Cleveland Heights resident Scot Rourke, president and chief executive officer of OneCommunity, has been named the Intelligent Community Visionary of the Year for 2008 by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) (www.intelligentcommunity.org), a New York-based think tank dedicated to studying economic growth in the broadband economy.

The award was presented at a ceremony in Cleveland on March 25. Rourke will deliver the Intelligent Community Visionary of the Year address at ICF's annual Building the Broadband Economy summit in New York City on May 16.

OneCommunity (www.onecommunity.org) is a Cleveland-based nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering economic development and improving quality of life by leveraging information technologies. ICF selected Rourke based on his groundbreaking work as a social entrepreneur in Northeast Ohio and his willingness to share hard-won lessons in information and communication technologies (ICT)-based economic development with communities around the world. “OneCommunity is proud to be a leader in the movement to ensure the success of Northeast Ohio in the new broadband economy, and I am privileged to accept this honor,” Rourke said. “We remain committed to our transformative efforts in education, healthcare, workforce development and government that have helped establish our region as a model for communities worldwide.” ICF Chairman John G. Jung added, “In addition to taking OneCommunity from concept to dynamic reality, Rourke has freely shared its innovative business model and approach.”

As OneCommunity’s CEO, Rourke led the successful effort to develop an ultra-broadband community network serving first the city of Cleveland and then the entire Northeast Ohio region. The effort began in 2002 when Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University named Lev Gonick as its new chief information officer. Believing that the region's nonprofits should play a more active role in its recovery from industrial decline, Gonick assembled a group of community leaders that founded OneCleveland, OneCommunity’s predecessor.

Rourke joined the effort, turning this vision into reality. Under his leadership, OneCommunity forged partnerships with the region's telephone and cable carriers. The OneCommunity network has expanded and will soon connect 1,500 schools, libraries, governments, hospitals, and universities, cost-effectively delivering ultra broadband to enables applications such as distance learning and telemedicine. In recognition of the region's achievements, ICF named Northeast Ohio a 2008 Top Seven Intelligent Community of the Year. ICF will announce the Intelligent Community of the Year winner on May 16.