Among other topics, Mike discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy
Mike is the chairman, president, and chief executive of Dallas-based Pegasus Solutions, a global leader in providing technology and services to hotels and travel distributors. Mike joined Pegasus as chief operating officer after his time at Best Western International, Inc., where he was chief information officer and senior vice president of distribution, responsible for worldwide systems development and management. Before joining Best Western, Mike was a senior vice president at Cendant Corp., where he implemented the largest-ever hotel technology rollout. Previously, Mike worked for Super 8 Motels where he was executive vice president of operations, heading IT, reservations, corporate travel, guest service, convention planning, corporate and franchise insurance and facilities management. He also was vice president for management information systems and reservations at HFS Inc.
Mike holds a bachelor of science degree in accounting and information systems from Northern State University, Aberdeen, S.D.; and a master of science degree in information systems from Colorado State University. He is the past chairman and current member of the e-commerce committee of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. From 2000 to 2005, he served as chairman of the Open Travel Alliance (OTA) and has been recognized as one of the leading CIOs in the hospitality industry.
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Among other topics, Jane discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy
Since January of 2007, Jane has been Deputy Commissioner and CIO for the New York City Department of Finance. The Department of Finance is responsible for collecting city revenues. As CIO, Jane is responsible for all systems and technology supporting the Agency’s 20 Divisions.
Prior to joining the Department of Finance, Jane was the General Manager and CIO for Microsoft’s WW Public Sector, where she was responsible for process and technology supporting that business segment. Prior to that, she was the General Manager of .Net Market Development. She and her team were responsible for developing .Net’s market presence, in the Fortune 100 and Global 100 enterprise customer marketplace.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Jane worked for Prudential Financial, where she was the CIO for the company’s Institutional Division. In this role she was responsible for all systems and technology that supported the six businesses in the division. Prior to that position Jane ran all new application development for the Retail Insurance Division at Prudential. Jane has also held key technology positions at Bankers Trust Company and at Chase Manhattan Bank.
Jane has a bachelor of science degree in business administration from the State University of New York at Fredonia.
Among other topics, Dick and Rob discuss the following topics with Metis Strategy
Purchase this book from
Together with Shannon O’Donnell, Dick and Rob have written “The Adventures of an IT Leader,” published in April of 2009 by Harvard Business School Press. The book is a novel about the new CIO of IVK Corporation, Jim Barton. Based on actual cases with which the authors have become familiar over the years, Barton’s adventures represent a true depiction of what it is like to be the new CIO of a major company. Barton struggles to keep IT’s costs under control, to demonstrate the value of IT, to manage projects effectively, and to tame the runaway project.
The Adventures of an IT Leader can be read from cover to cover or the chapters can be treated like a series of cast studies. However it is read and used, it is an invaluable book for new CIOs or for people who aspire to take on the challenges of the top IT position.
Among other topics, Gregor discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy
Gregor retired as CIO from Capital One in late 2007 where he led an industry-recognized technology team that was pivotal to Capital One’s diversification and innovation strategies. The company transformed itself from a mono-line credit card supplier to one of the top 10 diversified banks in the United States – re-inventing nearly all of its processes along the way.
Together with his teams, Gregor has been recognized through dozens of awards, including multiple CIO 100 awards, several years in Computerworld’s “Best places to work in IT,” and the top rank in the InformationWeek 500. Gregor himself was named one of the “Most Influential persons in Information Technology” by eWeek, “One of the Hottest CIOs in Financial Services” by Future Banker, and one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Financial IT Executives” by the CIO Forum. In 2007, Gregor was inducted into the CIO Hall of Fame by CIO Magazine.
Prior to Capital One, Gregor headed up Operations and Technology at the NASDAQ Stock Market during both the dot.com boom and 9/11. He worked at Citibank before that as Chief Technology Architect for the Corporate Banking division and Managing Director in the Advanced Development division. He also served in key strategic and management positions at Perot Systems, NeXT Computer, and Hewlett-Packard.
Gregor is an active environmentalist and was the founding executive sponsor of Capital One’s Environmental Council. He is a director for the Corporate Executive Board and for the National Wildlife Federation. He is currently working on several projects to create more sustainable solutions combating global warming and poverty.
Among other topics, Bob discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy
Robert A. Willett is the chief executive officer of Best Buy International, the strategic business unit of Best Buy Co., Inc., focused on creating opportunities for growth and innovation outside of the United States. He was appointed to this role in February 2006.
Under Willett’s leadership, Best Buy International has implement a global integration and growth strategy to maximize the retailer’s opportunities beyond North America, while continuing to reengineer the supply chain, Mobile phone and information technology functions that support the company’s customer centric transformation. Executives responsible for enterprise-wide efficiency initiatives, information systems, supply chain management, global sourcing, corporate development and Best Buy Mobile report to Willett. He is also a Chairman of the Best Buy Europe/Carphone wharehouse joint venture.
Prior to his current role, Willett served as the executive vice president of operations and chief information officer for Best Buy, and today continues to lead the company’s efforts to improve efficiencies and simplify its customer-centric operating model.
Willett’s experience spans a number of positions in the retail industry over the past several decades. Willett previously was global managing partner for Accenture Consulting retail practice, where he worked with best-in-class retailers throughout the world on strategy reviews, business transformation, procurement and supply chain management, brand positioning, technology transformation and customer segmentation.
Prior to joining Best Buy formally in 2003, Willett served as a special advisor to the Best Buy board of directors on issues relating to operational efficiency and excellence. During his tenure with Accenture, he also served as a partner on the “Process to Profits” initiative that Best Buy undertook in the late 1990s.
Willett launched his retail career in store management at Marks & Spencer a leading British department store chain in 1968, and has held executive positions, including managing director and group chief executive, for other retailers in Europe.
CIO Magazine named Willett to the CIO Hall of Fame in 2008 to honor his significant contributions to the IT discipline, use of technology in business and advancement of the CIO role. He was also recently named to the board of directors for LightHaus Logic, Inc., an innovative provider of video analytics systems based in Canada.
Mr. Robert Fecteau (USA, Ret.) is Chief Information Officer for BAE Systems Information Solutions Business. In this capacity, Mr. Fecteau reports directly to the President of Information Solutions.
In this position, Mr. Fecteau focuses on the efficiency and effectiveness of enterprise IT operations and solution in support of both internal and customer business processes for BAE Systems Inc. In this regard, Mr. Fecteau ensures that the Information Solutions’ infrastructure is consistent with Federal, DoD, and Intelligence Community architecture frameworks. Embedded in these framework definitions is a focus on data, security, collaboration, and communications. Mr. Fecteau is also concerned with tools and practices that enable performance measurement, portfolio management, and total cost of ownership (TCO) and then translating the resulting intellectual property into business discriminators.
Mr. Fecteau previously served as a Department of the Army civilian, as Chief Information Officer, United States Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) managing all enterprise information management and information technology programs. In 2001, he won the Department of Defense’s Chief Information Officer Award for Outstanding Achievement in Information Management.
Mr. Fecteau holds a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Corpus Christi State University and a master’s degree in Information Systems Management from Syracuse University.
Among other topics, Ananda discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy
Ananda Rakhit is the Chief Information Officer at NES Rentals, a leader in the $25 billion equipment rental industry, and #1 in aerial lifts. In that capacity, he focuses on improving operational productivity with wireless applications and building business intelligence tools to support both daily operations and management strategy.
Prior to his time with NES Rentals, Ananda was a Vice President in R&D division of Automatic Data Processing, where he led an internet-based product development organization with global teams.
Prior to that, Ananda was a Vice President and CTO of Cadence Design Systems, where he defined architecture direction for consistent web-enabling of information assets through Portals and Web Services.
Prior to his time with Cadence Design Systems, Ananda began his professional career as a research analyst in the Financial Planning organization at United Airlines working his way up to a position of Director of Information Services Division where his accomplishments included leading development of www.united.com and speech recognition applications, and building a flight planning system which saved United $100 million in fuel costs per year.
Ananda has a Ph.D in Systems Engineering from the University of Arizona in Tucson after receiving his BS in Mining Engineering and MS in Industrial Engineering from the Indian School of Mines.
Among other topics, Carl discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy
Carl is the Founder and Principal Consultant at Ascention Consulting that specializes in providing fast, expert assistance to IT leaders. He is capable of providing unique perspectives and solutions based on his diverse IT experience in software and services, as a customer, vendor, director and investor.
He is presently an independent Director and Chairman of Casenet, Inc. Casenet is an early stage company providing health care management software and implementation services. He served as Executive Chairman over seeing all aspects of the company during a transition in CEOs. He played a key role in acquiring the company’s largest customer with revenue of $16M+. Casenet has completed three rounds of financing with the primary investors being Sigma Partners and HLM Venture Partners.
Before Casenet, Carl was Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. He was responsible for all aspects of information of technology with a combined operating and capital budget of $250M. Support was provided to 3 million members, 3,500 employees with annual revenue of $12.5B. During his tenure dramatic improvements were made and numerous recognitions for technology excellence were received. His leadership was key in the establishment of the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, a coalition to implement electronic medical records throughout the state.
Prior to joining Blue Cross in 2000, Carl was a Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. He was responsible for a regional IT consulting P&L serving all market segments. In the first year under his leadership revenue and profitability soared, and he was awarded the most improved practice in the firm. Increases of 30% annually were realized in subsequent years.
Carl began his career in information technology with Aetna, Inc. in 1978. Focused on software development in support of the health line of business, he was fast tracked from programmer to management. He later became Vice President and CIO of specialty products. He led the IT due diligence of all potential acquisitions, and made 50+ sales presentations to the Fortune 1000.
Carl received a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Western New England College. He has been involved in various local community activities, business and technology educational programs, such as the Society for Information Management Executives, The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, and the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium.
He was recognized by the City of Boston for his leadership in establishing Project Refresh which provides corporate donations of used computers to schools.
Bob is the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Automatic Data Processing Employer Services.
Bob joined ADP in September 2002 and is responsible for the development of all Payroll, HR, Benefits and Time & Labor Management products for the $5B Employer Services Division. He leads a department of 1200+ IT associates with an annual budget of $125M. At ADP he has significantly improved the reliability of the company’s Internet product suite reducing downtime by 92% over a two year period. He has also introduced the use of a Service Orientated Architecture to enable integration across the many disparate Human Resource applications that are sold by the company.
In 2006, Bob led ADP to a ranking of number two in the Information Week 500 list of Top Innovators in Business Technology.
Prior to his time at ADP, Bob spent twelve years at United Airlines where he worked with business units to develop an overall strategy and project plan on how new technologies should be used in the future airport environment. While at United he pioneered the use of Parallel Processing technology in areas of yield management and crew scheduling.
Bob holds both a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial and System Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Among other topics, Tim discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy
Tim recently resigned from his position as Executive Vice President of Shared Services & Chief Information Officer of Hilton Hotels Corporation. In 2000, with the Hilton acquisition of Promus, Tim became Hilton’s Senior Vice President & CIO, promoted to EVP in 2007 with increased responsibilities over the company’s sales & reservations division. In 2008, Tim’s responsibilities were expanded to include commercial revenue. In addition to his role overseeing technology and distribution this would now include the management of the Hilton Honors program and Hotel Performance, with his new title Executive Vice President of Shared Services & CIO.
Tim became Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Promus Hotels in 1995, followed by EVP & CIO with the business expansion due to the merger between Promus and Doubletree in 1998.
In the 1980s, Tim held a variety of positions with Holiday Inn which became Promus Companies and Promus Hotel Corporation.
Tim holds a BBA from Delta State University, where he was also an All American baseball player (outfield), and he has an MBA from the University of Memphis.
