Images courtesy of David Spoelstra, Barb Helfer, and ACM SIGGRAPH
In this episode of SIGGRAPH Spotlight, live from Los Angeles, 2026 ACM SIGGRAPH Outstanding Service Award recipient David Spoelstra sits down with Barb Helfer, ACM SIGGRAPH Membership and Communications Committee Chair. Dave and Barb discuss his career-spanning journey from conference participant to longtime volunteer leader, the meaning of service within the ACM SIGGRAPH community, and the lessons he’s learned throughout his years of involvement.
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For the past 20 years David Spoelstra has served in executive and senior engineering management roles responsible for multi-million dollar budgets at both startups and Fortune 500 companies. David got his start at SIGGRAPH as an early employee of Truevision – the company that created the world’s first 16-million color videographics frame buffer. As a way of giving back, he teaches C, C++, and microcontroller programming in the evenings at Ivy Tech Community College.
