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Previous
CIO Panel Speakers
 Twila
Day
Vice President &
Chief Information Officer
SYSCO Corporation
(www.Sysco.com)
Twila Day was
named Vice President, CIO for SYSCO
Corporation, the largest North American
foodservice marketing and distribution
organization, in December 2005. In this
role, she has been instrumental in
creating the Enterprise Application
Integration (EAI) architecture, provided
vision for the Enterprise Data
Warehouse, spearheaded the integration
of proprietary systems with
best-of-breed 3rd party software, and
provided leadership in the transition of
the traditional broadline companies away
from a decentralized operating
environment to a centralized hosted
operation. Previously, she was
intimately involved with SYSCO’s
in-house developed multi-million dollar
ERP project. Twila received the 2003
Leadership in Technology Award from the
Association of Women in Computing. She
is a member of Association for Women in
Computing (AWC), Women in Technology
Industries (WITI), and Women in
Foodservice Forum (WFF). SYSCO
Corporation is the global leader in
selling, marketing and distributing food
products to restaurants, healthcare and
educational facilities, lodging
establishments and other customers who
prepare meals away from home. Its family
of products also includes equipment and
supplies for the foodservice and
hospitality industries. For calendar
year 2006 the company generated $32
billion in sales. [See
video soundbite]
 Paul
Yust
Vice President & Chief Information
Officer
BJ Services (www.bjservices.com)
Mr. Yust
joined the Company in the newly created
role of Chief Information Officer in
2006, responsible for directing
information technology systems and
initiatives on a global scale. He
has designed and led information
technology programs at large
multinational companies for more than 15
years. Mr. Yust began his career
with Exxon U.S.A., where he held
positions in information technology,
engineering, planning and the
controller’s office. In 1990, he
became Vice President and Chief
Information Officer for Pioneer
Companies, a start-up chemical
manufacturer. He joined Kraton
Polymers in 2001 as Chief Information
Officer, responsible for building a data
and server network across more than 30
countries. Mr. Yust holds a
bachelor’s degree in electrical
engineering and a master’s degree in
finance from Texas A&M University.
[See
video soundbite]
 *CIO
PANELIST*
Jenifer
Jarriel
Vice President of Information Technology
and Chief Information Officer
Baylor College of Medicine
Jenifer Jarriel is the Vice
President of Information Technology and
Chief Information Officer for the Baylor
College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
She has been with the College since May
1995. She has responsibilities for eight
areas in the Information Technology
division: Applications Services,
Operations, Telecommunications, Network
Services, Enterprise Server
Infrastructure and Security, User
Support Services, Clinical Systems
Services, and SAP. Before this position,
she was Vice President of Information
Services for Texas Children’s Hospital.
She held that position for four years.
Prior to Texas Children’s, she was
Director of Information Services at
Hermann Hospital. She was at Hermann for
eleven and one-half years.
Ms. Jarriel has over 25 years in
information technology management with a
focus on academic medicine. She is a
proven leader in identifying,
evaluating, and implementing
enterprise-wide technology solutions.
She has specific accomplishments in
start-up operations and new program
development requiring technical, human,
and organizational resource planning.
Her leadership style emphasizes customer
service, team empowerment, and resource
stewardship.
 Derek
Benavides
Vice President of Technology
Campus Advantage
Derek Benavides serves as Vice President
of Technology for Campus Advantage.
Derek possesses 19 years of experience
in IT Engineering and Project
Management. Prior to joining Campus
Advantage, Derek served as Director of
Information Technology with American
Campus Communities (where he was awarded
company’s first employee of the year)
Derek led all Technology efforts towards
the company’s goal of becoming a
publicly traded company by providing
direction in Engineering IT
infrastructure, Technical services, Call
Center services and Project Management
for several multi-million dollar IT
projects at over 16 colleges and
universities.
Derek has relocated all business
critical applications to a SAS70 Type II
location and in 2006 successfully
completed a Sarbanes Oxley audit after
IPO completion. Derek has been a member
of Technology/Improvement committees
with Texas State University, Cal State
University (PeopleSoft project) and
currently serves as a School Board
Trustee for a local district.
 Colin
Osburn
CIO
Intelligentz
Colin joined Intelligentz in 2006 as VP
of Operations. In early 2007, he became
the CIO, leveraging his 13 years in
high-tech and telecom. Prior to
Intelligentz, Colin was the Director of
IT for Time Warner Cable, running a 10
person team to support 1,200 employees
and 400,000 subscribers within Texas.
Colin served in IT management roles in
two previous startups and has worked
with 10 other startups since 1994,
including Trilogy and Sitestuff.com.
Colin has a B.S. in Industrial
Management from Carnegie Mellon
University.
 Lucas
Waggenaar
Assistant VP of IT
Sysco Corporation
Lucas began his career in information
technology in 1979 as a field engineer
at Nixdorf Computers in the Netherlands.
In 1985, he moved to Canada where he
continued to work for Nixdorf as a
systems engineer in Calgary, Alberta.
Following IT positions in several other
companies, Lucas joined Westcoast Gas
Services as manager, IT. After the
company was acquired by Engage Energy,
he was promoted to director of IT and
infrastructure in 1997. In 2001, he
assumed a new role at El Paso
Corporation in Houston as director of
technology and information services. He
joined SYSCO in February 2007 from Eagle
Global Logistics where he served as vice
president, IT services. Lucas earned a
bachelor’s degree in electrical
engineering from the Institute of
Technology in Amersfoort, The
Netherlands in 1976. In addition, he
earned a certificate as a business
programmer/analyst (S.A.I.T.) in
Calgary, Alberta in 1985.
 Chris
Carter
Director, Global IT
CapRock Communications
Chris Carter is Director, Global IT for
CapRock Communications, a global
satellite communications provider for
the energy, maritime, government
services markets. He is responsible for
all aspects of CapRock's world-wide IT
infrastructure and business application
development, support and maintenance,
including information service delivery
and security. Prior to joining CapRock,
Chris was Director of Business
Intelligence for National Oilwell Varco.
A software developer by training, Chris
has 15 years of IT experience, both in
corporate and consulting capacities, in
all areas of Information Technology.
Chris has his B.A. in Computer
Information Systems from Washburn
University, and his J.D. from The
University of Kansas.
 Eric
Hill
CTO
Globenetix/Web.com
Eric currently serves as Chief
Technology Officer to GlobeNetix.
GlobeNetix is a wholly owned subsidiary
of Web.com, one of the largest web
hosting companies in the world.
GlobeNetix is a full service web
solutions company offering a full array
of services, including managed web,
email, eCommerce and custom application
hosting, as well as search engine
marketing and search engine optimization
(SEO) services. Eric is the primary
architect of the managed hosting and
content management applications used as
the foundation for providing these
services. He continues to lead and
support the ongoing development of these
applications, as well as the support and
maintenance of the underlying
infrastructure used to deliver these
services.
In addition to serving as CTO to
GlobeNetix, Eric also serves as a senior
technology adviser to Chemical Data, a
Houston-based leader in forecasting and
analysis in the petroleum, petrochemical
and plastics industries. Chemical Data
is a trusted source to many Fortune 500
companies, providing in depth financial
analysis and forecasting as it relates
to the raw materials used in the
creation of plastics. In early 2002,
Eric led Chemical Data into the world of
online delivery of their subscription
based reporting, by architecting a
solution that provided a secure
mechanism for delivering their reports
via the web. Eric continues to lead the
maintenance and enhancement efforts
associated with their online offerings.
 Diane
Lyons Rigsby
CIO
Capital Hospice - Metro DC
Diane Rigsby has an extensive technology
industry background in a wide range of
environments. In addition to valuable
corporate experience with General
Electric and Lexis-Nexis, Diane has
devoted almost fifteen years to
healthcare IT. Diane’s work has included
applications development, technical
services and support, e-commerce, large
system implementations, corporate
acquisitions, collocating data centers,
business analytics, designing and
installing voice and unified
communication systems and taking the
lead on strategic planning and building
technology infrastructures from the
ground up. This vast background in the
convergence of business and technology
solutions has been instrumental in her
most recent work at Capital Hospice
where she has built a technology
infrastructure that satisfies the
abundant need for electronic health
records and enhanced quality healthcare
delivery along with a competitive
advantage in Capital Hospice’s position
in the Metro D.C. market. Diane serves
on national steering committees and has
addressed groups across the country on
technical service operations and
effectiveness. Originally from New York,
Diane relocated to the Washington, D.C.
area in 2002.
 Dr.
Gotthard Saghi-Szabo
CIO
Carnegie Institution
Bio: Dr. Gotthard Saghi-Szabo is the
Carnegie Institution's Chief Information
Officer. His office is responsible for
ensuring that the institution's
information system investments are
aligned with its mission and strategic
objectives. Gotthard has extensive
experience in information systems
management and development, business
process implementation and improvement,
and audit compliance. In this role,
Gotthard is responsible for information
systems strategic planning, partnerships
with external organizations and
companies, and the implementation of
policies and best practices related to
planning, developing, supporting, and
maintaining business, scientific
computing, networking, and
telecommunications services for the
Institution.
The Carnegie Institution for Science is
a world-class organization for
scientific discovery. Working in six
scientific departments on the West and
East Coasts, Carnegie investigators are
leaders in the fields of plant biology,
developmental biology, Earth and
planetary sciences, astronomy, and
global ecology. They seek answers to
questions about the structure of the
universe, the formation of our solar
system and other planetary systems, the
behavior and transformation of matter
when subjected to extreme conditions,
the origin of life, the function of
genes, and the development of organisms
from single-celled egg to adult.
Gotthard successfully transformed the IS
unit into a dynamic, innovative,
result-focused services organization,
established a culture of accountability,
designed and implemented a comprehensive
IS service management methodology. He
established the Carnegie Information
Systems Internship program which enables
DC metropolitan area IS students to work
on specific projects under the direction
of Carnegie's professional staff.
Gotthard holds a Ph.D. degree in
Computational Physical Chemistry from
University of Maryland at College Park.
 Dave
Adams
CTO
Fishbowl
Bio: In his position as CTO, Dave Adams
is responsible for defining Fishbowl's
technical vision. In addition, he leads
the technical production operations of
the company and oversees Fishbowl's
technology platform and information
technology infrastructure. Dave has a
depth of experience in Information
Technology involving all aspects of
information systems development and
deployment, as well as process
implementation and improvement.
Prior to Fishbowl, Dave was a Program
Manager for Hewlett-Packard. He also
held lead technical management positions
at several IT services companies and
served as the acting Director of
Technology for the Special Libraries
Association. Dave's career began at AT&T
where he spent over 9 years with
responsibilities in all phases of
systems development and deployment.
Dave holds an M.S. degree in Information
and Telecommunications Systems from
Johns Hopkins University and a B.B.A
degree in Management Information Systems
from James Madison University.
Russell
Snella
Director of Information Technology
Union League Club of Chicago
Bio: Russell Snella currently serves as
the Director of Information Technology
for the Union League Club of Chicago.
While most organizations in the private
club industry outsource their IT needs,
Russell is simultaneously managing and
developing the Club’s member management
system which includes Food and Beverage,
hotel guestrooms, and Athletics. He is
fully integrating the club’s website and
has synchronized the Club’s multiple
databases. He is also working to find
business solutions that take advantage
of social networking methods, such as
electronic newsletters, Twitter,
LinkedIn, and Facebook.
With more than 20 years experience in
the IT industry, Russell has held senior
IT positions for companies in a variety
of fields, including manufacturing and
distribution, healthcare, and sales. His
expertise in managing the LAN, WAN and
databases of each corporation is clear
in his proven track record of rewriting
internal systems, creating web
interfaces, streamlining manual
processes and conversion to web-based
software. Prior to joining the staff at
the Union League Club, he served as
Director of Information Technology at
Art Line, Inc; as Manager of IT
Operations for Novamed Eyecare, Inc.;
and as Director of Technology and
Operations for Northwest Community
Hospital in Arlington Heights. As
the father of eight year old twins, he
has become skilled at adapting to a
fast-changing environment.
 Mark
Cummuta
CIO
Job Angels.org
Bio: Mark Cummuta is currently the CIO
for JobAngels.org, a non-profit
organization using Web 2.0, social media
and innovative interactive technologies
to link the millions of US job seekers
with volunteer mentors, “Job Angels”
willing to assist them in the skills and
tasks in finding new employment. Mr.
Cummuta is an accomplished IT Executive
with nearly 25 years of IT, business,
corporate enterprise and consulting
experience, after serving our country as
a US Marine. Having led a number of
firms in CIO, CTO and VP of IT,
Applications and Research & Development
roles, successfully grown consulting
divisions with full P&L authority, and
built award-winning products and teams
for over 10 years, he started his own
successful CIO Advisory Services firm
six years ago.
Mr. Cummuta has been an invited speaker
on BPM (Business Process Management),
Lean Six Sigma, data warehousing,
program / project management and
numerous other technologies and
methodologies, and has been quoted in
The Wall St. Journal, Crain’s Chicago
Business, Aberdeen Research, and others.
He writes on on-going series of articles
for CIO Magazine's online resource
website, CIO.com on executive job search
skills and strategies. Mr. Cummuta holds
a dual MBA from Loyola University of
Chicago, has completed one year of law
school for Intellectual Property
Protection from DePaul University, and
is named on several patent applications
in online multi-media collaboration
tools and global logistics tracking
systems.
Finally, as parents of teenage triplets,
Mr. Cummuta and his wife use their years
of experience in leadership and
persuasive speech in their day-to-day
survival. For Mr. Cummuta's CIO.com
Executive Job Search blog, go to:
http://advice.cio.com/blogs/cio_job_search_a_real_life_chronicle.
 Rick
Garcia
CTO
Vale Rio Doce
Bio: Rick Garcia is serving as the CTO
for Vale Rio Doce, a Brazilian mining
company, and was the former CTO of
Caterpillar. He has over 27 years
industry experience holding various
senior leadership positions - CTO and
CIO Positions, as a Corporate Employee
or in Executive Management Consulting
positions, Rick has lead several Data
Center Transformation, IT Shared
Services and IT Transformation services
for Fortune 200 companies, domestic and
international. He has been very
successful and effective leading the
strategic development of Global Shared
Services Platforms, Offshore Application
& Infrastructure Outsourcing, Business
Process Improvement (BPI) and leading
Business and IT Transformation, within
various industry verticals i.e.
Financial Services, Health Care,
Insurance, Consumer Product Goods,
Retail, Manufacturing and
Telecommunications. Rick is very strong
in the areas of Strategic Planning &
Enterprise Architecture, Data Center &
IT Transformation, Business Operations
(ISO 9001 - 20000), ERP Systems,
Enterprise Architecture, Applications
Development, M&A, Divestitures and
Business Process Management (continuous
improvement). Rick is ITIL Master
certified, PMP Certified, CCIE & CISSP
professional and a certified Six Sigma
Master Black Belt.
Rick earned his MBA from the University
of St. Francis and currently working to
complete his Doctorate Degree in
Organizational Leadership, building on
undergraduate degrees in computer
science and telecommunications. He is
fluent in Spanish and English and has
spoken at regional, national and
international conferences and seminars
on various aspects of Data Center and IT
Transformation.
 Van
Williams
Group CTO and Senior Vice President of
Technology
Depository Institutions Group of Fiserv,
Inc.
Van Williams is the Group CTO for the
Depository Institutions Group of Fiserv,
Inc. In this role, Williams oversees the
strategic direction and execution of
information technology development for
Fiserv’s largest division, which
provides financial electronic commerce
solutions for banks and other consumer
service providers, billers and
merchants.
Williams began his Fiserv career with
the Atlanta-based CheckFree Corporation
in 1990. Williams held a number of
leadership positions within that
organization, which was acquired by
Fiserv late in 2007. During his tenure,
Williams has been instrumental in
setting the development strategy for
electronic bill payment products and has
been named on several patent-pending
technology solutions in support of
online bill payment offerings. Williams
was also responsible for the creation of
a cross-functional team supporting one
of the company’s largest clients, and
has overseen initiatives resulting in
dramatic customer satisfaction
improvements.
Prior to joining Fiserv, Williams served
in a number of technical positions in
the Financial Services and Insurance
industries. Williams holds a B.S. in
Computer Management from Eastern
Illinois University.
 Nick
Grecco
Senior Vice President IT and
Infrastructure
Ceridian
Nick Grecco was named Senior Vice
President of Global Infrastructure of
Ceridian Corporation in July 2007.
Grecco oversees data center operations,
network services, transmission services,
workplace services and security and risk
operations for internal and external
customers. Earlier positions include
Chief Information Officer of AIG Auto,
Vice President of Technology at S1
Corporation and Senior Vice President of
Technology at Bank of America. Grecco
brings over 21 years of technology,
infrastructure and business management
expertise to Ceridian.
Grecco received his Bachelor of Science
degree in Business Computer Information
Systems from Hofstra University.
 Doug
Haugh
Executive Vice President & Chief
Information Officer
Mansfield Oil Company
Doug has worked in the energy and
technology industries for the past 15
years. A chemical engineer by trade,
Doug began his career in the industry
with Exxon in marketing and business
development, eventually leading business
development activities for lubricant and
specialty products across the Western
U.S.
Doug currently serves as the Executive
Vice President and CIO of Mansfield Oil
Company, a nationwide provider of fuel
supply, distribution logistics, and
delivery services. With over $5 billion
in sales in 2008, Mansfield was ranked
by Forbes as the 66th largest private
company in America. A serial
entrepreneur, Doug also serves on the
Board of BioBlend Renewable Resources.
Previously, Doug co-founded FuelQuest
Inc. FuelQuest provides supply chain
management and tax automation solutions
across the downstream energy industry
with over 750 world class clients
including, Wal-Mart, Shell, 7-Eleven,
UPS, and ExxonMobil. Doug and his
co-founder Rich Cilento were awarded
Ernst & Young’s prestigious Entrepreneur
of the Year award for Energy Technology
in 2006.
Prior to founding FuelQuest, Doug led a
fuels and lubricants distribution
business with ten bulk plants and
wholesale distribution warehouses across
Texas, growing company revenues from $25
to $55 million in less than three years.
Doug has written and published numerous
articles and is a knowledgeable and
popular speaker at such industry events
as: NACS, SIGMA, OPIS, ILTA, ILMA, PMAA.
 Noni
Gonzalez
AVP Corporate Systems Mobility
AT&T
Noni Gonzalez joined AT&T in 2004, where
she successfully managed the merger of
AT&T wireless with Cingular. Now, a
member of the AT&T Corporate Systems
team, she has responsibility for the
delivery of applications across the back
office for the wireless business,
including Supply Chain, Human Resources,
Payroll, Supply Chain ,Financial
applications, Tax, Corporate Systems and
Enterprise Reporting and Financial
Reporting.
As a seasoned executive, Ms. Gonzalez
spent nine years at Oracle Corporation
as a Senior Director and then Vice
President of Consulting Services. Prior
to that, she managed the implementation
of outsourced business process
management services for Automatic Data
Processing, Inc. She serves her
community through a number of
organizations including Junior
Achievement and Community of Hispanic
American Professionals. She was
recognized as the 2007 Phenomenal Woman
of the year and is a multi year Woman of
the Year finalist for Women in
Technology. She has also been selected
for the 2008 Atlanta Telecom
Professional of the Year award.
Noni's organization is responsible for
the complete back office functions for
the Wireless business for ATT (formerly
Cingular Wireless), including all
financial operations (General ledger,
Fixed Assets, CIP projects, Network
asset life cycle management, financial
reporting, all Handset Device and
Network Supply chain systems, Reverse
logistics, warehouses, planning,
purchasing, tax , Revenue Accounting,
and document storage).
The team also supports the largest
network supply chain in North America,
managing over 45,000 cell towers and
about 3,000 new cell-tower construction
projects each year. (1) The division
handles all GAAP reporting for the
company's wireless business, totaling
about $40 billion in revenue, and
supports a procurement platform that
services all of the wireless business
units, processing $32.4 billion in
payments. Finally, the department
supports the back-office infrastructure
for the entire mobility business,
including taxes, human resources and
payroll.
Noni Gonzalez is responsible for the day
to day operations of the Wireless
business back office infrastructure and
system operations including Supply chain
system, Financial, Tax, Warehousing,
Purchasing, Planning and workflow
systems. In 2005 - 2006, she led the
entire back office integration of
Cingular and at&t wireless, enabling one
of the largest distribution platforms in
the US. The Distribution model includes
over 2200 Company Owned stores, full
automation with all the large National
Retailers including Walmart, Costco,
Target, Toys are Us, CVS and others,
over 2000 agents, and a direct to
consumer model. This back office
platform enabled ATT to seamlessly roll
out the Iphone in record time.
John Poli
VP of IT & CIO
Delta Dental Washington
Bio: John Poli is the Vice President of
Information Technology at Washington
Dental Service. John is responsible for
all of the Information Technology and
Business Intelligence organizations and
driving the technology direction of WDS.
Prior to WDS John was a business
strategy and data warehouse consultant
at Point B Solutions. Prior to Point B,
Mr. Poli was the Global Service
Executive for Network Outsourcing at
Electronic Data Systems (EDS). John’s
responsibilities included developing the
global strategy for network services
inclusive of technology investments,
strategic partners, and managing global
telecommunications carriers.
Prior to EDS Mr. Poli was the General
Manager for Microsoft’s MSN Internet
Access Business. In that capacity John
was responsible for the full lifecycle
of development and operations support
for over 8 million MSN access
subscribers. His team was also
responsible for managing the national
supply chain and customer service.
Prior to Microsoft Mr. Poli has been a
strategic leader in a number of roles in
the telecommunications and information
technology industry. From Engineering to
Operations, John has built and managed
teams in high growth, technology-driven
companies. These firms include Sprint,
Qwest, Net2000, and MediaCenters.
Mr. Poli started his career as an active
duty officer in the US Air Force. He
specialized in anti-missile defense,
intelligence, and communications.
Mr. Poli has an MBA from Boston
University with a concentration in
Finance and Marketing. He earned his BS
in Electrical Engineering at Cornell
University.
 Bill
Peterson, CDP, CCP, CSP
CTO
Routh, Crabtree, Olsen, PS
Bio: Bill Peterson is responsible for
the overall development and operation of
technology at Routh Crabtree Olsen.
Peterson brings forty years of
information technology to the company.
He started programming in 1968 while
studying electrical engineering at
Washington State University. Always on
the forefront of technology, Peterson
worked with data communications and
online systems for the State of Alaska
in the 1970’s and with Carr-Gottstein
Foods in the 80’s and 90’s. He served at
Carr-Gottstein Foods, a grocery retail
and wholesale company, as the Director
of Technology and Planning. The company
was an early adaptor of technology,
being the first grocery chain on the
west coast to have scanning technology
in all their stores. The company was
also a leading implementer of retail
debit/credit transactions, competitive
pricing systems, video rental and
entertainment ticketing systems.
Peterson has worked with Routh Crabtree
Olsen since its inception in 1995. He
created the case management system, the
document storage system and is the
innovator of the company's “Black Box”
mobile posting system technology.
Peterson earned the Certificate of
Computer Programming (CCP) in 1981, the
Certificate in Data Processing (CDP) in
1982, and became a Certified Systems
Professional (CSP) in 1985. In 1986, the
Anchorage Chapter of the Association of
Information Technology Professionals
named Bill “Computer Person of the
Year.” He has earned a Bachelor of
Science degree from Washington State
University and an honorary Associate
degree of Applied Science in Computer
Information Systems from the University
of Alaska.
Nathan Church
Vice President & Information Technology
Manager
Columbia River Bank
Bio: Nathan discovered his fascination
with technology at age 9, writing his
first programs on a computer received as
a Christmas present. Over the next
several years of self-study and
pre-Internet bulletin board
collaboration, he built numerous
computers and trained office staff how
to use business productivity software
before starting his own consulting
company in 1994. He joined Columbia
River Bank in 1999 and built their core
infrastructure into the efficient
operation it is today. Nathan led the
organization to become an early adopter
of Cisco VoIP and partnered with
Microsoft on rapid deployment programs.
Utilizing storage area networks,
virtualization, automated failover
technologies and disk-based backup
systems, Nathan’s team of IT
professionals keeps costs down while
meeting enterprise business needs.
Nathan chairs the Oregon Bankers
Association Technology Committee, has
served on the advisory boards of various
IT conferences and has been cited in
articles in ICBA Independent Banker
Magazine and Bank Systems & Technology.
R. Allen
Systems Analyst, Boeing
Adjunct Professor of IT, University of
Phoenix
Bio: Steve is the Information Technology
Chair for the Western Washington campus
of the University of Phoenix as well as
a lead business and systems analyst for
The Boeing Company. Steve’s introduction
to computers came 31 years ago when he
was hired by The Boeing Company as an
Industrial Engineer and after 2 days on
the job, designated the department
computer guy. Over the ensuing years, he
has participated and led the design and
development of major software
applications at all levels of the
company.
Steve has a diverse educational
background which includes a Bachelor of
Arts in Theology, a Masters in Business
Administration – Information Services
and has completed the requirements for a
Ph.D in Knowledge Management. He has
been a trainer and instructor for over
30 years and a member of the adjunct
faculty of the University of Phoenix for
6 years.
*CIO
PANELIST*
Dr. Denise Walker
Chief Security Officer
Lone Star College System
Dr. Denise Walker is Chief Security
Officer for Lone Star College System,
serving the greater Houston area. She
has been with LSCS since 2007 formerly
the Dean of Technology. Dr. Walker has
responsibility for information risk
management and security governance
program and emergency management. Before
this position she was the Corporate
Business Continuity Planner for Fiserv
and formerly the Corporate Director of
Networking for four years. Prior to
Fiserv, she was with IBM as a
Professional Development Manager and
ConocoPhillips for nine years last in
investment appraisal. Dr. Walker
has more than 20 years of progressive IT
leadership in information security and
risk management, emergency management
and business resiliency planning and
testing, global application development,
and project management in the
manufacturing, financial, energy, higher
education, and consumer goods markets.
Dr. Walker is a public speaker on
educating the community on cyber crimes,
implementing and sustaining a
comprehensive risk management program,
project management, emergency
management, and the impact of cybercrime
in the workplace. Dr. Walker holds a
Doctorate of Business Administration, a
Masters of Science in Engineering
Management, Industrial Engineering, and
a graduate certificate in project
management. Dr. Walker is the author of
the book "Cybercrime: Secure IT or Lose
IT".
CIO
PANELIST
Shemon Bar-Tal
CTO
Museum of Fine Arts of Houston
Shemon Bartal is the Chief
Technology Officer at the Museum of Fine
Arts, Houston. He has been with the
Museum since 2001 and has worked in IT
for over 13 years. Shemon establishes
and directs the strategic long-term
goals for the Museum's Information
Technology department and determines the
museum's long-term technology needs and
hardware acquisitions to accomplish the
organization's business objectives. His
vision is to improve customers' and
users' experiences at the museum through
innovative use of technology while
keeping the overall IT costs down.
 Paul
Valdez
Former CIO, Cemex
Former CTO, City of Houston's Public
Works & Engineering
Paul is the the current President of the
Houston Chapter of the Society for
Information Management. SIM is the
premier Senior IT leadership and is a
community of thought leaders who share
experiences and rich intellectual
capital, and who explore future IT
direction. Paul past position was the
CEMEX's US Head of IT Operations. He led
a skilled IT Team that managed the
functions of Data Center operations,
ITIL, network/telecommunications,
systems and network engineering, and
Sarbanes-Oxley compliance in conjunction
with Mexico and other global
manufacturing and administrative sites.
This included IT integration efforts for
the recent $14.3 billion acquisition of
Australia's Rinker Group Ltd. which
positioned CEMEX as the global market
leader in the building materials
industry. Cemex has operations in 52
countries and is continuing to expand
their operations. He previously was the
Chief Technology Officer(CTO) for the
City of Houston's Public Works &
Engineering area. As CTO, the IT team
provided customer support in the areas
of Engineering, Construction, Water,
WasteWater, Traffic, Transportation,
Right-of-Way, Purchasing, Warehousing,
Financial, Human Resources, and Fleet
Maintenance for the fourth largest
City's Public Works & Engineering area.
Paul has over 25 years of experience in
the information technology and business
practices both in the private(Shell,
Chevron, others) and public sectors. His
expertise is within all facets of IT
including project management,
application development, data base
administration, vendor administration,
network, and 24x7 customer help desk
support and staffing. Paul's background
also covers international operations,
cost control, SCADA, environmental,
health and safety and ISO standards.
 *CIO
PANELIST*
Richard
(Rich) Gius
Vice President & Chief Information
Officer
Atmos Energy Corporation
Richard (Rich) Gius is Vice President
and Chief Information Officer for Atmos
Energy Corporation. Rich joined Atmos
in October of 2007 as a CIO and
corporate officer. He is responsible
for leading Atmos' enterprise-wide
information technology strategy,
architecture, project delivery and
operations execution, focusing on many
of the company’s strategic initiatives
including service excellence and
operational effectiveness. Prior
to joining Atmos, Rich spent more than
two decades at Cardinal Health, rising
through various positions of increasing
responsibility. In 2003, he was named
by Computerworld Magazine as a Premier
100 IT Leader, recognizing IT leaders
who have applied information technology
in effective, creative and innovative
ways to advance their organization's
strategy.
Under Rich’s leadership, Cardinal
Health's ValueLink business application
was recognized in 1997 by CIO Magazine's
Application Hall of Fame as one of the
12 most influential business
applications of the past decade, and its
SAP ERP and CRM implementations were
honored as a 1999 national finalist for
the Computerworld Smithsonian Business
Technology Award. Before joining
Cardinal Health, he held positions in
both marketing and technology at Boise
Cascade Corporation from 1979 to 1982.
Rich earned a bachelor's degree in
computer science from Northern Illinois
University and a master's degree in
business administration from the
University of Chicago. Rich serves on
the University of North Texas’
Information Technology & Decision
Sciences Advisory Board, Oklahoma
University’s Center for Management
Information Systems Studies Executive
Committee, American Gas Association
Technology Advisory Council, and AT&T
Mobility Customer Guidance Council.
Rich is also a former member of the
board of directors of the Health
Industry Business Communications
Council, which is an ANSI-accredited
standards development organization for
information technology standards in the
healthcare industry, and MediClick,
Inc., which is a provider of materials
management, as well as financial
ASP-based solutions, for hospitals and
large integrated delivery networks.
About Atmos Energy: Atmos Energy
Corporation, headquartered in Dallas, is
the country's largest natural-gas-only
distributor, serving about 3.2 million
gas utility customers. Atmos Energy's
utility operations serve more than 1,600
communities in 12 states from the Blue
Ridge Mountains in the East to the Rocky
Mountains in the West. Atmos Energy's
non-utility operations, organized under
Atmos Energy Holdings, Inc., operate in
22 states. They provide natural gas
marketing and procurement services to
industrial, commercial and municipal
customers and manage company-owned
natural gas pipeline and storage assets,
including one of the largest intrastate
natural gas pipelines in Texas. Atmos
Energy is a Fortune 500 company. For
more information, visit
www.atmosenergy.com.
 *CIO
PANELIST*
Keith
Thode
COO & CTO
The Aidmatrix Foundation
Keith Thode leads the daily operations
of Aidmatrix, after serving in
consulting and leadership roles in major
technology firms like Accenture and i2
Technologies. As COO he governs business
development, technology research and
production, constituent relations,
marketing and development, programming
and systems management. He has been a
founding force, building Aidmatrix since
its foundation in 2001. Thode
began his career with four years at
Andersen Consulting, implementing
enterprise systems for clients such as
Georgia Pacific, Delta Air Lines and
Mando Machinery (Republic of Korea).
Later, he worked for Enterprise Resource
Planning technology leader Baan Company,
eventually becoming the firm’s
Consulting Director for the Western U.S.
While at Baan, Keith led the
implementation team, bringing to market
Baan’s B2B/e-commerce products. As
Consulting Delivery Director for i2
Technology’s 2Source program, he led the
implementation of Supplier Relationship
Management products through a
partnership with EDS and AT Kearney.
He holds a Suma Cum Laude masters degree
in Industrial Distribution from Texas
A&M University and a bachelor of science
in Economics and Organizational
Development from Vanderbilt University.
In addition to his work with Aidmatrix,
Thode serves on several boards and holds
officer capacities in other nonprofit
organizations including 121 Community
Church, NPower Texas and The European
Committee of Young Life International.
He is lead-author on the article
“Manufacture-for-Donation: Driving
Bottom-Line Performance Through
Contributions to Run Strategy
Optimization,” published in the
peer-reviewed International Journal of
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector
Marketing. Thode is also a frequent
speaker at nonprofit industry
conferences.
Tom Rodenbaugh
Technology Director, 1st Global
Tom Rodenbaugh is the
Technology Director for 1st Global, Inc,
the leading Wealth Management Partner to
the CPA industry. Tom has 20+ years
experience in Information Technology
with extensive knowledge in application
engineering, desktop automation and
large scale server and network
deployments. Tom is responsible for all
aspects of IT at 1st Global in addition
to Security, Risk Management and
Business Continuity Planning for the
corporation. Prior to his joining 1st
Global in 2000, Tom held various
technology positions over 11 years at
American Airlines and Sabre where he was
responsible for the deployment of
desktop and automation technologies to
systems worldwide. Tom has a BS in
Computer Science from Kansas State
University.
*CIO
PANELIST*
Van Williams
Group CTO and SVP of Technology
Depository Institution Services Group
Fiserv, Inc.
Van Williams is the Group CTO for
the Depository Institutions Group of
Fiserv, Inc. In this role, Williams
oversees the strategic direction and
execution of information technology
development for Fiserv’s largest
division, which provides financial
electronic commerce solutions for banks
and other consumer service providers,
billers and merchants. Williams
began his Fiserv career with the
Atlanta-based CheckFree Corporation in
1990. Williams held a number of
leadership positions within that
organization, which was acquired by
Fiserv late in 2007. During his tenure,
Williams has been instrumental in
setting the development strategy for
electronic bill payment products and has
been named on several patent-pending
technology solutions in support of
online bill payment offerings. Williams
was also responsible for the creation of
a cross-functional team supporting one
of the company’s largest clients, and
has overseen initiatives resulting in
dramatic customer satisfaction
improvements.
Prior to joining Fiserv, Williams served
in a number of technical positions in
the Financial Services and Insurance
industries.
Williams holds a B.S. in Computer
Management from Eastern Illinois
University.
 *CIO
PANELIST*
Doug
Haugh
Executive Vice President & Chief
Information Officer
Mansfield Oil Company
Doug has worked in the energy and
technology industries for the past 15
years. A chemical engineer by trade,
Doug began his career in the industry
with Exxon in marketing and business
development, eventually leading business
development activities for lubricant and
specialty products across the Western
U.S. Doug currently serves
as the Executive Vice President and CIO
of Mansfield Oil Company, a nationwide
provider of fuel supply, distribution
logistics, and delivery services. With
over $5 billion in sales in 2008,
Mansfield was ranked by Forbes as the
66th largest private company in America.
A serial entrepreneur, Doug also serves
on the Board of BioBlend Renewable
Resources. Previously, Doug
co-founded FuelQuest Inc. FuelQuest
provides supply chain management and tax
automation solutions across the
downstream energy industry with over 750
world class clients including, Wal-Mart,
Shell, 7-Eleven, UPS, and ExxonMobil.
Doug and his co-founder Rich Cilento
were awarded Ernst & Young’s prestigious
Entrepreneur of the Year award for
Energy Technology in 2006. Prior
to founding FuelQuest, Doug led a fuels
and lubricants distribution business
with ten bulk plants and wholesale
distribution warehouses across Texas,
growing company revenues from $25 to $55
million in less than three years. Doug
has written and published numerous
articles and is a knowledgeable and
popular speaker at such industry events
as: NACS, SIGMA, OPIS, ILTA, ILMA, PMAA.
 *CIO
PANELIST*
Noni
Gonzalez
AVP Corporate Systems Mobility
AT&T
Noni Gonzalez joined AT&T in 2004, where
she successfully managed the merger of
AT&T wireless with Cingular. Now, a
member of the AT&T Corporate Systems
team, she has responsibility for the
delivery of applications across the back
office for the wireless business,
including Supply Chain, Human Resources,
Payroll, Supply Chain ,Financial
applications, Tax, Corporate Systems and
Enterprise Reporting and Financial
Reporting. As a seasoned
executive, Ms. Gonzalez spent nine years
at Oracle Corporation as a Senior
Director and then Vice President of
Consulting Services. Prior to that, she
managed the implementation of outsourced
business process management services for
Automatic Data Processing, Inc. She
serves her community through a number of
organizations including Junior
Achievement and Community of Hispanic
American Professionals. She was
recognized as the 2007 Phenomenal Woman
of the year and is a multi year Woman of
the Year finalist for Women in
Technology. She has also been selected
for the 2008 Atlanta Telecom
Professional of the Year award.
Noni's organization is responsible for
the complete back office functions for
the Wireless business for ATT (formerly
Cingular Wireless), including all
financial operations (General ledger,
Fixed Assets, CIP projects, Network
asset life cycle management, financial
reporting, all Handset Device and
Network Supply chain systems, Reverse
logistics, warehouses, planning,
purchasing, tax , Revenue Accounting,
and document storage). The team
also supports the largest network supply
chain in North America, managing over
45,000 cell towers and about 3,000 new
cell-tower construction projects each
year. (1) The division handles all GAAP
reporting for the company's wireless
business, totaling about $40 billion in
revenue, and supports a procurement
platform that services all of the
wireless business units, processing
$32.4 billion in payments. Finally, the
department supports the back-office
infrastructure for the entire mobility
business, including taxes, human
resources and payroll. Noni
Gonzalez is responsible for the day to
day operations of the Wireless business
back office infrastructure and system
operations including Supply chain
system, Financial, Tax, Warehousing,
Purchasing, Planning and workflow
systems. In 2005 - 2006, she led the
entire back office integration of
Cingular and at&t wireless, enabling one
of the largest distribution platforms in
the US. The Distribution model includes
over 2200 Company Owned stores, full
automation with all the large National
Retailers including Walmart, Costco,
Target, Toys are Us, CVS and others,
over 2000 agents, and a direct to
consumer model. This back office
platform enabled ATT to seamlessly roll
out the Iphone in record time.
 *CIO
PANELIST*
Nick
Grecco
Senior Vice President IT and
Infrastructure
Ceridian
Nick Grecco was named Senior Vice
President of Global Infrastructure of
Ceridian Corporation in July 2007.
Grecco oversees data center operations,
network services, transmission services,
workplace services and security and risk
operations for internal and external
customers. Earlier positions include
Chief Information Officer of AIG Auto,
Vice President of Technology at S1
Corporation and Senior Vice President of
Technology at Bank of America. Grecco
brings over 21 years of technology,
infrastructure and business management
expertise to Ceridian. Grecco
received his Bachelor of Science degree
in Business Computer Information Systems
from Hofstra University.
 Andres
E. Carvallo
Chief Information
Officer
Austin Energy
Andres is
currently the Chief Information Officer
at Austin Energy, where he is
responsible for the technology vision,
planning, development and operations
across the enterprise. Since February of
2003, Andres has been driving a wireless
and SOA transformation to deliver a
fully-integrated and self-healing
enterprise. The current direction for
the company is to deliver the first
smart grid in the world by 2009. In
addition to his responsibilities as CIO,
Andres is member of the 8 person
executive team, and member of the
Innovation and Opportunity Development
executive board. Outside of Austin
Energy, Andres is Chairman for the Large
Public Power Companies’ CIO Task Force,
a board member of the Center for
Commercialization of Electric
Technologies and an advisor to several
companies.
Andres is a
requested speaker on CleanTech, Smart
Grid, SOA, Wireless, and Running IT as a
Business. He is co-author of Information
Technology Leadership and CTO Best
Practices Collection. And he is an
honoree to many awards, including IT
Executive of the Year by the Association
of Information Technology Professionals
in 2005, Premier 100 IT Leader by
Computerworld in 2006, Best in Class of
Premier 100 by Computerworld in 2006,
CIO 100 Award by CIO Magazine in 2006,
InformationWeek 500 by InformationWeek
Magazine in 2007, and Computerworld’s
Top 12 Green IT Companies in 2008.
Andres has over 22
years of experience and great knowledge
of the Energy, Software, Computer, and
Wireless industries. Prior to Austin
Energy, he held key titles at four
start-ups and large companies like
Philips Electronics, Digital Equipment
Corporation, and Microsoft. Andres
received a B.S. in Mechanical
Engineering from the University of
Kansas, and has completed executive
management programs at Stanford
University and the University of
Pennsylvania
Austin Energy is the
9th largest public power utility in the
nation providing low cost reliable power
to the capitol city of Texas and metro
area, with annual revenues over $1
billion servicing 400,000 premises
representing around 41,000 businesses
and 1 million consumers. Austin Energy
is also recognized as an industry leader
in conservation and renewable energy
offering the most comprehensive
residential and commercial energy
efficiency programs in the nation;
active in the use and management of
distributed generation by operating the
first fuel cell in Texas tied directly
to the electric grid and the largest
module combined heat and power plant in
the nation, and using the best solutions
for information technology and
telecommunications to deliver the first
smart grid in the world by Q1 2009.
[See
video soundbite]
 Russ
Finney
Vice President of Information Systems
Tokyo Electron U.S. Holdings, Inc. (www.tel.com)
Russ Finney has spent fourteen years as the
Vice President & CIO of the US
operations of Tokyo Electron, one of the
world's largest semiconductor production
equipment manufacturers. Russ currently
serves on the high tech advisory board
of the Austin Chamber of Commerce's
AusTech Alliance. He has also served on
the board of the Austin Technology
Council. In the past, he served on the
National Board of Directors of AITP, and
he has been president of both the
Houston and Austin AITP Chapters. In
2006, he was named "Austin IT Executive
of the Year" by his peers at the annual
central Texas Innotech technology
conference. Before Tokyo Electron, Russ
was an IT Consultant with Ernst & Young.
Russ is often quoted in publications
such as Computerworld and
 CIO Magazine.
He is also a frequent industry speaker
all over the world and he often gives
guest lectures in a university setting.
Many of Tokyo Electron's projects have
been noted in industry white papers, and
one e-commerce project was the basis of
a Harvard Business School case study.
Russ is a graduate of Oklahoma State
University. As a
leading global supplier of semiconductor
production equipment, Tokyo Electron
Limited (TEL) engages in development,
manufacturing, and sales in a wide range
of product fields. The company also
leverages specialized technologies
developed for the semiconductor
production equipment market to engage in
the area of flat panel display (FPD)
production equipment. All of TEL's
semiconductor and FPD production
equipment product lines maintain high
market shares in their respective global
segments. TEL provides outstanding
products and services to customers
through a global network of
approximately 90 locations in 12
countries in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
[See
Video Soundbite]
 Robert
M. Jackson
VP & CIO
EZCORP (www.EZCorp.com)
Mr. Jackson joined EZCORP as Vice President
& Chief Information Officer in May 2004.
He was Chief Information Officer at
DuPont Photomasks, Inc. from 1997 to
2004 and served as Controller from 1995
to 1996. Prior to 1995, Mr. Jackson held
senior financial leadership positions in
the U.S. and South America at E. I.
DuPont de Nemours.
 Allan
Skov
Former VP of IT
DCP / Duke Energy
Allan is a CIO with
more than 20 years experience in the
energy industry in Canada and the United
States. Most recently, Allan was
with Duke Energy where he was the Vice
President Information Technology of
Duke’s $10 billion joint venture with
ConocoPhillips in Denver. Allan
holds a Bachelor of Commerce and MBA
from the University of Windsor in
Canada. Allan enjoys spending time
with his wife and teenage daughter,
skiing, golf, hockey, writing and
supporting a number of community
activities. [See
video soundbite]
 Brian
Trudeau
CIO
Amerex Energy
Brian
Trudeau is the Chief Information Officer
for Amerex Brokers LLC (a wholly owned
subsidiary of GFI Group, Inc.).
Brian has over 17 years of corporate
computing experience. He has
worked in regulated industries such as
nuclear and pharmaceutical. The
last 7 years Brian has worked on
improving corporate computing and energy
trading systems at Amerex.
Recently, he has moved their
infrastructure to primarily a virtual
server environment and managed the build
out of an entire disaster recovery site
for Amerex. This approach has
saved the company money and reduced the
energy consumption footprint
dramatically. Brian specializes in
server virtualization, storage area
networks, disaster recovery and BCP, and
building TDM and IP networks.
Brian has a Bachelor’s degree from the
University of Washington in Electrical
Engineering.
 Robert
Myles
CISO
Texas Health Resources
(www.texashealth.org)
In the relatively new world of IT
security, Robert Myles is a veteran,
with over two decades of experience and
two current industry certifications and
numerous affiliations. He began his
career as a health services technician
with the US Coast Guard, where he first
saw technology’s potential to enable
clinicians to focus on patient care
rather than the “business” of
healthcare. The computerized pharmacy
inventory management solution he
developed saved his department many
thousands of dollars of time and
materials. While in the Coast
Guard, Mr. Myles also gained significant
security and law enforcement experience,
including a Federal Secret-level
security clearance while managing the
classified material program for his
Coast Guard units. Upon leaving the
Coast Guard he continued to build on his
mix of healthcare, computing and
security experience in positions of
increasing responsibility and scope with
employment at Southwest Washington
Medical Center, Oregon Health and
Science University, Parkland Health and
Hospital System and Fisher Investments.
He came to Texas Health Resources in
2007 as Director, Information
Security/Systems Information Security
Officer. Mr. Myles has a Business
Management and Communications Degree
from Concordia University. [See
video soundbite]
 Drew
Mansell, PMP
Director, Information Technology
Overhead Door Corporation (www.overheaddoor.com)
Drew Mansell is a twenty-six year
veteran in the information technology
field designing, implementing and
maintaining software applications
throughout his IT career. Drew has
managed many IT projects and in 2004
earned his PMP certification from PMI.
For sixteen years Drew maintained a
software consulting company with
engagements from managing IT operations
to delivering business software
solutions. Before joining Overhead Door
Corporation, he consulted with Overhead
Door Corporation for four years during
that time introduced and expanded the
application team to solve business
problems using web deployed business
solutions. In 2002 joined the ODC team
as the Strategic Application Manager, a
year later Drew was promoted to the
Director of IT as part of the executive
team he is responsible for the Company's
information technology activities.
 Robert
Clines
CIO
Dallas County
Robert
Clines has 19 years experience working
for DOD Contractors in mechanical
engineering using Computer Aided Design
and Modeling. He Migrated from a
user role to a support role which
morphed into support of Computer labs
and data centers. His experience
includes 2 Years with Flying J Inc. in
charge of the Mainframe Application
Development in support of Oil and Gas
exploration, refining and distribution,
1 Year with FirstPlus Financial as VP of
IT Operations supporting the home loan
industry, and 6 years with Excel
Communications and Vartec Telecom as the
Director of IT Operations. At
Excel, he stabilized their existing data
center, built a new data center and
migrated all production from the old to
the new data center. Robert
established five nines operation in
support of telecom provisioning and
billing. Currently, Robert has
been 4 years with Dallas County as Chief
Information Officer. Prior to his
tenure, IT was Outsourced since 1992.
The Outsourcing contract had gone
through 4 different vendors and as a
result the critical IT infrastructure of
the County was in shambles. They
have rebuilt the infrastructure based on
industry accepted standards and
developed/refined their policies and
practices to create a “Repeatable,
Predictable and Reliable” IT
environment. They have
worked hard to regain the trust of the
user community by providing superior
Customer Service and consistent support.
[See
video soundbite]
 Greg
McKown
Senior Vice
President and Chief Information Officer
COMFORT SYSTEMS USA
(www.comfortsystemsusa.com)
Greg McKown,
Vice President and Chief Information
Officer, is responsible for the
Company's information technology
activities. Mr. McKown's experience
includes 3 years as CEO of Hostcentric,
a managed hosting company, and 13 years
as the Chief Executive at Maxim Computer
Systems, a local and wide area
networking provider which reached the
Inc 500's list of fastest growing
private companies in 1997. He started
his information technology career at
Harris Corporation where he held both
field engineering and sales positions.
 Gordon
Quan, Esq.
Founder & Managing
Partner
Quan, Burdette and
Perez, P.C. (www.quanlaw.com)
Gordon Quan has
had a long history of community
activism. Thee first Asian American
elected citywide to the Houston City
Council and first to serve as Mayor Pro
Tem, Gordon believes each person can
make a difference. Born in China but
raised in Houston, Gordon was a founding
member of the Asian American Bar
Association of Houston and the Asian
American Coalition. He has served in
leadership positions with several
organizations – President, Houston
Foundation; President, East Downtown Tax
Increment Redevelopment Zone; Chair,
Blue Ribbon Commission to End Chronic
Homelessness in Houston; Chair, Plan for
Affordable Housing in Houston;
President, Asian American Democrats of
Texas; President, Asian Pacific American
Municipal Official of the National
League of Cities.
Professionally,
Gordon is the founder and managing
partner of Quan, Burdette and Perez,
P.C., one of the largest and most
respected U.S. immigration law firms in
America with offices in Houston, San
Antonio, The Rio Grand Valley and Mexico
City. He has been selected for Best
Lawyers in America, Texas Super Lawyers,
Best Lawyers in Houston, and is AV Rated
by Martindale-Hubbell. Gordon continues
his community service as a member of the
board of directors of the Coalition for
the Homeless (Houston), the South Texas
College of Law, Catholic Charities, and
Neighborhood Center, Inc. He also chairs
the Asian Chamber of Commerce and is
Vice-chair of the Asia Society, Texas
Center. Gordon has been recognized as a
“Trailblazer” by the National Asian
Pacific American Bar Association,
“Spirit of America” by the National
Chinese American Citizen Alliance, a
“Bridge Builder” by the Masons Society
(the highest honor given to a
non-Mason), “Friend of the Homeless” by
the Coalition for the Homeless,
“Councilmember of the Year” by the
Houston Police Officers Union, a “Voice
for Children” by Children at Risk among
many others. Mr. Quan earned degrees
from the University of Texas (B.A.
1970), the University of Houston (M.Ed.
1973) and the South Texas College of Law
(J.D. 1977). Above all, Gordon Quan has
always been a person who cares deeply
about others and has tried to make life
better for all. Married to the former
Sylvia Lau for more than 30 years, they
are the parents of three daughters,
Caroline and husband Patrick Long,
Kristen and husband Hunter Hammill,
Katherine and grand-daughter Victoria
Long.
[See
video soundbite]
 Diane
Kenyon
Senior Vice
President of Information Technology
Harden Healthcare
Diane is the Sr VP
of IT for Harden Healthcare in Austin,
Texas. Prior to Harden's acquisition of
Girling Health Care, Inc, Diane served
as the IT Director for Girling for 14
years. Diane previously held a
management position at Gerber Alley.
Diane has 18 years of information
technology management experience in the
healthcare field. She has her Computer
Technology degree from Purdue University
and her MBA from Kennesaw State
University. Diane is an active member of
HIMSS, the Austin Technology Council,
the Austin Innotech Advisory Council,
McKesson Home Care Advisory Council,
Texas Medicaid Claims Management
Council, VCPI Client Advisory Board and
the Advisory Council to the South Austin
Physician Co-op RHIO initiative.
[See
video soundbite]
 Dr.
Jim Weatherby
Director of
Information Systems
Texas Legislative
Council
James L. “Jim”
Weatherby was born and raised in Dallas,
Texas and attended Texas A&M University
where he obtained a BA in mathematics in
1964 and an MS in economics in 1966.
After Texas A&M, he enrolled at the
University of Minnesota to pursue a
Ph.D. degree in economics that he
received in 1970 at which time he joined
the faculty of the University of Texas
at Austin as an Assistant Professor.
While at UT, he pioneered several
techniques in the area of Computer
Assisted Instruction as well as managed
the transition from an “IBM card”
computer environment to a remote real
time computer environment. He left the
University of Texas in 1976 and with a
colleague founded a consulting business,
Southwest Econometrics, Inc. where he
specialized in the implementation of
empirical models of client processes. In
1985 he sold his interest in Southwest
Econometrics and joined Hart Graphics at
their Director of Information Services.
He was promoted to Vice President of
Information Services and in this
capacity he designed and directed the
implementation of a real time shop floor
tracking and scheduling system and
implemented decentralized computing
company wide. In 1989 he was appointed
the founding President of Hart Forms &
Services. He led the company through
changes associated with the collapse of
the savings and loan industry in Texas
and California, the acquisition of a
major distributor, the redefinition of
its manufacturing unit, and conceived
and implemented an image change of the
company to the digital age. He left Hart
in 1997 to again pursue an independent
consultant practice. In this practice,
he worked for numerous Austin area
organizations on assignments ranging
from design of electronic printing
systems to geographic market definition.
He joined the Texas Legislative Council
in June of 1998 and since that time has
made significant contributions in in the
areas of customer service and
organizational effectiveness. Among
these are being recognized twice in a
one year period by the Senate of the
State of Texas for exemplary customer
service and receiving multiple awards
for the public web site for the
legislature (www.legis.state.tx.us) most
recently the Online Democracy Award
given by the National Council of State
Legislatures. In November of 2007, Dr.
Weatherby was recognized as Austin’s IT
Executive of the Year for the Public
Sector for his leadership role in the
migration of over 60 applications from a
mainframe-centric environment to a
server-based environment. In addition to
his duties at the Legislative Council,
over the past several years he has
taught at UT’s LBJ School of Public
Affairs, St. Edward’s and Concordia.
[See
video soundbite]
 DAVID
FINN, CISA, CISM
Vice President & CIO Privacy/Information
Security Officer
Texas Children’s Hospital (http://www.texaschildrens.org)
David has been involved in the planning,
management and control of information
technology and business processes for
more than 27 years. Currently Mr. Finn
is the Chief Information Officer for the
largest pediatric Integrated Delivery
System in the U.S. In addition to
responsibility for all traditional
information technology (hardware,
software, networking, telephony,
application support and other technical
infrastructure) he is also responsible
for Biomedical Engineering and
Television Services including the Center
for Telehealth. Mr. Finn is focused on
using technology as an enabler of
operating efficiency and deriving
business value through the optimization
and control of technology. David
has been leading top performance IT
departments by delivering best practices
in IT Governance and Control, Project
Management Office, Systems Selection &
Implementation, Business and IT
Partnering, and IT Audit, Control and
Security. David has a Mater's
degree from Angelo State University.
[See
video soundbite]
 KC
Condit
CISO/Governance Officer
Rent A Center
(www.RentACenter.com)
KC Condit has spent the last 21 years of
his professional life in a wide variety
of assignments dealing with regulatory
compliance and security. As the
Financial Aid Administrator and Dean of
Students for a Dallas-based culinary, KC
played a critical role in gaining and
maintaining Federal funding for his
school, as well as securing its
accreditation at the national level.
Since 1997, KC had devoted his time to
helping Rent-A-Center, Inc. become the
leader in the U.S. rent-to-own market.
KC now serves as Director of Information
Security for Rent-A-Center in its Plano,
Texas headquarters. His current duties
include regulatory compliance, data
security, litigation support, forensic
investigations, enterprise architecture,
and field support. In 2007, KC was named
as one of Computerworld magazine’s
“Premier 100” I.T. Leaders.
 Gary
Gumbert
CIO
Texas Health and Human Services
Commission
As Chief Information Officer (CIO for
the Texas Health and Human Services
Commission, Gary Gumbert is leading the
consolidation of information technology
services for the state’s five health and
human services agencies. This effort
involves transforming 12 separate
information technology divisions into a
coordinated management model serving
five new agencies with 46,000 employees
in more than 1,200 locations. This new,
consolidated system provides the
technology backbone needed to deliver
services to more than 4 million Texans
each month. As the leader of the Health
and Human Services Commission Enterprise
Information Technology Division, Mr.
Gumbert is responsible for setting
enterprise information technology
strategy and standards, as well as
supporting enterprise applications and
infrastructure. His focus is on the
delivery of cost-effective,
customer-focused IT solutions.
Before working for the State of Texas,
Mr. Gumbert spent time directing and
managing complex information systems in
both the public and private sector. Mr.
Gumbert is a graduate of the United
States Air Force Academy and earned his
Master of Science degree from the
University of Southern California. After
graduating from the Academy, he served
as a fighter pilot in the United States
Air Force for 20 years.
 Gary
Buonacorsi
CIO
Attorney General of Texas
Gary has worked in both the private and
public sectors of the ever-growing and
challenging field of information
technology. He is currently the CIO for
the Texas Office of the Attorney
General. His responsibilities include
agency-wide strategic and tactical
planning, development of all technology
systems, and oversees all aspects of IT
operations. Most recently,
 Gary worked
at the Department of Information
Technology where he served as the Chief
Technical Officer for the State of
Nevada. Prior to that post, he was the
CIO for Nevada’s Division of Welfare.
His private sector experience includes
IT management positions at Merck-Medco
pharmaceuticals and Taylor Corporation.
He holds a Bachelors degree in
Management Information Systems and a
Masters degree in Business
Administration. Among a long list of
accomplishments, he deployed a
state-wide enterprise single sign on and
identity management solution,
orchestrated a fiscal turnaround for one
of the largest Information Technology
departments in the State of Nevada, and
successfully instituted numerous process
improvement initiatives to increase
customer satisfaction.
 Nathan
O. Langston
National Director, Administration
Boy Scouts of America
Nate has over 25 years in the information
technology field. He joined Boy Scouts
of America in 2000 as Director of the
Information Systems Division. He has
been serving as National Director of the
Administration Group since April 2006.
Nate’s career in Scouting
 began
over 15 years ago as a volunteer Webelos
leader. Nate has also served as
Scoutmaster and committee chairman and
has been on three Philmont treks as an
adult advisor. Before
joining the National Council, Nate’s
career experience included 16 years with
Conoco Oil in Oklahoma and Texas, and
overseas in Dubai and Norway. He also
worked as a senior project director for
Oracle leading teams in major systems
implementation for the State of
Oklahoma, the New Orleans School Board,
and the State of Michigan. Nate received
his Bachelor’s degree in mathematics
from Oklahoma Christian University and
his Masters in computer science from
Oklahoma State University. Nate
and his wife, Jamie, have four children;
two sons—both Eagle Scouts—and two
Venturing daughters. Nate enjoys
running, scuba diving, and playing golf.
 Lewis
Watkins
Chief Information
Security Officer
The University of
Texas System
Lewis Watkins is
Chief Information Security Officer for
The University of Texas System. He is
responsible for providing leadership and
direction for and implementation of an
information security action plan that
encompasses the system's nine academic
and six health institutions.
Prior to his current
assignment, he served as Director of
Information Resources for the University
of Texas System Administration. As such
he was responsible for the operational
aspects of information technology within
the organization including user and
network support, records and document
management, systems development, and IT
security. Mr. Watkins served on the U.
T. System Administration Compliance
Committee for eight years.
Prior to joining the
U.T. System Administration, Mr. Watkins
was Manager of Data Processing for the
Teacher Retirement System of Texas with
oversight responsibility for all IT
operations and applications development.
In addition, he has held a number of
positions at the U. T. Austin campus.
Mr. Watkins holds a B.S. of Ed. degree
from the University of Texas at Austin,
and a M.Ed. from the University of
Alaska. He is a Certified Information
Systems Security Professional (CISSP).
[See
video soundbite]
 Brad
Harslem
Chief Information Officer
Former CIO of Coach America
Techxans Dallas Chapter CIO Chair
Brad has been the
CIO for three DFW based companies:
Coach America, Concentra and Greyhound
Lines. He most recently held the
CIO position at
Coach America which is a
leading
provider of ground transportation
services. Coach was a private
equity startup company when Brad joined
in 2003 and grew to $400 million in
revenue before it was sold last year.
Brad had the unique opportunity to
create an entire IT infrastructure from
data center to network to application
portfolio all of which had to be highly
scalable to support the acquisition
driven growth model. He spent the
first 17 years of his career at American
Airlines in Marketing and in the Sabre
division where he was VP of Operations
and Applications Development.
Brad holds a BS from Cornell’s
Engineering College and an MBA from New
York University’s Stern Business School.
He
was the Keynote
Speaker at the 1996 Information Week
500 Conference and
served on the
Information
Week Magazine, Editorial Advisory
Board from 1996-1998.
 Rick
Shasteen (venue host)
Silver Eagle
Distributors (www.seabud.com)
Director of
Information Technology in San Antonio
Silver Eagle
Distributors, L.P., a $750 million
wholesale beer distributor for the
Anheuser-Busch family of beers and
partner brands employing more than 1,200
people throughout Southeast and South
Texas. Richard has over 20 years in the
information technology
 field. He joined
Silver Eagle in 1998 as
Manager of the
Information Systems. Before joining the
Silver Eagle, Richard’s career
experience included 8 years with Alamo
Data Systems in San Antonio, responsible
for the city of San Antonio, city of
Houston, Travis County and Bexar County,
and six years with Marmon and Mok
Architects and Engineers, responsible
for all technology as well as lead
engineer on the Alamo Dome project. He
also was responsible for several school
districts in the surrounding area of San
Antonio. Richard received several
certifications including CNE, MCSE, CCNA
and CNA. [See
video soundbite]
 John
F. Petrie III, MBA, CISSP, CISM,
CHS-III, CBM
Chief Information
Security Officer
Harland Clarke
Mr. Petrie is a 26
year seasoned Technologist and
Information Security Professional with
solid senior management experience in
the Manufacturing, Financial Services,
Defense, Technology Consulting,
Telecommunications, and Academic
Healthcare industries. As the Chief
Information Security Officer for Harland
Clarke, he leads the Information
Security Office and manages the
Corporate Information Security Program
(ISP), which supports check
manufacturing and check-related
services, contact center services and
direct response marketing solutions as
well as 6000 knowledge workers. Mr.
Petrie’s responsibilities include:
information security strategy;
information security policy development;
risk management, analysis and
mitigation; computer incident
management; security monitoring;
business impact analysis; business
continuity and disaster recovery;
technology analysis and review; training
and awareness; and enterprise
information security operations.
Prior to Harland
Clarke, Mr. Petrie was the Chief
Information Security Officer for the
University of Texas Heal |
