grew the business to become a recognized leader in industrial ethernet products.  Under Warren’s leadership as President and CEO, N-Tron designed, manufactured and marketed high performance industrial network switches.  In 2010, he sold N-Tron Corporation to Spectris LLC, a publicly traded FTSE company.

After decades of technology experience in creating rugged, high reliability networking equipment and with a desire to bring that quality and performance to the mainstream data storage market, Warren started Nfina Technologies in 2012.  He currently serves as President and CEO, and believes that Nfina’s success has come from taking care of customers and channel partners as if they were family. 

Through Nfina’s partnership with the School of Computing, Warren continues to mentor and guide student interns and work with groups of students in Nfina’s managed internship programs.  He plays a vital role in advising and advocating for the School and in helping to develop a pipeline of talented technology professionals who will enter the workforce.

The School of Computing is delighted to honor Warren H. Nicholson as a pioneer in the technology sector and a role model to South Alabama students.  His steadfast commitment to technology education, as well as his service to help advance his alma mater and his community are unparalleled, and we are pleased to recognize the Nicholson family for their generous support for all facets of the University of South Alabama.

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