SAN JOSE, CA, March 19, 2019 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Rod Diridon Sr. with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Mr. Diridon celebrates many years' experience in his three professional networks, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes he has accrued in his field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are competitively selected on the basis of reference value. Position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all considered during the selection process.
Background: Rodney John (Rod) Diridon was born in 1939 and raised in the small railroad town of Dunsmuir, California. His parents, Claude (Claudius Diridoni, an immigrant Italian railroad brakeman) and mother Rhoda Middleton Cover Diridon (daughter of 1620 Dutch and Irish immigrants and a concert pianist and vocalist) raised three children (Claudia and Tom, both younger) in modest means to be honorable strivers. Though dyslexic, Rod was taught to learn by a unique public school teacher, Henry Bellinger, and excelled in aspects of academia and sports through high school and college at San Jose State University where he was listed in Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities for three years. He worked vacations and holidays as a railroader and a skiing instructor on Mt Shasta during the winters while in college. He was twice class president, student body officer, and on the student council.
Careers: After receiving a BS in Accounting and an MSBA in Statistics in 1963, Rod graduated in 1964 in the top one percent of the Navy Officers' Candidate School class in Newport RI. Two Vietnam combat tours as an antisubmarine warfare officer and weapons officer on destroyers ensued. In 1967 he was hired by Lochhead as a management systems analyst and in their management training program. In 1969 he founded the Diridon Research Corporation (renamed Decision Research Institute) sold in 1977. During that time, a penchant for community service led him into politics after chairing over two dozen local community efforts. He became Saratoga's youngest elected councilmember and vice mayor in 1971 and in 1975 one of the youngest Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley) county board of supervisors ever. During that period Rod was chosen one of California's five outstanding young men (1971) and the nations ten outstanding young men (1972) by the Jaycees and Time Magazine. He was assigned on the board of supervisors, which was the transportation board for the region, the transportation lead which he retained for five terms, 20 years, until newly adopted term limits in 1994 precluded further service. In 1976 Rod chaired the first comprehensive transportation master plan study and first transit tax election in California followed by chairing nine high speed, commuter, metro, and light rail construction projects. With a strong interest in open space protection, Rod also co-chaired the 1972 County Parks Charter Measure. That voter mandate restricted a specified percentage of the annual county budget to be used only for parks with a significant portion to be used to acquire open space land. The 800 acres of county parks when he was elected in 1975 grew to over 43,000 acres when he left office in 1995. After 24 years in elected office and chairing transit programs from the local to international levels, Rod became the founding executive director of a congressionally created national transportation policy research and education center later named the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI). The Institute successfully competes with the nation's other universities for redesignation every five years. MTI grew to have in excess of 200 PhD research associates in nine countries conducting case studies of the world's best sustainability practices. MTI also confers, via San Jose State University, a California State University Master of Science in Transportation Management taught via the California Department of Transportation's video conference bridge to 28 sites, four nights a week. While leading MTI, Rod chaired several important programs most notably the California High Speed Rail Authority appointed by Governors Davis and Schwarzenegger for the maximum 10 year term. He also reorganized and chaired the national Council of University Transportation Centers representing the 150+ universities with accredited transportation study programs. And he also chaired the National Research Council's Transit Cooperative Research Program Board and guided, in 1996, the benchmark study to, "Combat Global Warming Through Sustainable Transportation Policy". After 23 years Rod retired from MTI as emeritus executive director in 2016 but continues to lead a ubiquitous collection of community activities, often worthy programs needing turn-around leadership through difficult times. He has often provided legislative testimony both at the state and national levels and continues to frequently speak on and publishes guest editorials on sustainability. He was an adjunct professor of ethics and organizational management at SJSU for nearly 40 years.
Family: At 80 years of age, those community activities are yielding time for his primary job as "Papa" to four wonderful grandchildren (Allie, Arron, Avery, and Roddy), and father to remarkably effective and caring adult children (Rod, his wife Sabra, and Mary). He is especially attentive to sharing precious time with his uniquely talented wife, Dr. Gloria Duffy, former US deputy assistant undersecretary of defense who led negotiations to secure the weapons of mass distructionfrom the former soviet satellite countries and is currently President/CEO of the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco.
Honors: Rod has been a trail blazer in several career areas and as such has received hundreds of awards, citations, and other honors. Most prominent among those was the 1994 rededication of the main Silicon Valley train station to be the San Jose Diridon Station. He's chaired over 100 major local to international programs and events as broadly as the San Jose Symphony, Scouting, YMCA, Lincoln Law School of San Jose, Rotary, USO, National Council on Alcoholism, local and state Jaycees, several national associations, the National Research Council's Transit Cooperative Research Board, and was the North American Vice Chair of the International Transit Association (UITC) in Brussels among many others. Formal lifetime achievement awards from the following organizations highlight the breadth of activities: American Public Transportation Association, national Council of University Transportation Centers, National Association of Counties, US High Speed Rail Association, US High Speed Ground Transportation Association, Sierra Club (life member), regional League of Conservation Voters, regional Santa Clara County Democratic Club, Lincoln Law School of San Jose (honorary degree), Rotary Club of San Jose's Goldeen Award, and San Jose State University's Lucas College and Graduate School of Business, among others. He has been listed as, 100 Who Did Most to Promote Transit in North America (Metro Magazine), 50 Most Responsible for Silicon Valley (SV Business Journal), 10 Most Influential in Silicon Valley in 1990 (Mercury News), and other citations. Added detail is available in the litany of his achievements included in the Marquis Who's Who reference publication honoring Albert Nelson Marquis Award winners.
About Marquis Who's Who®
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America®, Who's Who in the World®, Who's Who in American Law®, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare®, Who's Who in Science and Engineering®, and Who's Who in Asia®. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
# # #