Previous CIO Panel Speakers

Twila Day
Vice President & Chief Information Officer
SYSCO Corporation (www.Sysco.com) 
Twila Day was named Vice President, CIO for SYSCO Corporation, the largest North American foodservice marketing and distribution organization, in December 2005. In this role, she has been instrumental in creating the Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) architecture, provided vision for the Enterprise Data Warehouse, spearheaded the integration of proprietary systems with best-of-breed 3rd party software, and provided leadership in the transition of the traditional broadline companies away from a decentralized operating environment to a centralized hosted operation. Previously, she was intimately involved with SYSCO’s in-house developed multi-million dollar ERP project. Twila received the 2003 Leadership in Technology Award from the Association of Women in Computing. She is a member of Association for Women in Computing (AWC), Women in Technology Industries (WITI), and Women in Foodservice Forum (WFF). SYSCO Corporation is the global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers who prepare meals away from home. Its family of products also includes equipment and supplies for the foodservice and hospitality industries. For calendar year 2006 the company generated $32 billion in sales. [See video soundbite]
 

Paul Yust
Vice President & Chief Information Officer
BJ Services (www.bjservices.com)
Mr. Yust joined the Company in the newly created role of Chief Information Officer in 2006, responsible for directing information technology systems and initiatives on a global scale.  He has designed and led information technology programs at large multinational companies for more than 15 years.  Mr. Yust began his career with Exxon U.S.A., where he held positions in information technology, engineering, planning and the controller’s office.  In 1990, he became Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Pioneer Companies, a start-up chemical manufacturer.  He joined Kraton Polymers in 2001 as Chief Information Officer, responsible for building a data and server network across more than 30 countries.  Mr. Yust holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in finance from Texas A&M University.   [See video soundbite]
 

*CIO PANELIST*
Jenifer Jarriel
Vice President of Information Technology
and Chief Information Officer
Baylor College of Medicine
Jenifer Jarriel is the Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer for the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She has been with the College since May 1995. She has responsibilities for eight areas in the Information Technology division: Applications Services, Operations, Telecommunications, Network Services, Enterprise Server Infrastructure and Security, User Support Services, Clinical Systems Services, and SAP. Before this position, she was Vice President of Information Services for Texas Children’s Hospital. She held that position for four years. Prior to Texas Children’s, she was Director of Information Services at Hermann Hospital. She was at Hermann for eleven and one-half years.

Ms. Jarriel has over 25 years in information technology management with a focus on academic medicine. She is a proven leader in identifying, evaluating, and implementing enterprise-wide technology solutions. She has specific accomplishments in start-up operations and new program development requiring technical, human, and organizational resource planning. Her leadership style emphasizes customer service, team empowerment, and resource stewardship.
 

*CIO PANELIST*
Dr. Denise Walker
Chief Security Officer
Lone Star College System
Dr. Denise Walker is Chief Security Officer for Lone Star College System, serving the greater Houston area. She has been with LSCS since 2007 formerly the Dean of Technology. Dr. Walker has responsibility for information risk management and security governance program and emergency management. Before this position she was the Corporate Business Continuity Planner for Fiserv and formerly the Corporate Director of Networking for four years. Prior to Fiserv, she was with IBM as a Professional Development Manager and ConocoPhillips for nine years last in investment appraisal.  Dr. Walker has more than 20 years of progressive IT leadership in information security and risk management, emergency management and business resiliency planning and testing, global application development, and project management in the manufacturing, financial, energy, higher education, and consumer goods markets. Dr. Walker is a public speaker on educating the community on cyber crimes, implementing and sustaining a comprehensive risk management program, project management, emergency management, and the impact of cybercrime in the workplace. Dr. Walker holds a Doctorate of Business Administration, a Masters of Science in Engineering Management, Industrial Engineering, and a graduate certificate in project management. Dr. Walker is the author of the book "Cybercrime: Secure IT or Lose IT".
 

CIO PANELIST
Shemon Bar-Tal
CTO
Museum of Fine Arts of Houston
Shemon Bartal is the Chief Technology Officer at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.  He has been with the Museum since 2001 and has worked in IT for over 13 years.  Shemon establishes and directs the strategic long-term goals for the Museum's Information Technology department and determines the museum's long-term technology needs and hardware acquisitions to accomplish the organization's business objectives.  His vision is to improve customers' and users' experiences at the museum through innovative use of technology while keeping the overall IT costs down.
 

Paul Valdez
Former CIO, Cemex
Former CTO, City of Houston's Public Works & Engineering
Paul is the the current President of the Houston Chapter of the Society for Information Management. SIM is the premier Senior IT leadership and is a community of thought leaders who share experiences and rich intellectual capital, and who explore future IT direction. Paul past position was the CEMEX's US Head of IT Operations. He led a skilled IT Team that managed the functions of Data Center operations, ITIL, network/telecommunications, systems and network engineering, and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance in conjunction with Mexico and other global manufacturing and administrative sites. This included IT integration efforts for the recent $14.3 billion acquisition of Australia's Rinker Group Ltd. which positioned CEMEX as the global market leader in the building materials industry. Cemex has operations in 52 countries and is continuing to expand their operations. He previously was the Chief Technology Officer(CTO) for the City of Houston's Public Works & Engineering area. As CTO, the IT team provided customer support in the areas of Engineering, Construction, Water, WasteWater, Traffic, Transportation, Right-of-Way, Purchasing, Warehousing, Financial, Human Resources, and Fleet Maintenance for the fourth largest City's Public Works & Engineering area. Paul has over 25 years of experience in the information technology and business practices both in the private(Shell, Chevron, others) and public sectors. His expertise is within all facets of IT including project management, application development, data base administration, vendor administration, network, and 24x7 customer help desk support and staffing. Paul's background also covers international operations, cost control, SCADA, environmental, health and safety and ISO standards.
 

*CIO PANELIST*
Richard (Rich) Gius
Vice President & Chief Information Officer
Atmos Energy Corporation
Richard (Rich) Gius is Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Atmos Energy Corporation.  Rich joined Atmos in October of 2007 as a CIO and corporate officer.  He is responsible for leading Atmos' enterprise-wide information technology strategy, architecture, project delivery and operations execution, focusing on many of the company’s strategic initiatives including service excellence and operational effectiveness.  Prior to joining Atmos, Rich spent more than two decades at Cardinal Health, rising through various positions of increasing responsibility.  In 2003, he was named by Computerworld Magazine as a Premier 100 IT Leader, recognizing IT leaders who have applied information technology in effective, creative and innovative ways to advance their organization's strategy. 

Under Rich’s leadership, Cardinal Health's ValueLink business application was recognized in 1997 by CIO Magazine's Application Hall of Fame as one of the 12 most influential business applications of the past decade, and its SAP ERP and CRM implementations were honored as a 1999 national finalist for the Computerworld Smithsonian Business Technology Award.  Before joining Cardinal Health, he held positions in both marketing and technology at Boise Cascade Corporation from 1979 to 1982.  Rich earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from Northern Illinois University and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago.  Rich serves on the University of North Texas’ Information Technology & Decision Sciences Advisory Board, Oklahoma University’s Center for Management Information Systems Studies Executive Committee, American Gas Association Technology Advisory Council, and AT&T Mobility Customer Guidance Council.  Rich is also a former member of the board of directors of the Health Industry Business Communications Council, which is an ANSI-accredited standards development organization for information technology standards in the healthcare industry, and MediClick, Inc., which is a provider of materials management, as well as financial ASP-based solutions, for hospitals and large integrated delivery networks.

About Atmos Energy: Atmos Energy Corporation, headquartered in Dallas, is the country's largest natural-gas-only distributor, serving about 3.2 million gas utility customers. Atmos Energy's utility operations serve more than 1,600 communities in 12 states from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the East to the Rocky Mountains in the West. Atmos Energy's non-utility operations, organized under Atmos Energy Holdings, Inc., operate in 22 states. They provide natural gas marketing and procurement services to industrial, commercial and municipal customers and manage company-owned natural gas pipeline and storage assets, including one of the largest intrastate natural gas pipelines in Texas. Atmos Energy is a Fortune 500 company. For more information, visit www.atmosenergy.com.

*CIO PANELIST*
Keith Thode
COO & CTO
The Aidmatrix Foundation
Keith Thode leads the daily operations of Aidmatrix, after serving in consulting and leadership roles in major technology firms like Accenture and i2 Technologies. As COO he governs business development, technology research and production, constituent relations, marketing and development, programming and systems management. He has been a founding force, building Aidmatrix since its foundation in 2001.  Thode began his career with four years at Andersen Consulting, implementing enterprise systems for clients such as Georgia Pacific, Delta Air Lines and Mando Machinery (Republic of Korea). Later, he worked for Enterprise Resource Planning technology leader Baan Company, eventually becoming the firm’s Consulting Director for the Western U.S. While at Baan, Keith led the implementation team, bringing to market Baan’s B2B/e-commerce products. As Consulting Delivery Director for i2 Technology’s 2Source program, he led the implementation of Supplier Relationship Management products through a partnership with EDS and AT Kearney.  He holds a Suma Cum Laude masters degree in Industrial Distribution from Texas A&M University and a bachelor of science in Economics and Organizational Development from Vanderbilt University. In addition to his work with Aidmatrix, Thode serves on several boards and holds officer capacities in other nonprofit organizations including 121 Community Church, NPower Texas and The European Committee of Young Life International.  He is lead-author on the article “Manufacture-for-Donation: Driving Bottom-Line Performance Through Contributions to Run Strategy Optimization,” published in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing. Thode is also a frequent speaker at nonprofit industry conferences.

Tom Rodenbaugh
Technology Director, 1st Global
Tom Rodenbaugh is the Technology Director for 1st Global, Inc, the leading Wealth Management Partner to the CPA industry.  Tom has 20+ years experience in Information Technology with extensive knowledge in application engineering, desktop automation and large scale server and network deployments.  Tom is responsible for all aspects of IT at 1st Global in addition to Security, Risk Management and Business Continuity Planning for the corporation.  Prior to his joining 1st Global in 2000, Tom held various technology positions over 11 years at American Airlines and Sabre where he was responsible for the deployment of desktop and automation technologies to systems worldwide.   Tom has a BS in Computer Science from Kansas State University.

*CIO PANELIST*
Van Williams
Group CTO and SVP of Technology
Depository Institution Services Group
Fiserv, Inc.
Van Williams is the Group CTO for the Depository Institutions Group of Fiserv, Inc. In this role, Williams oversees the strategic direction and execution of information technology development for Fiserv’s largest division, which provides financial electronic commerce solutions for banks and other consumer service providers, billers and merchants.  Williams began his Fiserv career with the Atlanta-based CheckFree Corporation in 1990. Williams held a number of leadership positions within that organization, which was acquired by Fiserv late in 2007. During his tenure, Williams has been instrumental in setting the development strategy for electronic bill payment products and has been named on several patent-pending technology solutions in support of online bill payment offerings. Williams was also responsible for the creation of a cross-functional team supporting one of the company’s largest clients, and has overseen initiatives resulting in dramatic customer satisfaction improvements.
Prior to joining Fiserv, Williams served in a number of technical positions in the Financial Services and Insurance industries.
Williams holds a B.S. in Computer Management from Eastern Illinois University.
 

*CIO PANELIST*
Doug Haugh
Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer
Mansfield Oil Company
Doug has worked in the energy and technology industries for the past 15 years. A chemical engineer by trade, Doug began his career in the industry with Exxon in marketing and business development, eventually leading business development activities for lubricant and specialty products across the Western U.S.   Doug currently serves as the Executive Vice President and CIO of Mansfield Oil Company, a nationwide provider of fuel supply, distribution logistics, and delivery services. With over $5 billion in sales in 2008, Mansfield was ranked by Forbes as the 66th largest private company in America. A serial entrepreneur, Doug also serves on the Board of BioBlend Renewable Resources.  Previously, Doug co-founded FuelQuest Inc. FuelQuest provides supply chain management and tax automation solutions across the downstream energy industry with over 750 world class clients including, Wal-Mart, Shell, 7-Eleven, UPS, and ExxonMobil. Doug and his co-founder Rich Cilento were awarded Ernst & Young’s prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year award for Energy Technology in 2006.  Prior to founding FuelQuest, Doug led a fuels and lubricants distribution business with ten bulk plants and wholesale distribution warehouses across Texas, growing company revenues from $25 to $55 million in less than three years. Doug has written and published numerous articles and is a knowledgeable and popular speaker at such industry events as: NACS, SIGMA, OPIS, ILTA, ILMA, PMAA.
 

*CIO PANELIST*
Noni Gonzalez
AVP Corporate Systems Mobility
AT&T
Noni Gonzalez joined AT&T in 2004, where she successfully managed the merger of AT&T wireless with Cingular. Now, a member of the AT&T Corporate Systems team, she has responsibility for the delivery of applications across the back office for the wireless business, including Supply Chain, Human Resources, Payroll, Supply Chain ,Financial applications, Tax, Corporate Systems and Enterprise Reporting and Financial Reporting.  As a seasoned executive, Ms. Gonzalez spent nine years at Oracle Corporation as a Senior Director and then Vice President of Consulting Services. Prior to that, she managed the implementation of outsourced business process management services for Automatic Data Processing, Inc. She serves her community through a number of organizations including Junior Achievement and Community of Hispanic American Professionals. She was recognized as the 2007 Phenomenal Woman of the year and is a multi year Woman of the Year finalist for Women in Technology. She has also been selected for the 2008 Atlanta Telecom Professional of the Year award.

Noni's organization is responsible for the complete back office functions for the Wireless business for ATT (formerly Cingular Wireless), including all financial operations (General ledger, Fixed Assets, CIP projects, Network asset life cycle management, financial reporting, all Handset Device and Network Supply chain systems, Reverse logistics, warehouses, planning, purchasing, tax , Revenue Accounting, and document storage).  The team also supports the largest network supply chain in North America, managing over 45,000 cell towers and about 3,000 new cell-tower construction projects each year. (1) The division handles all GAAP reporting for the company's wireless business, totaling about $40 billion in revenue, and supports a procurement platform that services all of the wireless business units, processing $32.4 billion in payments. Finally, the department supports the back-office infrastructure for the entire mobility business, including taxes, human resources and payroll.  Noni Gonzalez is responsible for the day to day operations of the Wireless business back office infrastructure and system operations including Supply chain system, Financial, Tax, Warehousing, Purchasing, Planning and workflow systems. In 2005 - 2006, she led the entire back office integration of Cingular and at&t wireless, enabling one of the largest distribution platforms in the US. The Distribution model includes over 2200 Company Owned stores, full automation with all the large National Retailers including Walmart, Costco, Target, Toys are Us, CVS and others, over 2000 agents, and a direct to consumer model. This back office platform enabled ATT to seamlessly roll out the Iphone in record time.
 

*CIO PANELIST*
Nick Grecco
Senior Vice President IT and Infrastructure
Ceridian
Nick Grecco was named Senior Vice President of Global Infrastructure of Ceridian Corporation in July 2007. Grecco oversees data center operations, network services, transmission services, workplace services and security and risk operations for internal and external customers. Earlier positions include Chief Information Officer of AIG Auto, Vice President of Technology at S1 Corporation and Senior Vice President of Technology at Bank of America. Grecco brings over 21 years of technology, infrastructure and business management expertise to Ceridian.  Grecco received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Computer Information Systems from Hofstra University.

Andres E. Carvallo
Chief Information Officer
Austin Energy
Andres is currently the Chief Information Officer at Austin Energy, where he is responsible for the technology vision, planning, development and operations across the enterprise. Since February of 2003, Andres has been driving a wireless and SOA transformation to deliver a fully-integrated and self-healing enterprise. The current direction for the company is to deliver the first smart grid in the world by 2009. In addition to his responsibilities as CIO, Andres is member of the 8 person executive team, and member of the Innovation and Opportunity Development executive board. Outside of Austin Energy, Andres is Chairman for the Large Public Power Companies’ CIO Task Force, a board member of the Center for Commercialization of Electric Technologies and an advisor to several companies.

Andres is a requested speaker on CleanTech, Smart Grid, SOA, Wireless, and Running IT as a Business. He is co-author of Information Technology Leadership and CTO Best Practices Collection. And he is an honoree to many awards, including IT Executive of the Year by the Association of Information Technology Professionals in 2005, Premier 100 IT Leader by Computerworld in 2006, Best in Class of Premier 100 by Computerworld in 2006, CIO 100 Award by CIO Magazine in 2006, InformationWeek 500 by InformationWeek Magazine in 2007, and Computerworld’s Top 12 Green IT Companies in 2008.

Andres has over 22 years of experience and great knowledge of the Energy, Software, Computer, and Wireless industries. Prior to Austin Energy, he held key titles at four start-ups and large companies like Philips Electronics, Digital Equipment Corporation, and Microsoft. Andres received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kansas, and has completed executive management programs at Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania

Austin Energy is the 9th largest public power utility in the nation providing low cost reliable power to the capitol city of Texas and metro area, with annual revenues over $1 billion servicing 400,000 premises representing around 41,000 businesses and 1 million consumers. Austin Energy is also recognized as an industry leader in conservation and renewable energy offering the most comprehensive residential and commercial energy efficiency programs in the nation; active in the use and management of distributed generation by operating the first fuel cell in Texas tied directly to the electric grid and the largest module combined heat and power plant in the nation, and using the best solutions for information technology and telecommunications to deliver the first smart grid in the world by Q1 2009.   [See video soundbite]
 

Russ Finney
Vice President of Information Systems
Tokyo Electron U.S. Holdings, Inc. (www.tel.com) 
Russ Finney has spent fourteen years as the Vice President & CIO of the US operations of Tokyo Electron, one of the world's largest semiconductor production equipment manufacturers. Russ currently serves on the high tech advisory board of the Austin Chamber of Commerce's AusTech Alliance. He has also served on the board of the Austin Technology Council. In the past, he served on the National Board of Directors of AITP, and he has been president of both the Houston and Austin AITP Chapters. In 2006, he was named "Austin IT Executive of the Year" by his peers at the annual central Texas Innotech technology conference. Before Tokyo Electron, Russ was an IT Consultant with Ernst & Young.  Russ is often quoted in publications such as Computerworld and CIO Magazine.  He is also a frequent industry speaker all over the world and he often gives guest lectures in a university setting. Many of Tokyo Electron's projects have been noted in industry white papers, and one e-commerce project was the basis of a Harvard Business School case study. Russ is a graduate of Oklahoma State University.    As a leading global supplier of semiconductor production equipment, Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL) engages in development, manufacturing, and sales in a wide range of product fields. The company also leverages specialized technologies developed for the semiconductor production equipment market to engage in the area of flat panel display (FPD) production equipment. All of TEL's semiconductor and FPD production equipment product lines maintain high market shares in their respective global segments. TEL provides outstanding products and services to customers through a global network of approximately 90 locations in 12 countries in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.  [See Video Soundbite]
 

Robert M. Jackson
VP & CIO
EZCORP (www.EZCorp.com)
Mr. Jackson joined EZCORP as Vice President & Chief Information Officer in May 2004. He was Chief Information Officer at DuPont Photomasks, Inc. from 1997 to 2004 and served as Controller from 1995 to 1996. Prior to 1995, Mr. Jackson held senior financial leadership positions in the U.S. and South America at E. I. DuPont de Nemours.

Allan Skov
Former VP of IT
DCP / Duke Energy
Allan is a CIO with more than 20 years experience in the energy industry in Canada and the United States.  Most recently, Allan was with Duke Energy where he was the Vice President Information Technology of  Duke’s $10 billion joint venture with ConocoPhillips in Denver.  Allan holds a Bachelor of Commerce and MBA from the University of Windsor in Canada.  Allan enjoys spending time with his wife and teenage daughter, skiing, golf, hockey, writing and supporting a number of community activities.  [See video soundbite]
 

Brian Trudeau
CIO
Amerex Energy
Brian Trudeau is the Chief Information Officer for Amerex Brokers LLC (a wholly owned subsidiary of GFI Group, Inc.).  Brian has over 17 years of corporate computing experience.   He has worked in regulated industries such as nuclear and pharmaceutical.  The last 7 years Brian has worked on improving corporate computing and energy trading systems at Amerex.  Recently, he has moved their infrastructure to primarily a virtual server environment and managed the build out of an entire disaster recovery site for Amerex.  This approach has saved the company money and reduced the energy consumption footprint dramatically.  Brian specializes in server virtualization, storage area networks, disaster recovery and BCP, and building TDM and IP networks.  Brian has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington in Electrical Engineering.
 

Robert Myles
CISO
Texas Health Resources (www.texashealth.org)
In the relatively new world of IT security, Robert Myles is a veteran, with over two decades of experience and two current industry certifications and numerous affiliations. He began his career as a health services technician with the US Coast Guard, where he first saw technology’s potential to enable clinicians to focus on patient care rather than the “business” of healthcare. The computerized pharmacy inventory management solution he developed saved his department many thousands of dollars of time and materials.  While in the Coast Guard, Mr. Myles also gained significant security and law enforcement experience, including a Federal Secret-level security clearance while managing the classified material program for his Coast Guard units. Upon leaving the Coast Guard he continued to build on his mix of healthcare, computing and security experience in positions of increasing responsibility and scope with employment at Southwest Washington Medical Center, Oregon Health and Science University, Parkland Health and Hospital System and Fisher Investments. He came to Texas Health Resources in 2007 as Director, Information Security/Systems Information Security Officer.  Mr. Myles has a Business Management and Communications Degree from Concordia University.   [See video soundbite]
 

Drew Mansell, PMP
Director, Information Technology
Overhead Door Corporation (www.overheaddoor.com)
Drew Mansell is a twenty-six year veteran in the information technology field designing, implementing and maintaining software applications throughout his IT career. Drew has managed many IT projects and in 2004 earned his PMP certification from PMI. For sixteen years Drew maintained a software consulting company with engagements from managing IT operations to delivering business software solutions. Before joining Overhead Door Corporation, he consulted with Overhead Door Corporation for four years during that time introduced and expanded the application team to solve business problems using web deployed business solutions. In 2002 joined the ODC team as the Strategic Application Manager, a year later Drew was promoted to the Director of IT as part of the executive team he is responsible for the Company's information technology activities.
 

Robert Clines
CIO
Dallas County
Robert Clines has 19 years experience working for DOD Contractors in mechanical engineering using Computer Aided Design and Modeling.  He Migrated from a user role to a support role which morphed into support of Computer labs and data centers.  His experience includes 2 Years with Flying J Inc. in charge of the Mainframe Application Development in support of Oil and Gas exploration, refining and distribution, 1 Year with FirstPlus Financial as VP of IT Operations supporting the home loan industry, and 6 years with Excel Communications and Vartec Telecom as the Director of IT Operations.  At Excel, he stabilized their existing data center, built a new data center and migrated all production from the old to the new data center.  Robert established five nines operation in support of telecom provisioning and billing.  Currently, Robert has been 4 years with Dallas County as Chief Information Officer.  Prior to his tenure, IT was Outsourced since 1992.  The Outsourcing contract had gone through 4 different vendors and as a result the critical IT infrastructure of the County was in shambles.  They have rebuilt the infrastructure based on industry accepted standards and developed/refined their policies and practices to create a “Repeatable, Predictable and Reliable” IT environment.   They have worked hard to regain the trust of the user community by providing superior Customer Service and consistent support.   [See video soundbite]
 

Greg McKown
Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer
COMFORT SYSTEMS USA (www.comfortsystemsusa.com) 
Greg McKown, Vice President and Chief Information Officer, is responsible for the Company's information technology activities. Mr. McKown's experience includes 3 years as CEO of Hostcentric, a managed hosting company, and 13 years as the Chief Executive at Maxim Computer Systems, a local and wide area networking provider which reached the Inc 500's list of fastest growing private companies in 1997. He started his information technology career at Harris Corporation where he held both field engineering and sales positions.
 

Gordon Quan, Esq.
Founder & Managing Partner
Quan, Burdette and Perez, P.C. (www.quanlaw.com)  
Gordon Quan has had a long history of community activism. Thee first Asian American elected citywide to the Houston City Council and first to serve as Mayor Pro Tem, Gordon believes each person can make a difference. Born in China but raised in Houston, Gordon was a founding member of the Asian American Bar Association of Houston and the Asian American Coalition. He has served in leadership positions with several organizations – President, Houston Foundation; President, East Downtown Tax Increment Redevelopment Zone; Chair, Blue Ribbon Commission to End Chronic Homelessness in Houston; Chair, Plan for Affordable Housing in Houston; President, Asian American Democrats of Texas; President, Asian Pacific American Municipal Official of the National League of Cities.

Professionally, Gordon is the founder and managing partner of Quan, Burdette and Perez, P.C., one of the largest and most respected U.S. immigration law firms in America with offices in Houston, San Antonio, The Rio Grand Valley and Mexico City. He has been selected for Best Lawyers in America, Texas Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in Houston, and is AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell. Gordon continues his community service as a member of the board of directors of the Coalition for the Homeless (Houston), the South Texas College of Law, Catholic Charities, and Neighborhood Center, Inc. He also chairs the Asian Chamber of Commerce and is Vice-chair of the Asia Society, Texas Center. Gordon has been recognized as a “Trailblazer” by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, “Spirit of America” by the National Chinese American Citizen Alliance, a “Bridge Builder” by the Masons Society (the highest honor given to a non-Mason), “Friend of the Homeless” by the Coalition for the Homeless, “Councilmember of the Year” by the Houston Police Officers Union, a “Voice for Children” by Children at Risk among many others. Mr. Quan earned degrees from the University of Texas (B.A. 1970), the University of Houston (M.Ed. 1973) and the South Texas College of Law (J.D. 1977). Above all, Gordon Quan has always been a person who cares deeply about others and has tried to make life better for all. Married to the former Sylvia Lau for more than 30 years, they are the parents of three daughters, Caroline and husband Patrick Long, Kristen and husband Hunter Hammill, Katherine and grand-daughter Victoria Long.   [See video soundbite]
 

Diane Kenyon
Senior Vice President of Information Technology
Harden Healthcare
Diane is the Sr VP of IT for Harden Healthcare in Austin, Texas. Prior to Harden's acquisition of Girling Health Care, Inc, Diane served as the IT Director for Girling for 14 years. Diane previously held a management position at Gerber Alley. Diane has 18 years of information technology management experience in the healthcare field. She has her Computer Technology degree from Purdue University and her MBA from Kennesaw State University. Diane is an active member of HIMSS, the Austin Technology Council, the Austin Innotech Advisory Council, McKesson Home Care Advisory Council, Texas Medicaid Claims Management Council, VCPI Client Advisory Board and the Advisory Council to the South Austin Physician Co-op RHIO initiative.   [See video soundbite]
 

Dr. Jim Weatherby
Director of Information Systems
Texas Legislative Council
James L. “Jim” Weatherby was born and raised in Dallas, Texas and attended Texas A&M University where he obtained a BA in mathematics in 1964 and an MS in economics in 1966. After Texas A&M, he enrolled at the University of Minnesota to pursue a Ph.D. degree in economics that he received in 1970 at which time he joined the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin as an Assistant Professor. While at UT, he pioneered several techniques in the area of Computer Assisted Instruction as well as managed the transition from an “IBM card” computer environment to a remote real time computer environment. He left the University of Texas in 1976 and with a colleague founded a consulting business, Southwest Econometrics, Inc. where he specialized in the implementation of empirical models of client processes. In 1985 he sold his interest in Southwest Econometrics and joined Hart Graphics at their Director of Information Services. He was promoted to Vice President of Information Services and in this capacity he designed and directed the implementation of a real time shop floor tracking and scheduling system and implemented decentralized computing company wide. In 1989 he was appointed the founding President of Hart Forms & Services. He led the company through changes associated with the collapse of the savings and loan industry in Texas and California, the acquisition of a major distributor, the redefinition of its manufacturing unit, and conceived and implemented an image change of the company to the digital age. He left Hart in 1997 to again pursue an independent consultant practice. In this practice, he worked for numerous Austin area organizations on assignments ranging from design of electronic printing systems to geographic market definition. He joined the Texas Legislative Council in June of 1998 and since that time has made significant contributions in in the areas of customer service and organizational effectiveness. Among these are being recognized twice in a one year period by the Senate of the State of Texas for exemplary customer service and receiving multiple awards for the public web site for the legislature (www.legis.state.tx.us) most recently the Online Democracy Award given by the National Council of State Legislatures. In November of 2007, Dr. Weatherby was recognized as Austin’s IT Executive of the Year for the Public Sector for his leadership role in the migration of over 60 applications from a mainframe-centric environment to a server-based environment. In addition to his duties at the Legislative Council, over the past several years he has taught at UT’s LBJ School of Public Affairs, St. Edward’s and Concordia.   [See video soundbite]
 

DAVID FINN, CISA, CISM
Vice President & CIO Privacy/Information Security Officer
Texas Children’s Hospital (http://www.texaschildrens.org)
David has been involved in the planning, management and control of information technology and business processes for more than 27 years. Currently Mr. Finn is the Chief Information Officer for the largest pediatric Integrated Delivery System in the U.S. In addition to responsibility for all traditional information technology (hardware, software, networking, telephony, application support and other technical infrastructure) he is also responsible for Biomedical Engineering and Television Services including the Center for Telehealth. Mr. Finn is focused on using technology as an enabler of operating efficiency and deriving business value through the optimization and control of technology.  David has been leading top performance IT departments by delivering best practices in IT Governance and Control, Project Management Office, Systems Selection & Implementation, Business and IT Partnering, and IT Audit, Control and Security.  David has a Mater's degree from Angelo State University.    [See video soundbite]
 

KC Condit
CISO/Governance Officer
Rent A Center (www.RentACenter.com)
KC Condit has spent the last 21 years of his professional life in a wide variety of assignments dealing with regulatory compliance and security. As the Financial Aid Administrator and Dean of Students for a Dallas-based culinary, KC played a critical role in gaining and maintaining Federal funding for his school, as well as securing its accreditation at the national level. Since 1997, KC had devoted his time to helping Rent-A-Center, Inc. become the leader in the U.S. rent-to-own market. KC now serves as Director of Information Security for Rent-A-Center in its Plano, Texas headquarters. His current duties include regulatory compliance, data security, litigation support, forensic investigations, enterprise architecture, and field support. In 2007, KC was named as one of Computerworld magazine’s “Premier 100” I.T. Leaders.

Gary Gumbert
CIO
Texas Health and Human Services Commission
As Chief Information Officer (CIO for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, Gary Gumbert is leading the consolidation of information technology services for the state’s five health and human services agencies. This effort involves transforming 12 separate information technology divisions into a coordinated management model serving five new agencies with 46,000 employees in more than 1,200 locations. This new, consolidated system provides the technology backbone needed to deliver services to more than 4 million Texans each month. As the leader of the Health and Human Services Commission Enterprise Information Technology Division, Mr. Gumbert is responsible for setting enterprise information technology strategy and standards, as well as supporting enterprise applications and infrastructure. His focus is on the delivery of cost-effective, customer-focused IT solutions.  Before working for the State of Texas, Mr. Gumbert spent time directing and managing complex information systems in both the public and private sector. Mr. Gumbert is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and earned his Master of Science degree from the University of Southern California. After graduating from the Academy, he served as a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force for 20 years.
 

Gary Buonacorsi
CIO
Attorney General of Texas
Gary has worked in both the private and public sectors of the ever-growing and challenging field of information technology. He is currently the CIO for the Texas Office of the Attorney General. His responsibilities include agency-wide strategic and tactical planning, development of all technology systems, and oversees all aspects of IT operations. Most recently, Gary worked at the Department of Information Technology where he served as the Chief Technical Officer for the State of Nevada. Prior to that post, he was the CIO for Nevada’s Division of Welfare.  His private sector experience includes IT management positions at Merck-Medco pharmaceuticals and Taylor Corporation. He holds a Bachelors degree in Management Information Systems and a Masters degree in Business Administration. Among a long list of accomplishments, he deployed a state-wide enterprise single sign on and identity management solution, orchestrated a fiscal turnaround for one of the largest Information Technology departments in the State of Nevada, and successfully instituted numerous process improvement initiatives to increase customer satisfaction.
 

Nathan O. Langston
National Director, Administration
Boy Scouts of America

Nate has over 25 years in the information technology field. He joined Boy Scouts of America in 2000 as Director of the Information Systems Division. He has been serving as National Director of the Administration Group since April 2006. Nate’s  career in Scouting began over 15 years ago as a volunteer Webelos leader. Nate has also served as Scoutmaster and committee chairman and has been on three Philmont treks as an adult advisor.   Before joining the National Council, Nate’s career experience included 16 years with Conoco Oil in Oklahoma and Texas, and overseas in Dubai and Norway. He also worked as a senior project director for Oracle leading teams in major systems implementation for the State of Oklahoma, the New Orleans School Board, and the State of Michigan. Nate received his Bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Oklahoma Christian University and his Masters in computer science from Oklahoma State University.  Nate and his wife, Jamie, have four children; two sons—both Eagle Scouts—and two Venturing daughters. Nate enjoys running, scuba diving, and playing golf.

Lewis Watkins
Chief Information Security Officer
The University of Texas System
Lewis Watkins is Chief Information Security Officer for The University of Texas System. He is responsible for providing leadership and direction for and implementation of an information security action plan that encompasses the system's nine academic and six health institutions.

Prior to his current assignment, he served as Director of Information Resources for the University of Texas System Administration. As such he was responsible for the operational aspects of information technology within the organization including user and network support, records and document management, systems development, and IT security. Mr. Watkins served on the U. T. System Administration Compliance Committee for eight years.

Prior to joining the U.T. System Administration, Mr. Watkins was Manager of Data Processing for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas with oversight responsibility for all IT operations and applications development. In addition, he has held a number of positions at the U. T. Austin campus. Mr. Watkins holds a B.S. of Ed. degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and a M.Ed. from the University of Alaska. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).   [See video soundbite]

 

Brad Harslem
Chief Information Officer
Former CIO of Coach America
Techxans Dallas Chapter CIO Chair
Brad has been the CIO for three DFW based companies:  Coach America, Concentra and Greyhound Lines.  He most recently held the CIO position at Coach America which is a leading provider of ground transportation services.  Coach was a private equity startup company when Brad joined in 2003 and grew to $400 million in revenue before it was sold last year.  Brad had the unique opportunity to create an entire IT infrastructure from data center to network to application portfolio all of which had to be highly scalable to support the acquisition driven growth model.  He spent the first 17 years of his career at American Airlines in Marketing and in the Sabre division where he was VP of Operations and Applications Development. Brad holds a BS from Cornell’s Engineering College and an MBA from New York University’s Stern Business School.  He was the Keynote Speaker at the 1996 Information Week 500 Conference and served on the Information Week Magazine, Editorial Advisory Board from 1996-1998.  
 

Rick Shasteen (venue host)
Silver Eagle Distributors (www.seabud.com)  
Director of Information Technology in San Antonio
Silver Eagle Distributors, L.P., a $750 million wholesale beer distributor for the Anheuser-Busch family of beers and partner brands employing more than 1,200 people throughout Southeast and South Texas. Richard has over 20 years in the information technology field. He joined Silver Eagle in 1998 as Manager of the Information Systems. Before joining the Silver Eagle, Richard’s career experience included 8 years with Alamo Data Systems in San Antonio, responsible for the city of San Antonio, city of Houston, Travis County and Bexar County, and six years with Marmon and Mok Architects and Engineers, responsible for all technology as well as lead engineer on the Alamo Dome project. He also was responsible for several school districts in the surrounding area of San Antonio. Richard received several certifications including CNE, MCSE, CCNA and CNA. [See video soundbite]

John F. Petrie III, MBA, CISSP, CISM, CHS-III, CBM
Chief Information Security Officer
Harland Clarke

Mr. Petrie is a 26 year seasoned Technologist and Information Security Professional with solid senior management experience in the Manufacturing, Financial Services, Defense, Technology Consulting, Telecommunications, and Academic Healthcare industries. As the Chief Information Security Officer for Harland Clarke, he leads the Information Security Office and manages the Corporate Information Security Program (ISP), which supports check manufacturing and check-related services, contact center services and direct response marketing solutions as well as 6000 knowledge workers. Mr. Petrie’s responsibilities include: information security strategy; information security policy development; risk management, analysis and mitigation; computer incident management; security monitoring; business impact analysis; business continuity and disaster recovery; technology analysis and review; training and awareness; and enterprise information security operations.

Prior to Harland Clarke, Mr. Petrie was the Chief Information Security Officer for the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio responsible for the Institutions’ Information Security Program. He has held various positions in the information technology and information security industry including, senior project manager, senior systems security engineer, general manager, director, and principal consultant. Mr. Petrie received an MBA in Information Systems from City University, a Bachelors of Science in Liberal Arts from the University of the State of New York, and is a graduate of the Defense Intelligence College in Washington D.C. He holds multiple industry certifications including Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified Homeland Security-Level III (CHS-III), and Certified Business Manager (CBM). Mr. Petrie is a member of several associations and organizations including the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X9F, Computer Security Institute, Information Systems Security Association, Information Systems Audit and Control Association, the American Management Association, the Association of Professionals in Business Management, and is the Past Treasurer Member of the Northeast Independent School District Career and Technology Advisory Council.   [See video soundbite]
 

Colby Springer, Former CIO
ClubCorp
Mr. Springer has been a member of the technology industry for 30+ years.  He has been a senior technology leader at such companies as Pearle Vision, Blockbuster Entertainment, Michael Stores and ClubCorp.  In this time Mr. Springer has been a participant and leader in these company’s growth and the strategic use of technology to further their goals.  His focus is on leading a business through transformation and growth while translating business strategy into an IT strategy and then executing and measuring progress in delivering that strategy. He has built high performance IT teams that are recognized for delivering uncompromised operations focusing on the basic principles of customer driven service, seamless and consistent delivery of services, and increased efficiency and effectiveness.  Colby obtained a Bachelor of Science in Engineering and Computer Science from UCLA and a Master of Science in Business Administration and Quantitative Methods from California State University, Northridge. He is a member of the Dallas chapters of the Society for Information Management (SIM), the Technology Executive Networking Group (TENG) and CEO Netweavers.

Paul Valdez
Former CIO, Cemex
Former CTO, City of Houston's Public Works & Engineering
Paul is the the current President of the Houston Chapter of the Society for Information Management. SIM is the premier Senior IT leadership and is a community of thought leaders who share experiences and rich intellectual capital, and who explore future IT direction. Paul past position was the CEMEX's US Head of IT Operations. He led a skilled IT Team that managed the functions of Data Center operations, ITIL, network/telecommunications, systems and network engineering, and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance in conjunction with Mexico and other global manufacturing and administrative sites. This included IT integration efforts for the recent $14.3 billion acquisition of Australia's Rinker Group Ltd. which positioned CEMEX as the global market leader in the building materials industry. Cemex has operations in 52 countries and is continuing to expand their operations. He previously was the Chief Technology Officer(CTO) for the City of Houston's Public Works & Engineering area. As CTO, the IT team provided customer support in the areas of Engineering, Construction, Water, WasteWater, Traffic, Transportation, Right-of-Way, Purchasing, Warehousing, Financial, Human Resources, and Fleet Maintenance for the fourth largest City's Public Works & Engineering area. Paul has over 25 years of experience in the information technology and business practices both in the private(Shell, Chevron, others) and public sectors. His expertise is within all facets of IT including project management, application development, data base administration, vendor administration, network, and 24x7 customer help desk support and staffing. Paul's background also covers international operations, cost control, SCADA, environmental, health and safety and ISO standards.

David Yavorsky, Chairman of TENG
Technical Executives Network for CIOs
Former CIO of First American Mortgage Information Services
A former CIO of First American Mortgage Information Services, David is a senior level executive with extensive experience spearheading the alignment of technical resources with strategic business initiatives. Mr. Yavorsky gained his expertise in technology architecture and integration, relationship and staff management, budget development, vendor/contract negotiations and formulating financial/strategic plans during his successful career in several leadership roles. Specifically, Mr. Yavorsky directed and managed the Information Technology group for First American Mortgage Information Group as Chief Information Officer. Mr. Yavorsky consolidated data center operations to reduce operating costs and improve accountability in addition, he outsourced software development for specific, strategic systems to improve speed to market and reduce costs.   Prior to being CIO, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of First American Real Estate Tax Services after his role of Executive Vice President of Operations. As an entrepreneurial and visionary leader he accomplished strategic planning, process improvement, and reengineering of key business processes. He is a skilled communicator, team builder and negotiator who maximizes efficiencies and productivity through boosting employee morale and performance. His assertive, bottom line approach consistently produced quick yet long term, favorable results in each of the positions he has held. He is a decisive but flexible professional who leads by example, has excellent communication skills, and is a poised, results-oriented individual capable of making significant and continuing contributions.  In addition to his many business accomplishments, Mr. Yavorsky holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Administration from The Pennsylvania State University.
 

Steven Ramirez
Project Manager of IT Business Systems
EPCO, Inc. (www.Eprod.com)
Steven Ramirez serves as Project Manager of IT Business Systems for EPCO, Inc.  EPCO, Inc. and its affiliates own significant equity interests in five publicly traded partnerships with a combined enterprise value of approximately $48 billion. The EPCO family of partnerships comprises one of North America’s largest midstream energy networks, providing a variety of services to producers and consumers of natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil, refined products, liquefied petroleum gases and petrochemicals.  In this role he manages IT projects related to business application implementations, cross-functional business interfaces and IT/business process improvements.  Steven received a BBA in Finance from the University of Houston and an MBA in Management information Systems from the University of St. Thomas.  Steven is a certified PMP and is active with Houston’s local chapter of PMI.  Steven’s previous positions have included Manager of Procurement, Assoc. Director of Business Forms Management, and Management Consultant all with American General Companies.  Steven currently live in the Houston Heights with his wife Virginia and daughters Maggie and Hallie.
 

Charles L. McGuire "Lynn"
Chief Information Officer
Andrews Kurth ( www.andrewskurth.com)
Lynn is responsible for all aspects of Information Technology for this international law firm including Help Desk, PC Techs, Network Services and Infrastructure, Application Development, PMO, and Training. While at Andrews Kurth, Lynn has accomplished the following: Created complete Disaster Recovery manual and procedures along with redundancy for the firm to ensure continued operations should a disaster impact our primary data center on key systems. His efforts allowed Andrews Kurth to lead the legal industry in both staffing ratios and IT to gross revenue while improving quality and delivery of IT services. Rebuilding the team for all departments while consolidating six different and disparate operating systems into one supportable environment on Windows and Intel based platforms. This involved migration of the firm’s GroupWise system to MS Exchange and Active Directory across all US offices. Managed the conversion of the document management system from SoftSolutions to iManage, developed change control procedures for servers and applications along with consistent user communications and notices regarding IT activities, and implemented a model office for staging development and moves to the production environment. Created a Project Management Office concept to promote project consistency and reporting not only in IT but across multiple departments within the firm. Lynn successfully integrated IT departments and multiple locations of a merger of equal firms to a single entity while maintaining operational integrity and continued delivery of legal services to clients. Prior to working at Andrews Kurth, Lynn worked in a variety of senior and executive IT roles at EDS and Perot Systems. PUBLICATIONS: Author, "Moving 100,000 E-Mails a Day: Andrews Kurth mounts a strong defense to help avoid e-mail outages" Law Firm Inc. (November 2004).
 

Todd Coury
Network Manager
Andrews Kurth ( www.andrewskurth.com)
Todd is responsible for ISS and DR initiatives in Andrews Kurth Law Firm. Todd Coury has more than 23 years of domestic and international experience in the information technology, engineering and construction fields, with nearly eighteen years in management and supervisory positions. He currently is network manager for Andrews Kurth LLP, an international law firm of more than 400 lawyers, where he manages the national IT department with 11 direct-report network engineers across the United States. Todd is responsible for all aspects IT infrastructure for the firm. Prior to joining Andrews Kurth, Todd spent 10 years with Petrocon Engineering, two of those overseas.  Andrews Kurth LLP is an international law firm with over 400 attorneys, has built its multidisciplinary practice on the belief that “straight talk is good business.” Real answers, clear vision and mutual respect permeate the firm’s success stories with clients, colleagues, communities and employees. With offices in Austin, Beijing, Dallas, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, The Woodlands and Washington, DC, Andrews Kurth represents an impressive list of global clients spanning multiple industries and areas of law.