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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.
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This is the second part of a two part series with Charlie Feld. Part one of the series was broadcast on September 26th, in which Charlie covered his career path as a CIO Hall of Famer and explored the evolution of the CIO role.
Purchase Charlie’s book, Blind Spot: A Leader’s Guide To IT-Enabled Business Transformation from
As the founder and CEO of The Feld Group, Charlie built a team of IT executives that enabled dramatic results in Fortune 500 companies through the transformation of their own IT organizations. The Feld Group was acquired by EDS in 2004, which was subsequently purchased by HP in 2008. In September of that year, Charlie retired as a senior executive vice president and member of EDS’ Executive Committee. The Feld Group was re-launched in 2009 as a Leadership Development firm. Prior to founding the Feld Group, Charlie headed IT for Frito-Lay.
Across his 45 years in the IT field, Charlie has won numerous accolades, including being named to CIO magazine’s prestigious CIOHall of Fame in 1997, the Smithsonian Award for Technology Excellence, and the Carnegie Mellon Award for Innovative Technology.
Charlie has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the City University of New York, Hunter College.
This is the first part of a two part series with Charlie Feld. Part two of the series will be broadcast on October 10th, in which Charlie will cover his book, Blind Spot: A Leader’s Guide to IT-Enabled Business Transformation, and his firm’s framework for IT department change management.
Across his 45 years in the IT field, Charlie has won numerous accolades, including being named to CIO magazine’s prestigious CIO Hall of Fame in 1997, the Smithsonian Award for Technology Excellence, and the Carnegie Mellon Award for Innovative Technology.
Among other topics, Hunter discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
Purchase Hunter’s book from
Hunter is the President and CEO of HMG Strategy, LLC, the fastest growing provider of innovative thought leadership and networking events for CIOs and senior executives across the IT industry. He is a globally respected IT strategist with more than 20 years of experience in IT leadership consulting and research.
Hunter’s focus over the past five years has been researching the work and leadership styles of top transformational executives at leading organizations around the world. He has built an extensive network of senior IT leaders at Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies such as IBM, Microsoft, VMware, Kimberly-Clark, McKesson, Hilton Hotels Worldwide, Flextronics International, Red Hat, Compuware, Shell Oil, CVS Caremark, Boston Scientific, Salesforce.com and many more.
Hunter’s new book, The Transformational CIO, was published in March 2011 by John Wiley & Sons. He is currently working on his second book, On Top of the Cloud, which is scheduled to be published by Wiley in early 2012.
Hunter is a member of the Executive Committee of the Fairfield/Westchester Chapter of the Society for Information Management, and serves as Vice President of Programs.
Among other topics, Amit discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
Amit is CEO and Founder of Hara, Inc., the fastest growing provider of environmental and energy management solutions. Amit has been at the forefront of shaping a new category of business software and has championed the notion of organizational metabolism. Under Amit’s leadership Hara addresses an end-to-end environmental and energy business process from reporting to reduction across an organization and its value chain.
Amit is a thought-leader on green economy innovation, energy independence and entrepreneurship and was selected as one of the most influential people in business as part of Fortune Magazine’s 40 Under 40 list for 2010. Amit was amoung a group of CEOs of small and large energy companies that advised President Obama in 2009 on how to increase productivity through innovation and technology. Numerous groups have recognized Hara, including CNBC which in 2010 recognized Hara as one of the 15 Best Green Tech Startups.
Prior to founding Hara Amit led SAP’s fast-growing Governance, Risk and Compliance unit. Amit developed his strategic and leadership experience while at McKinsey & Co., working with clients such as SAP, Cisco and Oracle.
Amit has B.A. degrees in Political Science and Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley.
This interview is the fifth in a special series of five eSeminars covering the Five Principles of World Class IT. The five interviews have been broadcast in sequential weeks, and in this conversation on principle five –External Partnerships, Bob Willett discusses the following ideas:
Follow this link to download the eSeminar presentation
This is the final interview in this series covering the five principles of World Class IT. We hope you have enjoyed the deeper dive into each principle.
Robert A. Willett is the chief executive officer of Al Futtaim Group, a conglomerate operating from the United Arab Emirates that operates eight divisions comprising automotive, electronics, insurance, services, real estate, retail, industries and overseas.
Prior to his current position, Willett was 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.
Chosen as third among “The Best IT Business Books of 2009” by CIO Insight
“What’s unique about this book is that it’s not only a must-read for the CIO (and everyone else in an IT department); it’s for anyone associated with the technology industry. If you are a manufacturer, seller, or service provider of technology, you will gain insight into what makes an IT department world class.” – CIO Digest
“The new book World Class IT (Jossey-Bass, 2009), by consultant Peter A. High, provides solid, timeless advice for CIOs trying to manage IT for business success.” – Mitch Betts, Computerworld Book Review
“Technology is all around us. It is so pervasive in our daily lives that we may not even recognize when we interact with it. Despite this fact, many companies have yet to leverage information technology as a strategic weapon.
What then is an information technology executive to do in order to raise the prominence of his or her department? In World Class IT, recognized expert in IT strategy Peter High reveals the essential principles IT executives must follow and the order in which they should follow them whether they are at the helm of a high-performing department or one in need of great improvement.
Principle 1: Recruit, train, and retain World Class IT people Principle 2: Build and maintain a robust IT infrastructure Principle 3: Manage projects and portfolios effectively Principle 4: Ensure partnerships within the IT department and with the business Principle 5: Develop a collaborative relationship with external partners
The principles and associated subprinciples and metrics introduced in World Class IT have been used by IT and business executives alike at many Global 1000 companies to monitor and improve IT’s performance. Those principles pertain as much to the leaders of IT as they do to those striving to emulate them.”
This interview is the fourth in a special series of five eSeminars covering the Five Principles of World Class IT. The five interviews will be broadcast in sequential weeks, and in this conversation on principle four –IT & Business Partnerships, John Boushy discusses the following ideas:
The final interview in the series will be Bob Willett, CEO of Al Futtaim Group and former CIO of Best Buy and CEO of Best Buy International. The broadcast date will be December 20, 2010.
After retiring as CEO of Ameristar Casinos in 2008, John Boushy began running his own consulting firm, aimed at assisting companies to create and capture long-term business potential.
John joined Ameristar as president and was subsequently appointed CEO and president and elected to the company’s board of directors.
Prior to joining Ameristar, he served as a senior executive at Harrah’s Entertainment, holding various executive positions within Harrah’s and its prior parent companies, Holiday Corporation and The Promus Companies. John most recently served as Harrah’s Executive Vice President, Project Development, Design & Construction. Prior to that, John held the position of Senior Vice President Concept Development and Chief Integration Officer where he had executive level responsibility to plan and execute all aspects of the business combination of Caesars Entertainment with Harrah’s Entertainment.
As SVP, Operations, Products and Services and CIO, John established corporate operating functions in order to deliver enhanced capabilities to all company various properties, enhancing delivery of service and competitiveness, while supporting the rapid growth through property expansions and company acquisitions. At the same time, John led the maturing of the IT function, creating greater alignment between IT and the business, thereby driving incremental business value from the business/IT projects.
As Harrah’s CIO, John was credited for various technological advances that today power the company’s customer service and financial performance. As vice president of strategic marketing for Harrah’s, John developed numerous customer-centric innovations, including 800-HARRAHS and the industry’s first, nation-wide customer loyalty program. Under his leadership, the company issued the first annual survey of casino entertainment, which continues today as The Profile of the American Casino Gambler.
In 2001, Harrah’s was awarded CIO’s coveted Enterprise Value Award due to John’s leadership of Harrah’s loyalty program and in September of 2007, John was elected to the CIO Magazine Hall of Fame.
John holds a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and a master of science degree in applied mathematics, both from North Carolina State University.
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.
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.
Among other topics, Bruce discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy
Bruce Parker is Managing Director of IT Management Group, an IT consultancy.
Until late August, 2008, Bruce Parker was Chairman & CEO of AirNet Systems, Inc. a specialized express cargo airline. He remains on the board of that company.
From December 1999 until his retirement in July 2002, Parker was an Executive Vice President at Sapient, responsible for corporate development, international growth, subsidiaries and relationships with multiple large clients. He has been a board member of that company since 1995, and continues to serve on the board today.
From 1997 until 1999, Bruce served as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at United Airlines. Under his direction, the company introduced United.com. During his tenure, he also created and organized several joint ventures in distribution, including Orbitz, and participated in forming the Star Alliance technology organization.
From 1994 to 1997, Bruce was Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Ryder System Inc. and, previously, was a Vice President of American Airlines and Sabre Computer Services.
Bruce holds an MBA from the University of Kansas.
