Features Information Technologies

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 […]

Cesar Cabada is no fashionista—but he is focused on the technical side of beauty. The experienced retail leader joined the multinational Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) two years ago, and notes that, “I didn’t know a thing about makeup, skin care or any of those products. For me, it was whatever product was in the bathroom, […]

Thirty years at the same job? Some people might find that repetitive, stagnant, even downright boring. Not so for Cindy Parker—quite the contrary, in fact. Her role as director of IT for LaSalle Investment Management continues to be dynamic, exciting, and ever-changing. “It’s a very interesting ride,” she says. “You’re constantly thinking ‘what’s next? What’s […]

High-end accommodations might always have been essential for hosting high-profile companies on their retreats and conferences. But these days, there’s an additional requirement on top of the usual amenities: lots and lots of bandwidth. Even so, Fontainebleau Miami Beach might have gone above and beyond the expectations of a luxury hotel by installing a 10-gigabit […]

Last August, Chris McMasters, CIO of Corona, California, sat down to find an unexpected, but pleasant, email waiting for him: Representatives from What Works Cities (WWC) wanted to visit Corona to consider the city for their national initiative. Started by Bloomberg Philanthropy in April 2015, WWC helps mid-sized cities understand how data can improve services, […]

Government agencies are notorious for moving at a glacial pace, yet even when the pace is much faster—say, in one of America’s tech hubs, the Bay Area—there’s still room for improvement. And it’s not just a matter of speed, explains City of Oakland CIO Andrew “Pete” Peterson. Services must be available to everyone in all […]

Let’s say a grade school student is given a 30-question practice test and only gets half the questions correct, just 15 of them. In the past, the instructor would have indicated which questions he or she got wrong. The student would get a failing grade and it was off to the next lesson and test. […]

After 20 years at Turner Field in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, the Atlanta Braves have moved to Sun Trust Park in the Cumberland neighborhood of nearby Cobb County. The scenery change is just one indication of county’s recent tech development efforts—showing that Cobb County can handle the auto and foot traffic once relegated to Atlanta proper. […]

People in the IT industry will talk about building networks, building mainframes or building software. Not so much with Dr. Matt Franz, the vice president of information technology at Springfield, Ohio’s Clark State Community College. To Franz, the job of his team is all about collaboration and building relationships in order to help people succeed, […]

When Mark Snodgrass says these are exciting times in the insurance industry, a lot of folks might respond: Maybe to insurance people. Fair enough, at least on the surface the subject matter may not be captivating, but ponder for a spell, what a changing world we live in and the pressure faced by the detail-oriented […]