Being honored at a special awards dinner are Vincent R. Barabba, chairman of the Internet Home Alliance, and Sue Herera, a founding anchor of the television news network CNBC.

"They serve as inspiration and role models to our current students, and affirm the quality of the education that our alumni received while at the university," said D.G. "Gray" Mounger, assistant vice president of alumni relations. "We are proud of Vincent Barabba and Sue Herera and are pleased to honor them and showcase their accomplishments." The Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest honor bestowed by the university's Alumni Association. It is presented to individuals who have achieved a high level of success in their chosen fields of endeavor, thus bringing distinction to themselves and their alma mater. Until last month, Barabba was head of General Motors' Corporate Strategy and Knowledge Development Division. He retired to take on the challenge as chairman of the Internet Home Alliance.

Prior to his work at GM, Barabba had been director of market intelligence for Eastman Kodak. He twice served as director of the federal Bureau of the Census, and is the only person to serve in that position under administrations of both major political parties (Presidents Ford and Carter). He headed the Census Bureau during the 1973-1976 and 1979-1980 periods, with an intervening role as manager of market research for Xerox Corp. He also was the co-founder of what is now the Wirthlin Group.

Barabba has served as a lecturer and advisory board member at Harvard, Penn, MIT and Stanford. He authored the best-selling book Meeting of the Minds, and co-authored Hearing the Voice of the Market and The 1980 Census: Policy Making Amid Turbulence. Barabba also has served as head of the National Institute of Standards, as president of the American Statistical Association and as U.S. representative to the Population Commission of the United Nations. He serves on the boards of the Marketing Science Institute and the National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago, as well as on the Board of Directors of the American Institutes for Research.

Barabba received his bachelor¹s degree in marketing from San Fernando Valley State College in 1962. A year later, he served as one of the founding organizers of the Northridge Alumni Association while completing his M.B.A. at UCLA. He later served on the College of Business and Economics dean¹s advisory board at CSUN and presented the commencement address for the college in 1992.

Herera, who graduated from CSUN with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1980, co-anchors CNBC¹s "Business Center" each evening with fellow Northridge alum Ron Insana. She also serves as a credit and futures market reporter and covers the stock market, foreign exchanges and options markets for the network. Herera has been with CNBC since its inception in 1989.

Herera has co-anchored "Market Wrap" and has anchored "The Edge." She has hosted or moderated CNBC specials including "Tomorrow¹s Technology Gorillas," "The Great Game: The Story of Wall Street" (March, 2000) and "CNBC: Inside China," an in-depth report on topics including the Shanghai stock market, China¹s education system, U.S. companies represented in the nation, real estate development in Beijing, and manufacturing, agriculture and culture in China.

Before CNBC, Herera spent eight years as an anchor and reporter with Financial News Network in the Los Angeles area, where she served as co-anchor with both Insana and Northridge alumnus Bill Griffeth, a 2000 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award. Herera is also author of the critically acclaimed Women of The Street: Making It on Wall Street - The World¹s Toughest Business.