Brenda Shiraki, center right, with her OFIS colleagues .
Brenda Shiraki retired from the Office of Fisheries Information Systems (OFIS) at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in August 2012 with 38 years of federal service.
Brenda was hired as a Computer Specialist with the Center by the then OFIS Director, Ted Rodgers, in August 1992 and saw many technological changes and advances during her career--from mainframe computing to server/client architecture, distributed computing, and to today's cloud computing technologies. She joined the OFIS staff just as the computer mainframe (Burroughs B7800)/terminal environment was coming to an end at the Center and the Unix-server/client (SGI IRIX server/desktop PC) environment had just begun. In her early years with OFIS, Brenda spent time troubleshooting and resolving PC hardware problems. At the close of her career Brenda managed the AFSC Help Desk and supported the LANDesk PC management software.
Prior to joining the AFSC, Brenda was in the Air Force and a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserves. She worked as a Computer Specialist at the Information Center, Fort Shaftner, Hawaii, and as a lab manager for the Department of Pathology, Tripler Army Medical Center, Hawaii.
Her colleagues at the Center wish her all the best in retirement.