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“The IT Executive Leadership Program is an excellent program for aspiring CIOs. I also recommend it to anyone who is relatively new to their CIO role or as a refresher for those who have been a CIO for a while. The program blends the right amount of theory with very practical tools and best practices. The instructors are top notch and are all knowledgeable practitioners. I wish I had taken this program 5 years ago when I started my current CIO job. It would have helped me significantly in implementing my agenda much more quickly."
Siegfried Fuchsbichler, Assistant Deputy Minister, Information and Communications Technology, Department of Highways and Public Works
and Chief Information Officer, Government of Yukon
“The IT Leadership Development Program is an excellent opportunity to learn from well-established, senior IT leaders whose insight, knowledge and experience really help put today’s IT challenges in perspective, and they offer both practical and theoretical solutions to meet those challenges. The program is also a great opportunity to network with fellow IT professionals and to share best practices with each other. I found the format, with three four-day sessions over six months, provided the right pace in an ideal setting for a program of this nature. Each session delivered valuable material that I was able to bring back and put into practice right away.”
Rick Coutts, Vice President, IT and Integration, TransCanada Pipelines Limited
“Barry and team delivered an IT leadership development program for senior IT leaders in the Government of New Brunswick. He was well organized, adaptable, brought skilled instructors to the table and delivered measurable results in a very reasonable time frame. I am happy to recommend Barry highly.”
Danny Keizer, CIO, Government of New Brunswick
“I would definitely recommend the IT Leadership Development program to any individual with career aspirations of being in a senior IT leadership role”.
Georganne Dupont, Business Manager, Prince Albert Raiders Hockey Club
“It would take me years to learn what the very experienced and talented practitioners of the IT Leadership Program shared with me in three short weeks. This program and more importantly the Instructors and Directors have given me a new perspective on the role and responsibility of IT Leaders. I attribute my recent promotion to VP of IT to the insights that this program provided. I highly recommend this program to those aspiring to be CIO. Hearing the stories and situations from the Instructors, CIO's and CEO's are invaluable to progressing your career.”
Sav Chawla, Vice President, Information Technology , CAA South Central Ontario
“The program is a career changing point for all IT leaders. The interactions with the speakers with their different perspectives (CIO & CEO) bring you that “Aha” moment, which has a better effect than attending courses.
The program encourages the attendees to bring their own problems to the faculty members, which in turns create interactive discussions based on experience from different roles and industries that enriches the learning experience.
I highly recommend the IT leadership program for anyone who is in a leading role in his/her organization to provide them with tools and advise on how to perform their existing role and prepare them for their next step in their career.”
Moustafa Naguib, Director, Infrastructure Operations, Lafarge Canada
“The Ryerson University/The CIO Summit IT Leadership Development Program has proven to be one of the most insightful and pragmatic business resources available for senior technology leaders in Canada. As an alumnus of the program and having sent my senior staff to the course, I can speak first-hand of the tremendous value it has provided in the succession planning and professional development in my organization. The depth of experience and insight of the CIOs and instructors in the faculty is second to none and the content is focused on the challenges IT leaders are facing now.
The CIO Association of Canada is pleased to recommend the program to our members, many of whom have reaped its benefits.”
Andrew Dillane, CIO Randstad Canada Group and President, CIO Association of Canada
“(The program’s) team of seasoned university instructors and world-class ITM leaders, successfully provide tools, techniques and networking opportunities to address today's issues, challenges and opportunities facing our organizations. Reviews of this program by our attendees, which include over a 100 CIOs, senior business and ITM management professionals, consistently topped 90%.
I would highly recommend this unique program to any organization looking to enhance their effectiveness and strategic capabilities.”
Bruce Cuthbert, Executive Director, B.C. Government
“As a participant and a supporter (I've attended and had my own staff attend) of the IT Executive Leadership Program, I can't recommend it highly enough. It uses current thinking and a widely varying faculty skill and experience set to deliver a compelling and practical educational experience. This program provides methods and means to deliver a very explicit alignment between IM/IT in your organization and the internal customers you serve. The IELP goes a long way in helping to transform high potential techies into business leaders.”
Michael Carpenter, Chief Information Officer (CIO), Information Management Branch, Government of British Columbia
“The knowledge I have gained from The CIO Summit - IT Leadership Development program has been put to good use time and time again. The speakers were on point, and provided me with the tools to move forward with technology innovations that enabled business success. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Barry and the IT Leadership Development program to any IT professional looking for the key to moving forward.”
Liz Dowie, Manager - Application Services & IT, Region of Durham
“As a participant in the IT Leadership Development Program, I can't recommend it enough. This is by far one of the best programs I have attended. Barry's ability to bring together speakers with balanced subject matter material and personal experiences is invaluable to the presentation of the program. Program content is excellent. Addresses core CIO & IT Leader issues, challenges and opportunities in a straight-forward manner".
Christine Martinez, Senior Project Consultant/Partner at JCM Management Consulting
“Barry has created a very valuable service for up and coming IT managers aspiring to become a CIO or other senior manager and for the companies that employ them. In his course the students are exposed to some terrific, world-class instructors and leading edge thought in both IT and management. I recommend it highly.”
Lyle Kerr, Chief Executive Officer, CNC Global Limited
“I have been a faculty member of The CIO Summit: IT Leadership Development Program for several years now - delivering a session on strategy execution and another on change management. This is the perfect program to help develop the IT leaders of tomorrow. The content is highly pragmatic and relevant; the faculty brings real-world insights and perspectives. CIOs concerned with delivering more value to the organization while strengthening the IT leadership bench should send their managers to the program. They won't regret it.”
Edmond Mellina, President, ORCHANGO - a division of TRANSITUS Inc.
“The IT Executive Leadership Program is an outstanding professional development experience. The opportunity to interact with and learn from successful industry leaders and collaborate with peers was very rewarding.”
Mark Cupryn, Director, Information Technology, Mondial Assistance CANADA
“The IT Executive Leadership Course provides an outstanding opportunity to understand and develop strategies around the key issues/opportunities facing IT management today. This is not only an excellent program for those planning a career in IT management, but for any organizations whose key clients are in the IT industry. I highly recommend Barry and this program in particular.”
Bev Crone, District Manager, Agilysys
“The CIO Summit IT Leadership Development Program is an excellent "C" level program. Having so many international experts presenting and teaching different business methodologies and practices is unique experience. This program can be helpful as a self-discovery tool where participants have opportunity to find out their own natural aspirations in business and IT arena. Upon completion of the program I was very confident in determining my eventual career path, therefore I highly recommend the CIO Summit IT Leadership Development Program.”
Darko Petrusic, Sr Technology Architect at BC Government
“The CIO Summit Training course has been widely acclaimed as one of the very best IT Leadership courses available - it's the most valuable course I've done in my 24 years in IT.”
Stuart Cayzer, Director, Enterprise Architecture at Ministry of the Attorney General, BC Government
“Barry is the best facilitator I have met. His passion is infectious and in turn this prompted me to take a leadership investment step attending the first IT Executive Leadership Program then co-sponsored by Barry as Executive Producer CIO Summit and James Norrie, Program Director, Ryerson University ITM©. The quality therein raised the bar on all things and I am the more enriched for it. Having found this somewhat life changing, I remain a privileged alumnus for it. I would highly recommend Barry and his colleagues to any IT professional who truly aspires to “think out of the box” and take leadership to the next level!”
Chris Jamieson, Director, IT Planning/Risk Management, The Globe and Mail
“Having helped create this program more than five years ago, it has now helped hundreds of aspiring professionals reach their intended goals. You may be taking the program to enhance your skills or learn leading-edge methodology that make a difference for your organization. You may be a public-sector leader comparing practices with the private-sector. Or, you may be an aspiring CIO. Regardless, you will find this unique program responding to your learning needs and making a difference. Join us!”
Dr. James L. Norrie, Professor & Director, School of Information Technology Management, Ryerson University, Faculty of Business
“I highly recommend The CIO Summit to anyone wishing to improve their IT Leadership Skills or prepare themselves for a senior leadership position in IT. (They have) done a tremendous job of putting together an excellent mix of thought provoking world class IT Leaders, case study work, class participation and peer networking. The world class talent is worth the tuition price ten fold. I wish I had taken the program eight years ago.
The program, right from the first module, has helped me work at a higher level and deliver better value to my company shareholders. I plan to take the advanced program in 2011.”
Dean Hartley, VP, IT , Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority and VP, CIPS Saskatchewan
“What more can I say - a great course given by some of the best IT practitioners in the world.”
Roman Mateyko, Executive Director, Regulatory Affairs, Government of British Columbia
“Over the next few years, Canadian employers must hire and develop tens of thousands of professionals who combine business knowledge, skills and acumen with information technology. In fact, this is the largest, and fastest growing, part of the IT labour market. The IT Leadership Program is an example of what we need to fill this critical gap.
David Ticoll, Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Tomorrow's ICT Skills (CCICT)
“The IT Leadership Program offered out of Ryerson University is an excellent starter program for those IT professionals who wish to enhance the interplay between business and IT. I found the skills taught in this three week program were very beneficial in helping me understand the relationships that need to be developed for a new CIO to be successful.
Anyone who is or wishes to become a CIO should take this course. The added bonus is the business relationships that are developed with fellow classmates who all bring their own experience to the classroom.
By breaking the course into three separate time periods, allowed the students to take what they learned back to their business and immediately start putting it work. Then the success stories could be relayed back to their classmates at the next session.
As a CIO, I found I benefitted from this course and highly recommend it to anyone who wished to combine IT and business into a successful career path.”
Dwayne Ellis, CIO, AGS Group Inc
Media Reports
| Win
friends, influence business: IT Executive Leadership
program gives senior IT professionals the skills they need to
leap into the CIO’s chair By ACNielsen, Computing Canada, May 14, 2004 |
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A killer golf swing may be the most important skill an aspiring chief information officer needs to succeed. That’s because much of a senior IT executive’s job entails relationship-building – within their departments and with other decision makers in the company, says Mimi Hunt, Athabasca University’s program director in the IT management department. “I always tell CIOs to create a schmoozing line item in their budgets because it’s important,” she says. Hunt was in Toronto last month lecturing a group of 24 students enrolled in the IT Executive Leadership program, a forum that offers practical and academic instruction in the skills needed to make the transition to an executive-level position with IT. The program, co-sponsored by the CIO Summit and Ryerson University, is comprised of three modules, each containing four days of classes, says Barry Clavir, executive director of the CIO Summit. “In each module, we’ve paired a leading academic in the field along with an experienced CIO to ensure participants gain insight into both theory and practice,” he says. It’s that practical focus organizers say will differentiate the program from others out there. “These guys can go to school and hear academics anywhere,” says program director Craigg Ballance. “What they don’t have access to is real CIOs.” The transition to becoming a CIO is a difficult one and education is a practical avenue to ease that, says James Norrie, professor and director of Ryerson University’s School of IT Management. “The transition from being a functional leader in IT is very different to being a member of the executive team – taking on responsibility for providing leadership to the technology function as it relates to integrating business strategy and IT strategy,” says Norrie. “Nowhere along the way do we educate these folks and then they wonder why their first stint as a CIO is a failure.” Parviz Mohamed says the program is exactly what she was looking for. As the director of IT development services for TransAlta Corp. in Calgary, Alta.,Mohamed is just one step below the CIO. Although she’s not interested in pushing anyone out of a job, she says she’s eager to develop as an IT professional. “This isn’t necessarily about a promotion,” she says. “It’s more about my professional development. Mohamed says the training has helped her sharpen her skills in strategic execution and political maneuvring, essential tools in a CIO’s arsenal. “One of the challenges is how to become more effective politically,” she says. “Not so much with the execution of IT, but more around the value of IT and how to interact with other business leaders in an effective manner.” How well a CIO leads her team, says Mohamed, is also an important measurement of success. “At the end of the day, if you’ve been able to build relationships and articulate the value of technology, that’s a good thing,” she adds. The program has offered Wayne Millar an opportunity to re-examine his leadership style, something Millar sees as crucial to being a successful IT leader. “My approach has always been intuitive. I lead by common sense,” says Millar, director of onsite support for Sunlife Financial in Toronto. “I need to sit down and figure out what kind of leader I want to be and plan a more structured approach.”Millar has about 80 people on his team and says the program has already had an impact on the way he deals with his direct reports. One of the bonuses of participating in the leadership program, adds Millar, is the opportunity to network with other IT professionals from across the country. “Most people, because of their time commitments, spend a lot effort looking inside the organization. I realize I need to look outside more often and here we have top IT people from across the country.” The next IT Executive Leadership program will take place in Calgary this June.\ The cost for the program is $8,900. |
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Binary code: IT directors are heading back to the classroom to learn how to speak the same language as CEOs By Andrew Wahl, Canadian Business, April 26, 2004 |
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Any executive will tell you that often the most important business doesn’t take place in the boardroom, but in the elevators and hallways of a corporation (if not in restaurants, bars and golf courses). That’s where relationships are built, over time, in small snatches of conversation and quick impressions, not some long PowerPoint presentation. People working in sales or finance get this stuff. In fact, they got where they are today in part because they mastered, at an early stage of their career, the political art of small talk with the boss. But techies? They don’t speak the same language – or at least the other executives don’t think so. In their eyes, the CIO knows servers, networks and e-commerce systems – things most execs struggle to understand. That disconnect poses a big problem for IT professionals moving up the ranks. Recently, I found out just how much of a problem it is when I chatted with several IT directors (generally the people who report to the chief information officers and the prime candidates to take over those positions). It didn’t take long to find out what they really think. The classic problem is that, when they get on the same elevator as the CEO or other top executives, the topic of conversation is – you guessed it – their laptop. “It’s unbelievably insulting,” said one director of IT. “These are the same people who you stand in front of to make strategic presentations about your interpretation of their business, and they give you funds for it so you can help them do business. And they see you in the elevator and it’s, ‘Oh,my laptop isn’t working,’ and ‘Do you think you can get me a BlackBerry?’ You know what? F— off!” You can’t say that to the boss, of course. (Well, you could, but only once.) So the challenge for high-level IT professionals who closely interact with other high-level execs in the corporation is to learn the nuanced language of business, and the kinds of management skills that resonate with senior-level people. That’s why a group of about 30 IT directors signed up for a six-month (parttime) IT leadership course jointly organized by the CIO Summit, an annual speakers’ forum, and Toronto-based Ryerson University. (A similar course will begin at the University of Calgary in June.) This pilot group of students hail from across the country, with jobs at mid-size and large publicly traded companies from almost all industry sectors, as well as the public service. Not only did the program address topics like how to transition from manager to leader, how to structure a department for better IT governance and how to manage expectations, but it also gave participants a chance to network with their peers and swap stories. And the IT directors seemed happy to discover that the problems they’ve encountered – knuckleheaded CEOs included – were not all that unique. The pressures keep ratcheting up. IT is constantly putting out new fires – from security, privacy and business continuity threats to spam, Microsoft patches (they were specifically mentioned) and cameras in cellphones – and it draws attention to all the wrong parts of the job. “Like most service organizations,” said Jay Giblon, Gennum Corp.’s director of IT, “people tend to only pay attention to you when something’s going wrong.” But CIOs and IT directors (especially those hoping to get promoted) can’t get into those kinds of details if they are to play a leading role in the executive suite. That job operates at a higher level and is more about communication, navigating corporate politics and, especially, how to cope with budgets.And all of that requires less tactical thinking – something tech managers are accustomed to – and more strategic thinking. It’s a hard shift, but it’s absolutely essential for IT professionals to make if they are to be effective in their jobs, and especially as IT becomes more closely integrated with individual business units – or face being outsourced altogether. What many of the IT directors I spoke to made clear was that those skills need to also change how other executives perceive their contributions to the organization. A good start would be to find a way to politely remind CEOs that fixing their laptops isn’t what they’re paid to do. |
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