CIOCAN News

Below is a list of articles of interest to CIO Association members and their partners.

New Victoria Chapter announced

April 18, 2012

New Victoria Chapter announced for CIO Association of Canada:
Ian McLeod, Director of IT Services at Camosun College named president of CIOCAN’s 6th Chapter

The Board of Directors of the CIO Association of Canada (CIOCAN) announced today that the application to establish a new chapter in Victoria has been accepted. Ian McLeod, Director, IT Services at Camosun College, will head up the new chapter board, and will be joined by Andy Canty of the Greater Victoria School District as Director of Programs, Debbie Fritz of the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure as Director of Membership, Pierre Vorster of BC Ferries as Director of Finance, and Darrell Jaggers of Island Savings Credit Union as Director of Marketing.

Victoria Chapter will host its first official event on May 22, 11:45am to 1:15pm, at 940 Blanshard Street - Room 3A. Interested senior IT leaders, as well as senior academics in IT Leadership are welcome to attend and meet their CIO peers. Topic and speaker to be announced and posted on the CIOCAN website.

McLeod has been a CIO Association member for over five years, originally affiliated with the Vancouver Chapter, and commuting to Vancouver-based events when he could after his relocation to Victoria. He stayed current via website, telephone, and e-mail, and participated as a member of the 2011 Peer Forum Governance Committee. “There is lots of interest from Victoria area CIOs when I speak to them about my experiences with CIOCAN – they want a local chapter where they can network with their CIO peers in a vendor-neutral setting. I’ve been working with National membership director Jim Williams (Director IT at A&W) to get a board slate in place and seek commitment from prospective members. Our inaugural or “test” event in February resulted in several immediate registrations, and we felt that we had reached the critical mass necessary to go ahead with a chapter application. At the February session on “Unlocking the Power of Cloud Computing” we had a mix of public, private and municipal CIOs, and there was very lively discussion. My favorite comment – one that highlights the demand for CIO peer networking, was ”I met people that I would never have met without this event.”

National president Gary Davenport, Vice President IT at MTS Allstream, says, “We’re absolutely thrilled to welcome the Victoria Chapter on board. We now have chapters in five major centers across the country, as well as a national chapter, where CIOs can meet live and on-line to network and share best practices across regions and industries. The addition of Victoria chapter brings our membership to almost three hundred. This is a great thing for Canada, as CIOs are at the hub of innovation and increased productivity, where business leadership meets technology. CIOs are getting out of their industry silos, sharing ideas, information and improvement opportunities about executive management issues, business processes, technology products and services. We are in a great position to truly be the voice of CIOs in Canada”.

Be the Business: Meeting the Future Head-on | Theme for 2012 Peer Forum

March 12, 2012

Be the Business: Meeting the Future Head-on
Join us April 19-20 at Toronto's Allstream Centre for the 2012 CIO Peer Forum

Be the Business: Meeting the Future Head-on CIO Peer Forum Theme for 2012 CIOs are gaining recognition as leading contributors to business strategy by delivering game-changing results. Not only have CIOs changed their intra-corporate strategies, they have changed the way they see themselves and their IT teams. No longer technology service providers, CIOs now are the business, and they hold the keys to driving future value within organizations. How to ensure full ignition with those keys is the theme of the 2012 CIO Peer Forum in Toronto, April 19-20. Register now!

The CIO Peer Forum 2012 promises to be the biggest and best yet. Returning co-chairs from 2010, Mary Anne Ballantyne (President of CIOCAN's Toronto Chapter and Vice-Head, Technology and Innovation at the Bishop Strachan School), and Craigg Ballance (Program Director, Leaders Beyond) report increased registration and earlier sponsor sign-on, both indications that the conference program is being well received on all fronts. CIOCAN membership nationwide is now close to 300 - a significant accomplishment in a niche market.

As always, the big draw is the opportunity to network with CIO Peers - members consistently give this top rating. The conference program promises an outstanding range of internationally recognized speakers, Canadian CIO presenters, on-stage panel discussions, and "birds of a feather" table discussions. Dr. David Foot Author of Boom Bust and Echo will kick of with his latest predictions and analysis, CIOs will share case studies of how they helped transform their organizations through a broader, business-based perception and application of IT, and Dr. Ilse Treurnicht, CEO, of MaRS Discovery District will deliver a closing address about the entrepreneurial culture and policies necessary to ensure that Canada's innovation and productivity goals actually get realized. Click here to see the full program. 

The CIO Peer Forum venue this year has changed to the Allstream Centre, where we can accommodate larger numbers, and be easily accessible from downtown and all areas of the region. Members and guests from other regions will find plenty of accommodation close by if the designated "Thompson Hotel" fills up.

Craigg Ballance

Our theme, “Be the Business: Meeting the Future Head On”, is intended to foster a new CIO mindset that can break through traditional role-perceptions and generate fresh business strategies. CIOs, sponsors and other technology industry stakeholders will engage in conversations that inspire actionable ideas.


Mary Anne Ballantyne

I am thrilled to have such a stellar line-up of thought-leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs as speakers. Their ideas and experiences will stimulate participants in the CIO Peer Forum to approach everyday challenges differently. I challenge other CIOs to embrace the powerful insights, and the transformation of their roles that this conference will bring – both for themselves, and for tomorrow’s IT leaders.

New President for CIO Association of Canada's Calgary Chapter

January 16, 2012

New President for CIO Association of Canada's Calgary Chapter
Paul Parzen of Compten Petroleum succeeds founding president Mike Battistel of SMART Technologies

Paul Parzen will officially take on the presidency of the CIO Association of Canada's Calgary Chapter at their January 19th breakfast event at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. Parzen was elected at the January 10 board meeting in Calgary.

National CIO Association President Gary Davenport says, "We're proud to announce the addition of Mr. Parzen to our leadership team. He exemplifies the combination of business expertise and technology management acumen required by today's CIO. He's the right person to take the CIO Association's Calgary Chapter forward as we extend our network of CIO peers and share best practices across industries and across the country."

"We also want to thank Mike Battistel for his significant contribution in launching the CIO Association's Calgary chapter in 2010, and starting up their slate of programs."

Battistel "The CIO Association is unique in that we bring together leaders in a vendor neutral, peer environment. Over the past year or so we've established strong working relationships with the University of Calgary and the Haskayne School of Business. We've established our monthly program events where attendance has gone from 5 people at our first event to over 30 at our November session."

"At Thursday's session (January 19), we'll discuss CIO experiences in "Virtual Desktop", a technology that promises to reduce costs while increasing control. A panel of senior IT leaders from a variety of Calgary organizations will talk about: What were the specific business challenges and operational environments? What alternatives were evaluated? On what basis were final deployment decisions made, and what did the business case look like? For those that implemented, they will share insight into the benefits realized, including some which were unexpected."

Qualified senior IT leaders from across the city and region are welcome to attend.

For more information on the CIO Association of Canada, or to register for Thursday's event, contact National@ciocan.ca


Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100

December 1, 2011

Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100
Two Board Members of the CIO Association of Canada Win Awards at Gala Event

The CIO Association of Canada (CIOCAN) congratulates Dr. Catherine Aczel Boivie, Senior Vice President of IT Management at Vancity Credit Union and CEO, Inventure Solutions, and Susan Doniz, Senior Vice President and CIO at Aimia and former CIO for Procter and Gamble Canada. Both won in the “Trailblazers and Trendsetters” Category. CIO Association President Gary Davenport (Senior VP IT and CIO at MTS Allstream) said, “We’re thrilled that two of our national board members have been selected for this prestigious award. Besides being well known leaders in their industries, Catherine Boivie and Susan Doniz have contributed a great deal to the national peer network of Canadian CIOs. Dr. Boivie was the founding president of the CIO Association of Canada, and continues on our board as a valued strategist and builder of international partnerships. Ms. Doniz pioneered an e-mentorship program for management track women in IT, and led our marketing team through a key growth phase at the CIO Association. Dr. Boivie and Ms. Doniz exemplify the innovative leadership that CIOs bring to Canadian business. We’re honored to have them on our board, and we salute them.”



New National President for the CIO Association of Canada

September 14, 2011

Gary Davenport takes reins at CIOCAN AGM

At yesterday’s AGM, outgoing CIOCAN president Andrew Dillane (CIO, Randstad Canada Group) transferred leadership to president-elect Gary Davenport (VP IT, MTS Allstream).

Davenport stated “we intend to build on the excellent foundation established by past national presidents Andrew Dillane and Dr. Catherine Boivie, in providing value to our members, in supporting programs that help grow tomorrow’s IT leaders, and in amplifying the voice of CIOs on issues of mutual concern. I am honored to head up such a strong and dynamic team. CIOCAN’s 35 national and chapter board members are the driving force in our efforts. Through committee and project leadership, they are truly involved in advancing the CIO profession and in giving back to the IT and business communities.”

In his final address as president, Dillane pointed out that growth and momentum at CIOCAN have been building over the past three years despite the economic downturn. Membership has increased by 20% in the past year alone – up to 265 – and a new chapter has been formed in Calgary, joining Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton and National. Chapter-based peer networking and live events have been extremely well attended and have received very high ratings (averaging 4.5/5). Monthly national e-seminars are now attracting upwards of 30 CIOs from across Canada, and our chapters are finding strong demand for the IT leadership development programs that they’ve mounted in cooperation with regional universities.”

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IDC Canada and CIOCAN release top executive perspectives on the economy and outlook for 2011

September 14, 2011

International Data Corp Canada (IDC Canada) and the CIO Association of Canada (CIOCAN) announce the results of its Top Executive Study: Canadian CIO Perspectives on IT and the Economy, 2011 (IDC#CA4ES11), as part of its newly formed relationship to provide more value to CIOCAN members with Canadian-specific CIO research as well as access to IDC's global technology and industry research. The study was executed in conjunction with CIOCAN to take an in-depth look at how Canada's C-suite perceives the technological issues of the day. As businesses are already running leaner than in previous years, not surprisingly the focus is on increasing revenues as well as improving productivity. The majority of businesses expected increases in both IT operating and IT capital expenditure budgets through 2011, although IDC's opinion believes these sentiments may be more tempered since the survey was fielded, given the current uncertainty in the global economic climate.

The 2011 Top Executive Survey is the fourteenth edition of the study which dates back to 1997. IDC Canada and CIOCAN created a partnership in 2011 to extend the survey to its membership and provide a special subscription offer to access IDC's team of more than 1000 global analysts, as well as IDC Insights industry-specific research.

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Dean Doige of Clark Builders New Edmonton Chapter President for the CIO Association of Canada

September 6, 2011

This month, Dean Doige, Director of Information Services at Clark Builders, takes office as Edmonton Chapter President of the CIO Association of Canada (CIOCAN). Handing over the reins at an evening reception September 22 will be founding president, Darrell Jones, Senior VP and CIO at Canadian Western Bank.

CIOCAN’s Edmonton chapter represents senior IT executives across a diverse group of industries, and includes senior academic experts in the field. Since its establishment in 2009, Edmonton chapter has offered its members live and on-line peer-to-peer networking events in a vendor-neutral atmosphere, professional development opportunities and sharing of best practices in business leadership, and advocacy on issues affecting the CIO profession.

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Ingenious Award Winners Announced: CIOCAN leads adjudication team

June 15, 2011

Canadian organizations that have successfully transformed their business or achieved significant measurable business outcomes through the adoption of technology vied for ITAC-sponsored Ingenious Awards this year. The CIO Association of Canada, led by its president, Andrew Dillane, CIO, Randstad Canada Group, along with other association members from the private and public sectors, adjudicated the awards. Winners in several categories were announced June 14.

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E-mentorship

May 5, 2011

Women’s E-mentorship One-year Pilot Program Wraps - Deemed a Success:
CIO Association of Canada (CIOCAN) and Canadian Women in Technology (CanWIT) E-mentorship Collaboration to Continue in September 2011

“Successful mentoring is one of the most satisfying experiences one can have”.

The pilot program in e-mentorship for management-track women led by the CIO Association of Canada (CIOCAN) and Canadian Women in Technology (CanWIT), with sponsorship from Microsoft Canada and Status of Women Canada has been deemed a success by participants and will continue in September 2011.

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New President–elect for the CIO Association of Canada

April 28, 2011

Gary Davenport, VP Information Technology, MTS Allstream, to succeed Andrew Dillane, CIO, Randstad Canada Group

The CIO Association of Canada is pleased to announce that during its National Board planning session in Vancouver this month, Gary Davenport was voted in as president-elect. He will take office in September 2011, during the course of CIOCAN’s Annual General Meeting. Mr. Davenport comes to the CIOCAN Presidency from the board of its Toronto Chapter, where he has been a key contributor to membership growth, policy development and operations strategy. He is Vice President of Information Technology at MTS Allstream. Gary Davenport succeeds Andrew Dillane, CIO at Randstad Canada Group.

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CIOCAN/SFU Leadership Program

March 9, 2011

SFU/CIOCAN Leadership Program Exceeds Expectations for 77% of Graduates: Developing the Next Generation of CIOs

A Leadership Development Program developed and offered jointly by the CIO Association of Canada, Vancouver Chapter and the Learning Strategies Group at SFU's Segal School of Business has exceeded the expectations of its most recent graduates. Targeting mid to senior level IT professionals seeking to build their expertise as they progress toward the CIO position, the program is an intensive seven weeks of instruction and team project work. Topics include leadership, strategy, governance, business alignment and project management, with an emphasis on the mastery of communication skills essential to senior management roles.

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CATA-WIT in the News

A National Post article featuring an interview with Dr. Cindy Gordon, founder of the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA) and one of the women behind the creation of its division dedicated to Women in Technology -- CATA-WIT.

CATA-WIT is a partner of the CIO Association of Canada.

http://www.financialpost.com/news/Mentors+keep+women+tech+sector/4385013/story.html


CIO Association of Canada Launches New Chapter in Calgary

Oct 12, 2010

CIO Association of Canada Launches New Chapter in Calgary
The CIO Association of Canada national board today passed a motion to establish a new chapter in Calgary, joining established chapters in Vancouver (1998), National (2004), Ontario (2007) and Edmonton (2009). National board membership director Jim Williams announced that Mike Battistel, Vice President of Information Systems and Process at Smart Technologies, will be the chapter’s first president. Williams named board members Paul Parzen, Director of Finance (Compton Petroleum Corporation) Clark Ferguson, Director Membership (University of Lethbridge) Peter Kehler, Director Academic Liaison, (SAIT Polytechnic), Ron Daniels, Director at Large, (Keyera Energy), and Geoff Couldrey, Director Marketing and Advocacy (Mental Health Commission of Canada).

CIO to CEO: What it Takes to Make the Leap

Oct 8, 2010

Vancouver’s Amyn Somani appointed CEO at Kazawest Services Inc. as of October 1
CIOs are on the rise in corporate ranks. This week, Amyn Somani, previous head of IT and Customer Service (VP of Corporate Services) at Panago Pizza Inc. took the helm as CEO at Kazawest Services Inc. (www.kazawest.com) a leading real estate management and development firm. Somani is the most recent CIO-turned-CEO interviewed in the follow-up to a CIO Association of Canada/Ryerson University leadership study entitled CIO to CEO: What it Takes to Make the Leap, whose findings were released in September by the CIO Association of Canada. (See the executive summary).

Credit Unions Use IT to Maintain Personal Touch

2010/9/24

IT isn’t just about “keeping the lights on.” It can be a lead contributor to internal and external business processes. InUnison has demonstrated that the people like [Michele] Morgan who are running a firm’s IT function are more than IT professionals, they are business leaders that can act as strategic partners in business expansion.

Excerpt from The Globe and Mail: Your Business article, September 24, 2010.

PowerEx Exec to Lead CIO Vancouver

2010/9/21

PowerEx Exec to Lead CIOCAN Vancouver Jories Timmers discusses his unique background, the important role of the IT industry groups and how he plans to develop the CIO Association of Canada's chapter's membership and programs in 2011.

Excerpt from the IT World Article, September 21, 2010. To view the entire article:

John Cannon

2010/8/16

On August 12, 2010 our good friend John Cannon passed away after a courageous battle with cancer. John was the 2007 CIO Peer Forum Chair and the CIO Association Ontario chapter President.

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BC Chapter Announces New President

2010/7/12

Jories Timmers of Powerex succeeds Ian Banks of PMC Sierra as President of the CIO Association of Canada’s Vancouver Chapter this week. During his tenure as president Mr. Timmers aims to increase member engagement, extend executive development options for members, and expand leadership programs for next-generation CIOs.

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CIO Salary Survey Results

2010/6/8

The CIO Association of Canada has released its second annual salary survey to members. Among the key findings: Women CIO average base salaries in 2010 are on par with men’s at $161,000 (up from $155,000 in 2009). In fact women had a slight edge – of about $1000 - in 2009.

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