Track Description  

As today's IT leaders deal with the challenges of global competition and a changing workforce, effective management and leadership skills are needed more than ever. The IT Leadership and Management track will provide critical success factors and best practices for your IT organization's growth and governance. These sessions will help executives develop their leadership skills and enhance their understanding to fully leverage the talents and contributions of their staffs. We'll also highlight new online tools and strategies available to nonprofit organizations to assit them with their missions and use technology effectively. Thank you to our track sponsors, Heimes Resources, Data Media Solutions and Jelecos.

Track Sessions

Dispelling the Vapor around Cloud Computing

Wesley "Mac" Devine, Distinguished Engineer and CTO for Cloud Partnerships, IBM Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC

"Cloud" - isn't this just an old concept with new marketing hype? What is real? During our time together we will dispel the vapor around cloud, discuss how businesses are implementing cloud computing and how you can take immediate actions to build a more dynamic infrastructure to reduce costs, improve service delivery and enable business innovation.

Right Sourcing: Maximizing Business Value of IT through Strategic Outsourcing and Insourcing

Leon Thomas, CEO, Jelecos

Determining which IT services and initiatives to tackle within an organization and those to outsource can be a daunting task for any business leader. Aligning an IT department with business objectives can produce conflict among executives, challenge status quo and create ripple effects throughout an organization. Which IT initiatives will increase productivity and the bottom line if outsourced? Which services are best rendered in house? How can IT consistently and measurably add value to an organization? Leon will outline how to achieve a competitive advantage by taking a strategic view of your IT department. 

High Performing Teams: What are they? Why do we want them? How do we build them?

Kate W. Brown, Consulting Partner, TechEdge LLC

This presentation will focus on defining high performance in relation to teams and team interactions. Discussion will center on why high performing teams are important to our organizations, how we achieve high performance, and how we measure our success. We will examine teams from the perspective of a leader and a team member, and discuss their respective roles and responsibilities to the team. Additionally, we will discuss some of the barriers to high performance and how we break through them. Lastly, we will talk about some of the current challenges the audience is facing, plus practical steps that can be taken imeditaley to begin building high performing teams.

Zen and the Art of Leadership: Succeeding by Knowing When, and How, to Not Care

Stephen Balzac, President, 7 Steps Ahead, LLC, Stow, Mass.

In sports and martial arts, victory most often goes to the athlete who knows when to care and when to not care about winning. In business, knowing when and how to not care is critical to creating a successful team. We’ll cover the nine steps you can use to build your team. You will learn how to make them worthy of your trust and you worthy of theirs so that you can turn them loose with the knowledge that they will succeed.

Measure Up: How to Develop and Deliver Outcomes

Nancy Williams, Technology Director, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands and Regina Tullos-Williams, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands

Measure Up: How to Develop and Deliver Outcomes will provide a foundation of common language and expectations for outcomes development and delivery. It is an interactive session designed to arm participants with the information and tools needed to recognize the process changes needed in their organizations and identify where they can make the most impact with those they serve.

On-Time and Millions Under Budget: ERP Case-Studies

Doug Taylor, CIO, Lindsay Corporation

Highlighting successes in implementing global ERP projects, Doug will share the possibility of delivering ERP projects on-time and under budget.  He will debunk the myths and folklore surrounding the risk of gloom of major project initiatives and inspire you to structure new projects for success.  His pragmatic approach to tacking dynamic business problems that are prevalent in the industry can also help turn around runaway projects.  

Maturing an IT Organization through Chaos

Anthony DeCanti, Vice President of Analysis & Information Systems, Werner Enterprises

 Maturing an IT organization through massive growth is difficult.  Anthony will discuss his own experience over the past 13 years of supporting the needs of a fast growing logistics company while maturing the IT organization at the same time. The presentation will have an emphasis on using Architecture as Strategy and Agile Development Methodology (Scrum).

Donor, Volunteer and Client Relationships in the Cloud (a case study)

Brad Bryan, Executive Director, City Impact, Lincoln, Neb
Paul Huebner, Partner, Business IT Solutions LCC

Brad Bryan, Executive Director of City Impact, Lincoln, Neb., and Paul Huebner, Partner, Business IT Solutions, LLC, will present and discuss the status of City Impact’s implementation and plans to use Salesforce.com and other “cloud computing” technology services to help manage City Impact’s Donor, Volunteer and Client relationships. Brad will discuss the goals and expected benefits City Impact sees for the project, and Paul will provide an overview project status and next steps. Both will share what has been learned to date. The session will also include time for questions and discussion.

Technology Tools and Support for Non-Profits

Paul Huebner, Partner, Business IT Solutions LCC

This session will provide an overview of the growing number of affordable technology tools, services and resources available to help non-profit organizations achieve their mission and goals. During the second half of this session, attendees will go through a very simple, business oriented exercise that will help them get started on a high level technology plan for their organization. This will be useful and practical session for non-profit executive directors and others.

Program is subject to change.

Track Leader 

Paul Huebner - Business IT Solutions and former CIO of Ameritas