Jay Ferro, Chief Information Officer of American Cancer Society

• The specifics of his role as CIO of American Cancer Society
• The differences and similarities in managing IT at non-profit and the for-profit sectors
• The critical role of IT in enabling functionality of a volunteer based organization like American Cancer Society
• How Jay prepared and gathered his team around him to achieve early wins
• Eye on the trends: The increased role of technological platforms like CRMs, mobile devices, and big data to improve operational and research performance of organizations like American Cancer Society

Jay Ferro’s Biography

Jay  is the current CIO for the American Cancer Society. During his time in that role, he has led a transformation of the IT function, which has included consolidating the operation, and rendering it much more efficient and innovative in the process.

Prior to his time at the American Cancer Society, Jay was the SVP and CIO for AdCare Health Systems, Inc. where he was responsible for the people, strategy and operations of the nationwide IT group. Prior to AdCare, he was VP and CIO for Chartis Aerospace (formerly AIG Aviation), a leading global aerospace insurer. In addition to his role as AVP of IT with AIG Personal Lines, he was selected as CFO for operations and systems in 2006 and led multiple global IT finance and governance standards initiatives that resulted in millions of dollars in savings for the organization.

In recognition of his accomplishments, Jay was selected as Georgia CIO of the Year in 2011. He is also the chairman of the board of directors for TechBridge, an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization which helps other nonprofits use technology to improve their capability to serve the community. Jay is also on the alumni board of directors for the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia and the current chairman of the Georgia CIO Leadership Association.

Jay has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Georgia, and an MBA from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.