Toronto

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Welcome to CIOCAN’s Toronto Chapter! As new president, I am pleased and privileged to be able to tell you about who we are and what we do, and hope that you will find our value proposition sufficiently compelling to join us.

CIOCAN’s Toronto Chapter was formed in 2007 in response to strong demand from Ontario CIOs who wanted a regional senior executive peer network for IT professionals in a vendor-neutral setting, and a common voice on issues facing CIOs across industries. There are now almost 100 of us in Toronto and the surrounding region, including senior academics in the IT field, who regularly convene at events for a combination of professional development and business networking. Many of us, most notably members of our board of directors, are involved in projects aimed at advancing the CIO agenda: building awareness of the CIO as business strategist; developing the next generation of IT leaders; developing partnerships with other agencies that can help advance our cause. We’ve had three excellent presidents in Toronto Chapter – most notably our immediate past president, Kelvin Cantafio, who has done so much to prove CIOCAN’s value to members. I hope to build on their examples.

In concert with other Chapters, we do research and publish on issues relevant to CIOs, we’ve developed an e-mentoring program for management-track women in IT, and we host live and web-based seminars, to share best practices. We can also tap directly into the expertise of CIOs across the country via our on-line member directory. The value that we take back to our organizations, and the satisfaction that we receive from our efforts is considerable. Our agenda is driven by what we hear from our members.

We have a great line-up of events planned for the fall – stay tuned! - and in the spring the Toronto Chapter will once again host the annual CIO Peer Forum, a national event where CIOs from across the country gather to engage with their peers and learn from top-class presenters.

I encourage you, as an attendee at a CIO Association event, or a visitor to our website, to explore what we have to offer, and to join us in creating a stronger voice for Canadian CIOs.