Metis Strategy

Among other topics, Greg discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * His experiences and career progression from CIO at GE and Emerson to CIO at Fifth-Third Bank, and his subsequent rise to COO and President of Fifth-Third * The  kinds of skills that are transferable across industries and how he was able to successfully move from being a CIO in the manufacturing industry to being a CIO in the financial services industry * How technology leaders can make themselves invaluable to their company, by always adding value and learning to solve business problems * The keys to, and benefits of, successfully moving from a role as a technology leader to a that of a business leader * Eye on Trends:  the opportunities presented by mobile and self-service technology, the benefits that arise from a ubiquitous, positive customer experience across these platforms, and the cost-savings due to the digitization of infrastructure Greg Carmichael’s Biography Greg is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Fifth Third Bank. He oversees the Bank’s four lines of business: Consumer Bank (Retail Banking, the Fifth Third Mortgage Company, Credit Card Group, and Consumer Finance), Commercial Banking, Business Banking, and Fifth Third Investment Advisors.  He also has leadership responsibility for Fifth Third Bank presidents in 18 markets, more than 1,300 banking centers and 100 Bank Mart® locations in 12 states.  Prior to his current roles, Greg served as the Chief Executive Officer of Fifth Third Bank (North Carolina), an Affiliate of Fifth Third Bancorp. He served as Chief Information Officer of Fifth Third Bancorp. from June 2003 to November 2006. Prior to joining Fifth Third, Greg  served as Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Emerson Electric Co, and also spent time as an IT executive at General Electric. Greg is a member of the finance and trust committees of the Bancorp.  He is on the board of directors of Vantiv Inc., the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati and the Marvin Lewis Community Fund. Greg received a B.A. from the University of Dayton and an M.S. from Central Michigan University.

Among other topics, Chris discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * How Schneider National was an early adopter of technology, such as GPS, and continues to appreciate the value it delivers * His transition from CIO to COO to CEO and his keen interest on how technology solves business problems * The intersection of marketing and technology for lead generation, revenue management, and yield management * How, as current CEO, Chris interacts with the CIO with greater appreciation than some CEOs may * Eye on Trends: the power of business analytics to find valuable trends that allow Schneider to proactively tackle both issues and opportunities Chris Lofgren’s Biography Chris is the Chief Executive Officer and President of Schneider National Inc., a multi-billion dollar provider of truckload, logistics and intermodal services.  He has held that role since 2002. Prior to that, Chris served as the Chief Operating Officer of Schneider National, and he has also served as its Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer. Prior to his time at Schneider National, Chris held engineering and management roles with Symantec Corporation and Motorola Inc. Chris serves on the boards of Schneider National, the American Transportation Research Institute, CA Technologies, the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the Green Bay Chapter of the Boys and Girls Club of America, and the American Trucking Associations Inc. Chris has a bachelor of science and master of science degrees in Industrial and Management Engineering from Montana State University and a Ph.D in Industrial and System Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Among other topics, Brian discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * Brian’s top IT initiatives over the next year to improve the organization’s agility * The importance of strong communication to drive cultural change * Breaking down the conceptual and artificial lines between IT and “the business” * How Crawford IT is leading innovation programs across the organization * The importance of post-project analysis and measuring the ROI of all initiatives * Eye on Trends: empowering mobility in all aspects of business, going paperless, yielding insights from analytics, enhancing processes through social media analytics, preparing for globalization, the evolution of culture change and embracing new ways of working, as well as the marriage of mapping out organizational business processes to drive innovation Brian Flynn’s Biography Brian is the Executive Vice President and Global Chief Information Officer of Crawford & Company. With over $1 billion in revenues, Crawford is the world’s largest claims and third party administration solutions provider to insurance companies and self-insured entities. Brian is a member of the executive strategic planning team, and is responsible for technology and innovation strategy for the company. Prior to his time at Crawford & Company, Brian spent time as the Global Senior Vice President of Technology at BCD Travel, the world’s third largest travel management company.  He also spent time in the IT department at BellSouth and was a consultant at Ernst & Young. Among Brian’s accolades are a Premier 100 award from ComputerWorld in 2008, and his team and he have been ranked in the Information Week500 list from 2009 – 2012. Brian has a bachelor of science in business administration with concentrations in information technology, finance, and economics from Appalachian State University.

Among other topics, Asiff discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * His career progression from application developer, to MBA, to technology-infused business leaderhip positions * Asiff’s leadership role in leading one of the industry’s largest mergers/integrations and the important technical and business challenges that he had to address * The importance of mentorship and differentiating through the ability to attract, retain, and develop world class talent * The best ways for vendors to articulate value to CIOs, from his perspective as a Director on several boards * Eye on Trends: how to transform a business model through technology, and companies’ ability to position themselves amid technology change- such as cloud computing Asiff Hirji’s Biography Asiff S. Hirji serves as a Partner at TPG Capital, L.P. Prior to this role, Asiff served as Chief Operating Officer of TD Ameritrade from July 2005 to October 2006. He served as the President of Client Group at TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation from October 2006 to April 1, 2007. He served as the Chief Operating Officer at TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation from August 8, 2005 to September 30, 2006 and Executive Vice President and Office of the Chief Executive. He also served as the Chief Operating Officer at Ameritrade from April 2003 to July 2005. He joined TD Ameritrade in April 2003 and served as the Chief Information Officer at Ameritrade from April 2003 to July 2005. At Ameritrade, he was responsible for developing and implementing all Information Technology initiatives, including business technology planning, application development, product development, information security as well as IT infrastructure and architecture. Asiff served as a Founding Member and Partner at Mitchell Madison Group. He served as a Vice President of New York office at Bain & Company and a leader in their IT Strategy practice. From July 2002 to April 2003, he served as a Vice President and Partner of Bain & Company Inc. From July 2001 to June 2002, he served as the President at Meralix, Inc. He served as the President and Chief Technology Officer at Netfolio Inc. He has been Deputy Chairman/Vice Chairman of Saxo Bank A/S since May 2012 and as its Director since December 14, 2011. He has been a Director at Advent Software, Inc. since September 9, 2011; Citrix Systems, Inc. since May 2006 and Primedia Inc. since July 13, 2011. He served as a Board Member of Netfolio Inc. Asiff holds a B.S. in Computer Science from University of Calgary, Canada and an M.B.A. with honors from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.

Among other topics, Horace discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * How Gammon Construction leverages the benefits of being a 50/50 joint venture with Jardine Matheson and Balfour Beatty * Gammon’s approach to aligning IT and business strategy and how it maps all projects to its strategy * Gammon’s use of an internal satisfaction survey to identify opportunities for improvement in serving the organization’s needs * The importance of career development and Gammon’s diligent approach to growing each individual’s skills * The organizational emphasis on innovation at Gammon and the incentives in place to foster an innovative culture * Eye on Trends: The internal application of social computing for knowledge management and information sharing, as well as the use of smartphone technology to enhance awareness and opportunities in the recruiting process Horace Chu’s Biography Horace is the Head of Information Management Services at Gammon Construction Limited, a leading construction company based in Hong Kong which has been building a wide range of construction projects for over 50 years.  Horace is responsible for defining and executing the company’s IT strategy. Prior to joining Gammon Construction, Horace was a Senior Manager in JOS Synergy, a joint-venture between Jardine Matheson and Canadian TELUS focusing on IT outsourcing services in Asia.  Horace focused on IT operations and implementation of large scale ERP and IT infrastructure projects.   Horace possesses a broad spectrum of experiences including information security, business process re-engineering, managing regional IT operation, and IT architectural services.  With strong skills in communication and aligning IT with the rest of the organization, Horace is also experienced in pre-sales solutioning and large scale application systems development. Horace has a Bachelor degree in Computer Systems Engineering from the University of Warwick in the UK and an MBA from the University of Hong Kong.

Among other topics, Tomasz discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * Tomasz’ background as an engineer, and his unusual path into IT and ultimately the CIO position * IT’s role in enabling shared services (back end) and channel integration (front end) * How an Enterprise Architecture function can act as a tool to drive closer communication and collaboration between the business and IT * The need to recruit and retain top talent, and how Tomasz continually sought to surround himself with highly capable individuals throughout his tenure * Eye on Trends: The mobile channel and how it delivers value to customers, provides a high degree of personalization, and drives innovation Tomasz Smaczny’s Biography Tomasz was until August 2012, the Executive Director and CIO of Cathay Pacific, the multi-billion dollar airline based in Hong Kong. He held that role for four years, and oversaw a significant transformation in the airline and its IT function. He also holds a non-Executive Directorship position with SITA, the world’s leading specialist in air transport communications and information technology,  and is a member of Board’s Remuneration Committee. Prior to his time at Cathay Pacific, Tomasz was the CIO of ANZ National Bank, the New Zealand division of the ANZ banking group. In all, Tomasz has performed IT executive roles for 15 years in transportation, banking, insurance, financial services, logistics, and retail. In recognition of his achievements, Tomasz was awarded the 2011 China Best Business Value CIO and the 2012 Hong Kong CIO of the Year for Large Enterprises. Tomasz holds an MBA and is a qualified Company Director with accreditation from the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Among other topics, Gaurav discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * How, other than ERP and Supply Chain, all other capabilities can’t get to the Cloud fast enough * The CIO Council that acts as advisors to SnapLogic’s strategic direction * The criticality  of the “snap”- an open ecosystem of connectivity to drive business integration * How those companies that embrace, rather than fight, the changing technology landscape are those that will succeed * The evolution of the role of the CIO into the “Chief Integration Officer” and capability orchestrator * The pressing need for more business-minded data scientists to fuel the next wave of insight * Eye on Trends: The potential of leveraging the Cloud and Big Data together, the potential to access customers and employees in new ways through mobile technologies, and  how Analytics will evolve from Business Intelligence to influence everything from pricing, to fraud detection, to product optimization Gaurav Dhillon’s Biography Gaurav is the Chairman and CEO of SnapLogic, an enterprise application and data integration software development company that helps organizations connect business applications and Web services.  Gaurav had been an early investor in the company and joined it as CEO in 2009. Gaurav is also the Chairman and founder of online movie site Jaman.  Jaman enables users to download full-length feature films to their computers, using the company’s proprietary video player. Prior to SnapLogic and Jaman, Gaurav was a co-founder and CEO of Informatica, an early player in the data integration space.  Under his leadership, Informatica grew from an idea into a leading public enterprise software company with customers and operations around the globe. He led Informatica through its initial launch, its successful IPO in April of 1999, expansion into Europe and Asia, establishment of alliances with major technology players, and ultimately a broad acceptance of the vision he pioneered in the software industry by the time he left in 2004. Prior to co-founding Informatica, Gaurav spent time at Sterling Software and at Unisys Corporation. Gaurav has a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Punjab University.

Among other topics, Joe discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * Joe’s role as the organization’s first ever CIO, and how he demonstrates the capabilities IT can bring to the table to the organization * The importance of field research in not only understanding the pain points of the organization, but also how IT can be appropriately leveraged in addressing them * How Joe conveys IT strategies in a unique, story-telling fashion that allows individuals in the business to fully grasp how IT can change the way they function * Red Wing’s ongoing eCommerce initiative, and the implications it has for the business * The importance of R&D, and how Joe seeks to learn from other companies and leverage ideas in a pragmatic and practical fashion at Red Wing * Eye on Trends: Cloud computing and the plethora of available cloud-based solutions, as well as Big Data and the implications it has for Red Wing’s evolving eCommerce initiative Joe Topinka’s Biography Joe is the CIO of Red Wing Shoe Company, a privately held U.S. based global manufacturer of performance footwear and garments.  Joe is also the founder of CIO Mentor, LLC, a consultancy focused on helping companies leverage the power of technology to achieve profit-driven business results. Prior to joining Red Wing Joe was Chief Information Officer of RSM McGladrey, the 5th largest accounting firm in the U.S.  Joe was responsible for the firm’s IT strategy and operations. Joe also served as Chief Information Officer for BNY Clearing Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of New York. Joe began his IT career at Metavante, Inc, a major financial services and software provider.  As a Business Unit Manager, Joe was responsible for developing software solutions for commercial banks. Joe has bachelor of science degree from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse and completed the Management Development Program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Among other topics, Bill discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * How his organization delivers value through three categories: baseball competitive advantage, business optimization, and the fan experience * Specific initiatives around player performance analytics, dynamic ticket pricing, and a robust wireless infrastructure for fans * The business benefits of partnering with innovative technology companies in the San Francisco Bay Area * His demonstrated business-savvy through his experience as CEO of the Giants’ Class A affiliate team * The time-boxed seasonal cycle of planning and implementing in the off season, while maintaining and supporting throughout the season * The benefits of an executive team that recognizes the value of innovative technology in creating competitive advantage * Eye on Trends: Leveraging cloud computing in order to refocus on core competencies and the power of social media, mobility, and TV everywhere in improving the fan experience Bill Schlough’s Biography Bill is the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of the defending Major League Baseball World Series Champion San Francisco Giants, where he has worked since 1999. Bill served as Interim President of the Giants’ San Jose Class A affiliate in 2011 and since 2012, he has been on the team’s board of directors and serves as chairman. An Olympic enthusiast, Bill is a board member of the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee (BASOC) and served as a technology lead for San Francisco’s bids to host both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. Bill’s event experience includes assignments at the 1994 World Cup along with Olympic Games in Atlanta, Salt Lake and Torino, Italy. Previously, he worked as a consultant with Booz-Allen & Hamilton and Electronic Data Systems, supporting a diverse collection of clients including AMD, Northrop Grumman and General Motors. Bill was just named Information Week’s IT Chief of the Year for 2012, among other accolades he has received. Bill has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Among other topics, Kim discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * How Intel is establishing business intelligence programs, and how they contribute value to the business * The war for talent in IT, and how Intel seeks IT leaders who understand business strategy, in addition to having depth and breadth of technical knowledge * How Intel’s IT organization at every level seeks to understand the business and the direction of the organization through consistently engaging business leaders in addition to rotating IT individuals on business assignments * Intel’s innovative IT on the Go vending machines, and how the program makes PC support much more user friendly. * Eye on Trends: How cloud computing will be fundamental for IT, as well as social computing and how it will affect work conducted in the enterprise Kim Stevenson’s Biography Kim is the vice president and Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Intel Corporation. In that role, she leads a team of over 6,000 IT professionals worldwide, and is responsible for the corporate-wide use of Information Technology. Prior to her current role, Kim was vice president and general manager of Intel’s Global IT Operations and Services, where she led both the strategic and tactical support of Intel’s worldwide infrastructure components, including Data Centers, Network and Telecommunications, Enterprise Application Support, Client computing and a 24×7 internal Service Desk. Prior to joining Intel, Kim spent seven years at the former EDS (now HP enterprise services), in a variety of positions including vice president of the Worldwide Communications, Media and Entertainment (CM&E) Industry Practice, and vice president of Enterprise Service Management where she oversaw the global development and delivery of enterprise services. Before joining EDS, Kim spent 18 years at IBM in several executive positions including vice president of Marketing and Operations of the eServer iSeries division. Kim has a bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University. She also has an MBA from Cornell University, Johnson School of Management, where she is currently a member of the Advisory Board.

Among other topics, Bill discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * Bill’s first steps in taking on the enterprise CIO role at Time Warner, including gathering information from vendors and consultants, familiarizing himself with the industry, and meeting with senior business people to better understand business issues * The rationale for having an enterprise CIO role, and how the role helps the organization drive efficiencies through standardization across business units * How Bill employs a  peer mentor group as opposed to a vendor management group, and this approach boosts efficiency through utilizing expertise across the businesses * The value of Time Warner’s brand in attracting and retaining top talent * Eye on Trends: Cloud and SaaS, and how it enables organizations to shift from a fixed to variable cost structure, as well as the consumerization of IT and mobility, and how it enables access to information on any device Bill Krivoshik’s Biography Bill is the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Time Warner.  In that role, he leads the execution of Time Warner’s enterprise-wide information technology strategy. He also oversees the Corporate Information Technology Group and is responsible for a shared services initiative that provides IT support to all Time Warner businesses in order to improve the efficiency of the company’s investments in information technology. Prior to joining Time Warner, Bill served as the first ever enterprise CIO for Marsh & McLennan Companies, a world leading provider of advice and solutions in risk, strategy and human capital.  His responsibilities included developing and implementing a firm-wide technology strategy, as well as leading the effort to reduce the technology run rate through shared services. Previously, Bill was CTO for Thomson Financial, a leading provider of financial information.  He also spent time as CTO for Citigroup’s Global Investment Management SBU , and as CIO of several GE Capital companies. Bill started his career by spending eleven years as a consultant with Andersen Consulting in the Advanced Systems Group. Bill graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and electrical engineering and received his Master of Science in computer engineering from Stanford University.

Among other topics, Chris discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * How Chris familiarized himself in new environments through engaging business leaders who understand the industry and company, as well as customer interactions and the company’s value proposition * How Chris’ role expanded as Merck built a multifunctional shared services capability, which included pieces of Finance, HR, and Supply Chain, in order to improve service levels and reduce the cost structure * How Merck focused on the three step model of consolidate, integrate, and optimize, and how the organization found natural synergies across the portfolio of services Chris was responsible for * How the CIO role has evolved such that CIOs are more about the business than they are technology, and how CIOs better  understand the business and how to build customer-based services that enable business * Eye on Trends: Mobility and how it changes the way we interact with customers, business partners, and employees; the need for CIOs to embrace and appropriately manage consumerization of IT, and how cloud computing will become more pervasive Chris Scalet’s Biography Chris is the former executive vice president, Global Services, and chief information officer at Merck. In that role, Chris was responsible for the company’s information technology and global services functions, which included real estate; facilities services; Lean Six Sigma; shared business services; security; energy; travel and aviation. He was a member of Merck’s executive committee and reported to Merck’s president and chief executive officer. Prior to his time at Merck, Chris served as senior vice president and chief information officer of International Paper (IP), managing information technology and telecommunications strategy, planning, and operations for the world’s largest paper and forest products company. He was a member of IP’s senior leadership team and the company’s eBusiness Steering Committee. Prior to his time at IP, Chris was vice president and chief information officer at MAPCO, Inc. (now The Williams Co.), a Fortune 250 diversified energy company. Chris is on the Board of Directors of IntraLinks and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and he serves on the AT&T Customer Advisory Council. He is a former board member of the Netezza Corporation and past Honorary Conference Chair for the National Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA). Chris received his bachelor’s degree in management science and computer systems from Oklahoma State University and completed the executive development program at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

Among other topics, Jim discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * Open source and how it enables constituents to contribute what they need back into code to make significant improvements * How a good deal of innovation in IT comes from users, in that they run into problems that vendors wouldn’t conceive of, and thus initiate the process to tackle these problems * How Red Hat acts as a catalyst of communities, where the culture is such that the organization seeks to influence rather than manage * The evolving role of the CIO, and how CIOs have more opportunities to see across the business, and that career paths in IT should be adjusted to make the boundary between IT and business more fluid * How Red Hat seeks to engage and collaborate with leading edge companies that work on problems that will become common place in the future Jim Whitehurst’s Biography Jim is the Chief Executive Officer and President of Red Hat, Inc. the world’s first billion dollar open source software company. Prior to his time at Red Hat, Jim served as the Chief Operating Officer of Delta Air Lines Inc. from July 2005 to August 2007, and he previously held the role of Senior Vice President and Chief Network and Planning Officer at Delta. Prior to his tenure at Delta, Jim was Partner and Managing Director of Boston Consulting Group, and he held various leadership roles in their Chicago, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Atlanta offices. Jim has been a Director of Red Hat, Inc. since January 1, 2008. He has been Director at DigitalGlobe, Inc. since August 2009. Jim holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and Economics from Rice University. He also attended Erlangen Nuremberg University in Erlangen, Germany, and holds a general course degree from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Among other topics, Ben discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * The advantages of having both the Chief Information Officer and Chief Innovation Officer roles, and how these roles fit together given how technology can help drive innovation * How Marsh & McLennan’s various Operating Companies have increased focus in doing more things commonly, and how this starts with an objective review of what should be standardized and what should be differentiated at the Operating Company level * How Ben’s team acts as the glue for the largely independent Operating Companies, and facilitates interactions between them * How the structure of the innovation function varies based on the type of business, the dynamics of the industry, and the velocity of change * Ben’s background as a business executive and the advantages of taking on the CIO role given this background * Eye on Trends: Mobility and the ubiquity of low-cost devices, and how this will influence massive increases in flexibility, productivity, efficiency, and innovation Ben Allen’s Biography Ben is the Chief Information Officer and the Chief Innovation Officer of Marsh & McLennan Companies, a global professional services firm providing advice and solutions in risk, strategy and human capital. Prior to his current role, Ben was President and Chief Executive Officer of Kroll, Inc., an operating unit of Marsh & McLennan Companies, until it was sold by Marsh & McLennan Companies in August 2010 to Altegrity, Inc. Prior to his appointment as CEO of Kroll, Inc., Ben was COO of Kroll, and prior to that President of Kroll Ontrack, Kroll’s legal technologies and data recovery subsidiary. Additionally, Ben headed Kroll’s Technology Services Group.  Prior to Kroll’s acquisition of Ontrack, he served as president and CEO of ONTRACK Data International, Inc. Preceding his appointment as president and CEO, Mr. Allen served in several other international roles for the company, including Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of theU.K.andFranceoffices. Ben has a BA degree in Finance from Washington State University.

Among other topics, Martha discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy: * How the CIO role has evolved over the years, from focusing purely on technology to focusing more on business innovation * The genesis of Martha’s book The CIO Paradox, and how it describes the various responsibilities that CIOs are frequently asked to undertake, and how these responsibilities often conflict with each other * The characteristics of successful contemporary CIOs, which include the ability to develop strong relationships with the business and further embed IT in the business * How CIOs will need to focus on developing and obtaining the right talent for their teams, which will mean having individuals with a blend of technological and business expertise * Eye on Trends: The need to meet consumer technology demands and the increased focus on data analytics Purchase Martha’s book from  Martha Heller’s Biography Martha is the President of Heller Search Associates, a Contributing Editor to CIO magazine, and the author of The CIO Paradox: Battling the Contradictions of IT Leadership.  Her book was released in October 2012 to considerable fanfare. In her role at Heller Search Associates, Martha specializes in helping companies hire CIOs and other IT executives across multiple industries. Prior to founding Heller Search Associates, Martha was managing director of the IT Leadership Practice at ZRG Partners, a global boutique executive search firm. Before establishing her career in executive search, Martha was co-founder and managing director of CIO magazine’s CIO Executive Council, a professional organization for CIOs. At the Council, Martha developed programs that allow CIOs to share leadership development ideas and hiring and retention best practices.  Prior to that, Martha developed and directed the CIO Best Practice Exchange, a members-only network of CIOs from top-tier organizations, as well as CIO Select, a peer-to-peer program for IT executives. Before joining CIO magazine, Martha was the social sciences editor at Rutgers University Press. Martha received her B.A. in English from Hamilton College, and her M.A. in English from SUNY Stony Brook.