In Honor of Our Friend and Colleague, Bob Lusignan

A tribute to Bob Lusignan, who played a key role in revitalizing the Houston Organization Development Network.

Bob Lusignan was born in Worcester, Mass. in 1954 and lived in the Northeast until he completed his B.A. from Framingham State College in 1976. In 1987, he began pursuing his Ph.D. in Change Management from Boston University. While working toward his degree on a part-time basis, he moved to Houston to take a Change Management position for what is now Logica, an international systems integration and computer consultancy.

After working for Logica, Bob set his sights on working in Change Management for Shell. Using his Houston network, which included the Houston Organization Development Network, he was successful and began his work in change management for the Shell IT organization in 1997. Within a few years, he grew the Shell IT Change Management group from one (himself) to a team of 20.

It was when he attended the national Organization Development Network conference in October 2002 that Bob realized the impact he could make in the Houston organization development community. Upon returning to Houston, Bob, along with Catherine Gillings and Wayne Dorris, led the charge to revitalize the Houston Organization Development Network, which currently has 119 members. Bob “woke the sleeping giant” that is now HODN.

In the months of January through March in 2003, Bob and other members of the HODN “core group” worked to revitalize HODN, recasting the vision, mission and values, creating mailing lists, finding locations and speakers. Bob was key in organizing these early meetings of HODN and our small core group, setting agendas and documenting our progress in a way that held us all accountable. To this process, Bob brought not only his personal commitment and a structure that kept us focused; he brought his “whole self” into the game, including his love for connecting with people, his keen desire for continuous life learning, and his outstanding sense of humor.

To honor Bob, his quest for lifelong learning and his contributions to the revitalization of HODN, we have created the HODN Bob Lusignan Fund. This fund will be used for scholarships for HODN members to attend the national ODN meeting, bringing in special HODN speakers, or other special events that the core group dictates would be a fitting use of the funds honoring Bob’s contributions to the organization.

The guiding principles of this fund will be:

• Simplicity will guide implementation of this fund at all times.
• Use of the fund for attending the national OD Conference will not be “competitive.” Rather, the fund amount available will be used to subsidize as many individual conference fees as possible.
• Decisions on how the fund is used each year will be made by the core group. The core group will take into account years of HODN membership, participation in HODN meetings and activities, and need. Funds may be given to one or more recipients, depending on funds and individual needs.

HODN will accept donations for the Bob Lusignan Fund either by check or through the website. To give online, follow this link. Please note that we have set up this payment mechanism like a "virtual event," with donations available in increments of $5. See the instructions on the event page for details of larger payment increments.

Checks can be sent to:
Houston Organization Development Network
3 Boulevard Green
Bellaire, TX 77401-4621