For many, Dean is the grandfather of implementation science, as well as one of the founders of Global Implementation Society, serving as Board President until September 2019. Dean led the GIS and the Global Implementation Conferences through their challenging early days, and Dean is the reason why GIS is not not only still standing but thriving and going global. Dean’s leadership and practical and rigorous approach to leading this organization cannot be understated, along with the value of the implementation tools and frameworks that many have been and will be used to assist the many rapid changes in our services and to learn more about effective implementation.