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New Ottawa Chapter is Official:
Jacques Mailloux, CIO at CIDA, is President

2013 CIO Peer Forum in Edmonton Best to Date

Co-chairs Dean Doige (President, Edmonton Chapter, and CIO, Clark Builders) and Paul Parzen (President, Calgary Chapter, and Manager IS, Compton Petroleum) are pleased to announce that the 2013 CIO Peer Forum, held April 18-19 at Edmonton's Fairmont Hotel Macdonald, was the most successful ever. The CIO Peer Forum is the annual conference organized by the CIO Association of Canada for its members and guests.

Doige says "It was the largest, with 185 executive-level IT leaders from across Canada; it equalled the highest overall attendee satisfaction rating; and we were maxed out on sponsors, making it possible for us to attract top speakers and select a first class venue. We're grateful to all our sponsors, and we especially thank our Diamond Sponsors -- Long View Systems, IBM, Ideaca, and Q9 Networks".

Parzen says "The highest-rated speakers on our theme of leadership and innovation were Theresa Payton, former CIO at the White House, and Doug Keeley, CEO and founder at Mark of a Leader. Doug set the tone for the conference with his signature "storytelling", weaving tales of exemplary leaders throughout the program as he discussed "5-level Leadership in Changing Times". Theresa gave us an excellent framework for re-thinking and re-vamping our corporate cyber security models. She showed us where we're most vulnerable to attack, and how to prioritize our prevention and response plans. She also provided a take-away kit for attendees, including an agenda for our next executive meeting. We also had terrific presentations from Tom Vassos (Destination Innovation), Jim Lambe (Google), Hung LeHong (Gartner), Evan Hu (Ideaca), and Chris Moore (CIO at the City of Edmonton), among others".

Doige: "We were very fortunate to have CIOTV (a division of IT World Canada) on site as our sponsor and media partner. In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, we took the opportunity to ask editor/interviewer Shane Schick to interview Theresa Payton, John Stanton (CEO and Founder of the Running Room) and Joseph Schuldhaus (VP IT at Triple Five Group, which includes the West Edmonton Mall and Mall of America, and board member at the CIO Association). This group shared insights on security for large public gatherings, and inspired confidence and determination."

Parzen: "Another plus, and a demonstration of innovation in delivery as well as content -- we had an almost paperless conference. This is good for the environment, good for the budget, and great for speed and accuracy in delivery. We had a conference app that provided to attendees on their tablets and smartphones the agenda, program details, speaker bios, social events and add-ons, session evaluations, directory of conference attendees, audience polling, etc. And of course, tweeting was very active".

CIO Association National President Gary Davenport (VP IT at Allstream) says "Edmonton and Calgary chapters have raised the bar for our annual conference. On behalf of the national board, I congratulate you, your chapter boards, and the entire team that worked to make this conference such a great success. From the attendee evaluations, 100% would recommend the CIO Peer Forum to a colleague. So we hope to see everyone who attended and their colleagues next year at the 2014 CIO Peer Forum in Toronto."