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Nancy Foy Cameron

Nancy Foy Cameron (born June 21, 1934, died 7 July, 2010) was a journalist, author and consultant who documented the embryonic computer industry in the 1960s as publisher of Time Sharing News and editor of Dataweek. As Nancy Foy she wrote books on technology, IBM, organisational theory and collaborated on books by Leadership studies expert Warren Bennis and Volvo president Pehr Gyllenhammar.

"Like so many enterprising women, her career is almost undocumented, but ranges from a divorce in the USA (believed to be the first that cited computers as the cause of the break-up) inspiring her to move to London, where in 1969 she became the first woman to edit a computer weekly publication, 'Dataweek'."

Early life
Born in San Bernardino, California, in 1934, she was the eldest daughter of John B Surr and Frances Surr. After studies at Smith College and the University of California (Berkeley), she married John E Stokdyk, who became an executive during the 1950s with Hewlett Packard in Palo Alto. They had three children, Ann, Susan and John.

Tiring of the restraints of the housewife's life documented in 'The Feminine Mystique', she started hanging out at St Michael's Alley, a bohemian coffee shop frequented by the likes of Joan Baez, Ira Sandperl and the founders of the Greatful Dead. She then joined a local personnel agency serving the growing aerospace and computer industries in the Santa Clara Valley and jumped from this position to Philco WDL (later Space_Systems/Loral).

Computer industry beginnings
After divorcing, she moved to Los Angeles and gained a position as a technical writer at The Aerospace Corporation, a leading contractor for the Titan II rockets used to carry Project Gemini manned space capsules. In 1965, she joined the proposal-writing team for Scientific Data Systems (SDS), a computer manufactuer that supplied many of the companies involved in the US space programme.

Journalism
As the computer industry flourised on the back of time-sharing techniques she set up 'Time Sharing News', a monthly newsletter that included executive interviews and industry gossip. After her second divorce in 1968 she moved to London and continued to report from there until recruited as editor of 'Dataweek' in 1969. Later European editor for 'Datamation' she contributed to European Business, New Scientist and other business/technology periodicals. As Nancy Foy, she wrote 'Computers and Commonsense' in 1971 and 'The Sun Never Sets On IBM' in 1974.

Consultancy and organisational development
As FME Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Management Studies (1977-80) she studied the future of management education in Britain and disseminated her findings throughout the academic community and beyond in contributions to Harvard Business Review, Management Today and The Times. She collaborated with Volvo president Pehr Gyllenhammar on 'People at Work' (1977) and worked with Warren Bennis on several projects.

The use of informal networks to share experience and ideas people were central to her organisational development theories. She participated networks such as the Real Time Club, Association of Teachers of Management and Devonshire House Management Club and published her "rules" for informal networking in 'The Yin and Yang of Organisations' in 1980.

After a three-year stint with STC (Standard Telephone and Cable) she worked as a consultant supporting change and communication in large organisations such as BT, NCR, ScotRail, BAe, and numerous NHS hospitals and trusts. Her experiences were distilled into 'Empowering People at Work', a practical management handbook published in 1994.

Bookseller, publisher & textile artist
In her later years, she married John Cameron and moved to a hillside farm overlooking Killiecrankie, Perthshire,. She developed an interest in textile art and set up her own secondhand bookshop and publishing company, Atholl Browse, documenting her "tele-cottage" lifestyle in a Textualities blog and contributions to 'Scottish Book Collector' and 'The Quilter'.