User:FDerkinson/sandbox2

George Schussel (Born in 1941) is the Founder and Chairman of Digital Consulting Institute (DCI), which was one of the largest American conference and expo companies in the field of technology. His expertise on database, computing architectures, the internet and information management issues also inspired him to travel the world giving lectures, and as of 2004, Schussel had given over 1,000 seminars for other technology professionals.

Accomplishments
George Schussel has been the inventor and chairperson of computer industry trade shows such as Database World, Client/Server World, and Creating the Real Time Enterprise. His lectures have scored 9 on a 10 point scale and were noted for underlining and explaining technical issues, while focusing on the business benefits and uses of technology.

Schussel has authored the 1985 book Data Management: Past, present and future (Critical technology report), as well as co-authored the 1994 book Rightsizing Information Systems (Professional Reference). He has also authored or co-authored over 100 articles or columns in leading computer industry journals such as Computerworld, Datamation, Client Server Today and Data Based Advisor.

During his time at DCI, Schussel was credited as having consulted major clients such as Cullinet, Computer Associates, Revelation Technologies, Hewlett Packard, Sybase, AT&T/NCR, DEC, Sequent Computer Systems, Borland and IBM.

In 1998, Schussel was a recipient of the IEEE Computer Society's Computer Entrepreneur award for his important contributions to the computing industry and profession as an entrepreneurial leader, advisor, and member. Other recipients of the Computer Entrepreneur award that year were Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Jobs, and Steve Wozniak. Schussel was also the recipient of the Outstanding Industrial Engineer of the Year award from the American Institute of Industrial Engineers.

Additionally, Schussel was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and had CDP certification from the Data Processing Management Association.

Background/Education
Schussel received his Bachelor's Degree from the University of California in Physics & Mathematics. Afterwards, he was accepted into Harvard University, and there received his Masters Degree in Applied Mathematics & Computer Science. Additionally, he received his Doctorate from Harvard Business School in Marketing and Computer Science. After graduation, he spent time lecturing and held a faculty appointment at the University of Southern California, Harvard University, MIT, and the University of Alabama.

Prior to founding DCI in 1983, George Schussel was Vice President and CIO at the American Mutual Group of insurance companies in Wakefield, Massachusetts. There he was the senior manager for the administration of a multi-million dollar computer budget and 200 full-time personnel handling all data processing for the American Mutual Group.

DCI
George Schussel is the Founder, as well as the Chairman of Digital Consulting Institute (DCI). In 1982, Schussel started DCI from a basement office in his Lynnfield home along with his wife.

As of 1998, DCI was the largest American owned Information Systems conference and trade show company, holding large seminars across the world intended for professional audiences. As Chairman, Schussel forecasted industry trends as well as identified new fields of opportunity for DCI trade shows. His input was crucial in the company's compounded growth rate of 30% per year, a statistic that had remained constant throughout the previous decade. DCI's revenue was generated from ticket sales to participants who attended their seminars, trade shows, and other events, as well as from the contracting and selling of booth space to vendors participating in their shows.

Charity
In March of 2000, Schussel was recognized in MIT Sloan alumni magazine for his philanthropic contributions towards MIT. Schussel donated $2 million to the MIT Sloan School for the endowment of a Professor of Management Science chair. The donation promoted the study of the application of mathematical techniques to management. Although he was not an alumni of the school, he was noted as claiming that his family members held six degrees from the school, and his daughter had also met her husband there.

Tax Evasion
In 2004, George Schussel was charged by the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts with conspiracy and Tax Evasion. Schussel was accused of spearheading a scheme in which he diverted millions of unreported income generated by his DCI company, to an off-shore account in Bermuda to avoid paying taxes. It was alleged that in order to prevent exposure, he obstructed an audit by the IRS in March of 1998, and filed false and fraudulent corporate and individual income tax returns in 1995, by failing to report to the IRS accurate DCI revenues and income which he and his wife received. Schussel was 63 at the time, living in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, with other residences located in Meredith, New Hampshire and Key West, Florida. On January 25th, 2007, a federal trial jury convicted Schussel of tax fraud conspiracy and tax evasion after a fourteen-day trial. He faced up to 5 years imprisonment on each account, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine on each count. He also faced millions of dollars in tax liability for his past tax evasion. In May he was sentenced to 60 months imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently, before appealing his case unsuccessfully.