The Future of the IT Unit ∞ November 4, 2011

Synopsis

Just as IT units are beginning to master IT run and build responsibilities, along comes the cloud. And that’s not all. Growing numbers of vendor partners and the widespread adoption of consumer technologies combine with the cloud to shift traditional IT unit responsibilities outside IT. Meanwhile, many IT units find that run and build no longer capture the real IT challenge. Now the challenge is to exploit. Reflecting this shift, many IT units are finding themselves part of shared services, business transformation, or business process organization. What does this mean for the future of the IT unit? What does it mean for the strategic use of IT in a digital economy? This session offered a lively discussion of research conducted at MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research that examined the evolving role of IT at firms like USAA, IBM, Credit Suisse, and TetraPak.

Speakers

Margaret E. ‘Lyn’ McDermid is senior vice president and chief information officer of Dominion Resources Services, Inc.  McDermid joined Virginia Power in 1982.  After holding various positions in Virginia Power’s Engineering & Construction Department, McDermid was named director-Administrative Services in 1986. She was promoted to vice president-Information Technology and chief information officer in October 1998, and was named to her current position in January 2000.  McDermid is chair of the board of trustees of Mary Baldwin College and chair of the board of directors of RichTech, formerly the Greater Richmond Technology Council. She is a member of the boards of directors of the CIO Forum and The Richmond Forum, and a lay member of the Third District Committee of the Virginia State Bar. She is serving her second three-year term as a member of the Dean’s Executive Advisory Council for the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond. McDermid was designated a Class C director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond in 2007, and was named deputy chairman in 2009; she will assume the chairman position in 2011.  She has served on several state advisory boards, including the Chief Information Officer Advisory Board, the Virginia Research and Technology Advisory Council, and the Critical Infrastructure Protection Work Group, as well as the Foundation Board of J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College. McDermid received her bachelor’s degree in business from Mary Baldwin College and her master’s degree in business administration from the University of Richmond.

Mark McDonald, Ph.D., is a group vice president, head of research in Gartner Executive Programs, and a Gartner Fellow. He is responsible for the research agenda focused exclusively on CIOs and the business of information technology. Mr. McDonald is the lead author of research in the areas of CIO credibility, the business use of advanced technologies, enterprise architecture and business process transformation. He is the co-author of the forthcoming book, “The Social Organization” (October 2011) with Anthony Bradley. He is also the co-author with Peter Keen of “The eProcess Edge” and the author of “Architecting Enterprises — Achieving Performance and Flexibility.” He has also been interviewed or published in the Wall Street Journal, Computerworld, CIO Magazine, the Financial Times and other publications. He routinely works with senior business and technology executives and is currently working on the issue of innovation in management.  Prior to joining Gartner, Mr. McDonald was a partner at Accenture, where he was responsible for the Center for Process Excellence and methodology. Mr. McDonald was a co-author with Anthony Bradley of “The Social Organization” (Harvard, 2011) and with Peter Keen of “The eProcess Edge” (McGraw-Hill, 2000) and numerous other publications.  Mr. McDonald received a Ph.D. in technology policy management from TU Delft in the Netherlands.  He also has a Master’s degree (honors) in economics and international finance from Trinity College in Hartford, CT and a B.A. (honors) in economics and political science from Colgate University.

Jonathan Palmer joined the IMF in 2006 as the Fund’s first Chief Information Officer. As CIO he is responsible for the provision of ICT services and leadership in the application of technology to the mission of the Fund. Prior to joining the Fund, Mr. Palmer served as Deputy Australian Statistician with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).  Mr. Palmer’s career has been largely devoted to the application of information technology in the field of official statistics. He has held CIO positions with both the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Statistics New Zealand.  Mr. Palmer served as the Australian representative on the Governing Board of the Statistical Institute for Asia Pacific, was a member of the Federal Government CIO Committee, and convener of the Federal Government CIO Working Group on Information Interoperability. A graduate of the University of Canberra, he currently serves that institution as an Adjunct Professor with the School of Information Sciences and Engineering.

Jill Tummler Singer was appointed as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in January 2010. The NRO, as part of the 16-member Intelligence Community, plays a primary role in achieving information superiority for the U.S. Government and Armed Forces. A DoD agency, the NRO is staffed by DoD and CIA personnel. Prior to joining the NRO, Ms. Singer served as the Deputy CIO for the Central Intelligence Agency.  Ms. Singer has served in several senior leadership positions within the Federal Government. She was the Director of the Diplomatic Telecommunications Service (DTS), United States Department of State. She was the head of Systems Engineering, Architecture, and Planning for CIA’s global infrastructure organization. Ms. Singer also served as the Director of Architecture and Implementation for the Intelligence Community CIO and pioneered the technology and management concepts that are the basis for multi-agency secure collaboration.  Ms. Singer has held positions within private industry as a direct employee and as a federal government intern. She was a Vice President for Project Management at Science Applications International Corporation, Inc. (SAIC), responsible for providing advanced information technology solutions to federal government clients. She completed a government-sponsored internship with GE Aerospace and was employed with IBM. She received her Master of Science in Systems Analysis and her Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of West Florida. She is a graduate of several leadership programs including the Federal Executive Leadership Program and the University of Virginia’s Executive Leaders Program. Ms. Singer was awarded the CIA’s Manager Mentor of the Year Award in January 2010.