2016 Knowledge Continuum ∞ Management of IT

This one-day executive program provided business leaders with a cutting-edge learning experience focused on the management of information technology. Participants were introduced to the latest approaches to cybersecurity, software delivery, artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data. Learning was accomplished through case studies, research reports, exercises, interactive classroom discussions, and networking with other participants (including alumni of the McIntire School).

2016 Knowledge Continuum – Agenda – May 13 2016

Overview & Introductions
Ryan Nelson, McIntire School of Commerce

Artificial Intelligence in the Enterprise/Demo: Machine Learning & Big Data
Stefano Grazioli and Jingjing Li, McIntire School of Commerce

For the first time in March, a computer program built by Google company AlphaGo beat the 18-time world champion in a series of five games of Go—repeating the success of IBM’s Deep Blue in chess and Watson in Jeopardy. These victories were no small feat from a technological standpoint and prompted commentators to refer to an “AI spring,” a renaissance of the technologies collectively known as artificial intelligence. Conversations about these innovation marvels often involve such concepts as “deep learning” and “unsupervised learning.” Professors Grazioli and Li clarified what these technological advances represent, their potential business value, as well as what new managerial challenges await us when the machine is smarter than we are.

Data Visualization
Jennifer Claggett, McIntire School of Commerce
The human eye can process an image in as little as 13 milliseconds. Data visualization provides a way to leverage that processing power to quickly and efficiently (1) communicate data lessons and (2) explore data sets to recognize patterns. As new visualization software tools emerge and large data sets become commonplace, (good) data visualization techniques become more and more important. In this segment, we discussed key aspects of data visualization, considered the key players in data visualization software, and analyzed examples to acquire data visualization “do’s and don’ts.”

New IT: DevOps, Micro Services, & More
Adam Burden, Accenture
This session focused on how modern software development practices have evolved to meet the demands of the digital enterprise. We learned how enterprises are responding to modernize their key systems by enabling new capabilities and leveraging automation from DevOps principles, using micro services, and “liquid” architectures. The session closed with a glimpse into the future of information technology.

Cybersecurity
Chris Porter, Fannie Mae
In this session, we reviewed current and new threats affecting enterprises globally. We also dived into new security models such as Google’s BeyondCorp, the new tools available to measure the security of third-party security, and how cloud adoption affects an enterprise’s security decisions.

Cybersecurity Case Study
On June 11, 2015, federal authorities informed the University of Virginia that cyberattackers had illegally accessed portions of UVA’s IT systems. Thus, was born “Project Phoenix,” an unplanned, nine-week cyber-attack remediation project with critical implications for the University and its many stakeholders. In this session, current students within the McIntire School’s M.S. in MIT Program presented the key findings and lessons learned from a complete retrospective of Project Phoenix, including recommendations applicable to any organization that is faced with a cyberattack.

Program Faculty and Panelists

Adam Burden (Engineering ’92) is Group Technology Officer and Global Lead for Emerging Technology Innovation for Accenture. In these roles, he is responsible for guiding the business development, delivery, thought leadership, and investments of Accenture’s software engineers, technical architects, and technology innovation personnel. Burden has been with Accenture for 24 years and specializes in contemporary systems delivery, fault-tolerant design, artificial intelligence, and application modernization.

Jennifer Claggett, Assistant Professor, has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in a variety of areas, but is especially interested in teaching topics related to managing data in today’s data intensive environments. Her primary research stream examines how information systems affect coordination, specifically in the health care context.

Stefano Grazioli, Associate Professor, Director of the M.S. in MIT Program, and Coordinator of the Enterprise Architecture module of the M.S. in MIT Program, has taught graduate and executive education courses both in Europe and in the United States since the early 1990s. His research interests focus on enterprise architectures, knowledge management, and information security. Stefano is a University of Virginia Teaching Award winner.

Jingjing Li, Assistant Professor, has taught several courses pertaining to data mining and business analytics, and received a teaching award for her “Business Intelligence” course at the Leeds School of Business. Her research interests relate to machine learning and big data analytics, with applications in information extraction, text mining, social media, search and relevance, and recommender systems.

Ryan Nelson, Professor, Associate Dean for the Undergraduate Program, Director of the Center for the Management of Information Technology, and Coordinator of the Project Management module of the M.S. in MIT Program, has taught in the McIntire School’s graduate and executive education programs since 1990. His research focuses on improving the management of IT projects and leverages a growing database of over 200 IT project retrospectives. Ryan is a University of Virginia Teaching Award winner.

Chris Porter (M.S. in MIT ’10) is the Deputy CISO for Fannie Mae. In this role, he helps to communicate the importance of information security across the enterprise and to mature and innovate Fannie Mae’s defense and response capabilities. His primary focuses are on cyber incident management, third-party risk management, threat detection and response, and vulnerability management. Porter has over 15 years of experience in IT and security industries. His background includes work as an economist, network and system administration, information security consultant, and researcher. In his previous role at Verizon, Porter was a lead analyst and author of Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report series. He was also the co-creator of the VERIS Framework (Vocabulary for Event Recording and Incident Sharing), which allows organizations to collect and report security incident metrics in a standard and repeatable manner. Porter has a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Psychology from the University of Virginia. He also earned his M.S. in the Management of Information Technology from the McIntire School.