Features May 2019

It’s the middle of February in Alberta, and the 18-wheeler you’re driving needs to stay ahead of a massive winter storm moving in just a few miles behind you. Suddenly, you see a “check engine” light flash on the dashboard, which could mean anything from routine maintenance to critical failure. Had this happened a few […]

Each day, more than 70,000 people traverse the four pedestrian footbridges connecting El Paso, Texas, and Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez. But the biggest link of all might be the one running just beneath the ground below. Namely: miles of fiber-optic cable—and all the terabits of data coursing within—designed to bring organizations on both sides closer than […]

In 2018, not long after being named IT director for the entire Latin American division of British consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser (RB), Craig O’Dell was given his first major marching orders: Transform the IT landscape into a showcase of best-in-class tools and technologies—a daunting task for anyone. For O’Dell—who’d moved from England to Brazil […]

Among the nation’s growing ranks of IT directors, an enterprising spirit—the drive to build bigger and better things—is practically a prerequisite. It’s a bug Daniel Goldenberg caught early on. How early? He started his own IT managed services company in high school, offering everything from network setup and virus removal to minor home repairs, mostly […]

Comfort zones are for slackers. That seems to be the mindset of Dena M. Ghilani, the chief information and technology officer at SESCO Enterprises, a trading and risk-management firm in the Pittsburgh suburb of Greensburg. If Ghilani is comfortable there now—and she seems to be relishing her role which began in October—it’s largely because she’s […]

Elizabeth Collins remembers the early days of technology at the University of Colorado Foundation, teaching a co-worker how to use a computer mouse by doing the drag-and-drop game of solitaire on some recently installed software. To say technology has changed since then is an understatement. Now savvy students and a legion of researchers walk across […]

His letterhead still says CIO but Hector Cantu would like to see another letter added, that being a P. That’s P as in process, for the role of chief information officer is evolving, and maybe nowhere faster than at Grupo Villacero Mexico. That’s the country’s largest company dedicated to marketing, transformation and logistics in the […]

It is an intensive three months. From day one, participants dive deeply into specific technologies, IT systems and platforms. Beyond getting into the specs, they perform case studies, analyze real-world data, practice best and worst-case scenarios—all while honing their presentation, negotiation, business and personal skills. And after 12 weeks? “They are promoted to a full […]

She figured to be in career-changing mode sooner rather than later. Not out of desperation, though. Maria Sanchez was holding down two high-profile positions—general counsel for the New Mexico Department of Information Technology and state CIO. Quite a two-fer for a 31-year-old. Or for anyone. Lest one find that resume too impressive, Sanchez will remind […]

Patrick Perry is a smart guy with just a bit of a mental bone to chew on. The question before him is figuring out the best way to meet and transform the technological needs of the California State University system and make technology resources easily accessible to students at the same time. No small task. […]