2008-01-15 - "New Directions in Application Strategy: Opportunities and Implications"

GAIL HOLMBERG, FORMER CIO OF BALLY TOTAL FITNESS
and
MIKE HUGOS, CIO AT LARGE, CENTER FOR SYSTEMS INNOVATION

Traditionally the CIO had to decide whether to buy or build new applications.  Over time the choices have exploded (hosting, outsourcing, DBMS, security, programming language).  Now, new options such as open source, Software as a Service (SaaS) and agile programming approaches drive more questions.  What are the opportunities and implications of these choices?

Speaker Biography – Gail Holmberg
Gail Holmberg recently completed almost five years with Bally Total Fitness as Senior Vice President and CIO.  She has also held management and executive positions at Deloitte, Quaker Oats and Sears.  She holds an undergraduate degree in communications from Illinois State University and a Masters of Public Administration from Harvard.

Ms. Holmberg has a track record of implementing new technologies with measurable business value in complex and challenging environments.  She is committed to creating and supporting networking opportunities where technology leaders can share experiences and insights.  She currently serves on the board of SIM and was a co-founder of Technology Leaders Association, Senior Women in Technology and other networking forums.

Speaker Biography – Mike Hugos
Michael Hugos is a mentor and practitioner in IT agility and business innovation at the Center for Systems Innovation. He recently spent six years as the CIO of a multi-billion dollar distribution organization where he built the suite of supply chain and e-business systems that transformed the company's business model and now drives its growth. Prior to this he was a Practice Director at a publicly traded global IT services firm.

In 2003 and 2005 he was awarded the CIO 100 Award for bold and resourceful use of information technology and in 2006 he was awarded the Computerworld Premier 100 award for career achievement. He holds an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. Mr. Hugos is an author whose books include The Greatest Innovation Since the Assembly Line and CIO Best Practices: Enabling Strategic Value with Information Technology. He writes a column for Computerworld, a blog for CIO magazine, and speaks at business and IT industry conferences.