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Vice President Operations Named For Computer History Museum

Arts and cultural facilities veteran joins Computer History Museum team

Mountain View, California—February 14, 2006—
The Computer History Museum, the world's largest museum dedicated to the preservation and presentation of artifacts and stories of the information age, announced today that it has named arts, entertainment, and cultural facilities management veteran David Dial as Vice President, Operations. 

"We welcome David to the executive staff of our management team.  His unique expertise in both the facilities and operations aspects of managing high-profile arts and entertainment venues in the Bay Area will prove invaluable as we plan the next phase of expansion of our exhibits and event programs," said John Toole, executive director and CEO of the Computer History Museum. 

Mr. Dial's experience includes design, construction, and day-to-day operations of a number of the region's major cultural projects, including the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Zeum, both in San Francisco.  He also served as the Director of Operations at Cal Performances, with responsibility for the management of U. C. Berkeley's performing arts venues and has provided consulting services to non-profit and governmental organizations for operational planning, technology integration, and project management. 

"I am excited to join the museum at this important time in its development, said David Dial. " I am looking forward to participating in creating a world class museum in what is already a landmark building in the local community." 

The Computer History Museum is located in a 119,000 square foot facility that was the worldwide sales headquarters of Silicon Graphics Inc. for many years.  Designed by STUDIOS Architecture of San Francisco, the distinctive curved bay-window structure commands a strong presence fronting onto Highway 101 at Shoreline Boulevard in Mountain View.  Following its opening in 1995, the design received significant architectural awards for the manner in which it articulated openness and accessibility to the community.  The Museum is currently working with EHDD Architecture to retrofit the building to its new role as a world class museum.  EHDD of San Francisco is an award winning firm known locally for its work at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. 

About the Computer History Museum The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, a public benefit organization, preserves and presents for posterity the artifacts and stories of the information age.  Dedicated to exploring the social impact of computing, the museum is home to the world's largest collection of computing-related items, spanning from pre-computing objects, to semiconductors, hardware, software, computer graphics systems, games, networking, robots, the Internet, and beyond.  Its growing collection also includes photos, films, videos, manuals, documents, publications, and marketing materials. 

Currently in its first phase, the Museum brings computing history to life through its popular speaker series, seminars, oral histories, workshops and Web-based educational resources for students, scholars and the general public.  The Museum also offers self-guided and docent-led tours of Visible Storage, where nearly 600 objects from the collection are on display, including such rare objects as the Cray-1 supercomputer, the Apple I, the WWII ENIGMA, the PalmPilot prototype, and the 1969 Honeywell "Kitchen Computer."  A new exhibit, "Mastering The Game: A History of Computer Chess," opened in September 2005, providing an exciting, interactive look at 50 years of innovation and work in computing.  Please check the Web site for open hours. 

Future phases will feature full museum exhibits including a timeline of computing history, theme galleries, extensive Web-based exhibits and collection-related information, expanded education programs, a research center, and much more.  For more information, please visit www.computerhistory.org or call 650.810.1010.