Where Are They Now? 2005 Conference Honorary Chairs

I enjoyed my final year as national BDPA president. One of the highlights of the year was hosting the annual BDPA Technology Conference in Detroit MI. I started my BDPA career as a member of the BDPA Detroit chapter back in 1988 ... so it seemed fitting to end my presidential term with the conference being held in downtown Detroit.

Anyhow, one of the important elements of any conference is the honorary chairs. These are the people who lend credibility to the gathering. They reach into their Rolodex to call on their colleagues to attend and support the event. The 2005 BDPA Conference Honorary Chairs were:

1. Anthony Abbattista (Vice President, Enterprise Technology Strategy & Planning, Allstate Insurance) - Mr. Abbattista joined Allstate in 2003 and was responsible for enterprise strategy, applications, information services, technical architecture and technology governance.
   
2. Bob Blackwell (BDPA Outside Director) - Robert D. Blackwell, Sr. was chairman and CEO of Blackwell Consulting Services (BCS), a company he founded in 1992 after 25 years with IBM. BCS appeared on the Black Enterprises Top 100 multiple times. Bob was also the keynote speaker at the awards gala in 2005.
   
3. Curvie Burton (ITSMF Chairperson) - In addition to being ITSMF chair, Curvie was a senior director for EDS. At EDS he led a global initiative focused on development and deployment of a consistent business model for account operations. Curvie served as president of BDPA Detroit chapter back in 1992-1993.
   
4. Stephen Finnerty (Vice President, Worldwide IT Operations, Dell) - Steve Finnerty was responsible for managing Dell's global supply chain and manufacturing systems. It was thru his vision and support that our BDPA Austin chapter was founded.
   
5. Peter Karmanos, Jr. (Chairman/CEO, Compuware Corporation) - Mr. Karmanos ensures that Compuware delivers value to its customers. How? Simple - through the hottest distributed products in the market, through outstanding professional services and through the most respected mainframe software in the world. Compuware invested more in BDPA over the past 30 years than any corporation in America.
   
6. George Maier (Vice President, Business Operations, Hewlett-Packard) - Mr. Maier led a multidimensional organization responsible for global customer account support and worldwide business process development.
   
7. Chris Scalet (Chief Information Officer, Merck & Company) - Mr. Scalet is responsible for worldwide information technology operations with one of the largest companies in America. He was keynote speaker at the opening ceremonies of our 2003 annual BDPA Technology Conference held in Philadelphia PA.
   
8. Marlin Wilson-Threatt - (Deputy Chief Information Officer, City of Detroit) - Ms. Wilson-Threatt was responsible for developing consistent and progressive information technology policies, budget and staff management, project implementation, and ongoing support of the network, desktops, and business applications.

These eight leaders helped us have a tremendously successful national conference in 2005. I wonder if this post will bring them through cyberspace to leave a COMMENT below? If not, perhaps you can tell us where they are now? What say u?

ITSMF: Executive Protege Program

I spent eight years in the Senior Executive Service (SES) with the federal government before striking out to start my own company. It is difficult to travel a career path in the information technology (IT) industry through the glass ceiling to the executive level.

One way to make that journey is with the help of a mentor. As such, I can sincerely recommend that any African American IT professional that is currently in a management position ... who feels that (s)he has executive potential should take a moment to learn about the Executive Protege Program (EPP) offered by the Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF).

ITSMF exists is to fill the executive pipeline with the next generation of African American executives. The EPP provides the mentoring and networking that mid-level IT managers need to advance their IT careers to the senior and C-level. I am not aware of any other national mentoring program focused on cultivating executive talent among African American IT professionals.

Check out this brief video to learn more about the program from brothers and sisters who participate in it either as mentors or protegees.

Well, BETF-Blog readers ... are you interested in learning more about EPP or ITSMF?

ITSMF Helps Fill Information Technology Industry Pipeline

A number of BETF-Blog Readers have asked me about the Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF). I came across a comprehensive article that was published awhile ago in Minority Business News. I encourage you to take a moment to read the full article if you have time or inclination.

Some of the highlights include:

Carl Williams reached a lofty perch in the elite information technology industry in 1980s and ’90s when IT was not the most fashionable place for Africans Americans to be.

For some 20 years starting in the early 1980s, Williams worked in senior level IT positions as a chief information officer or vice president of information systems and technology for some large and important companies, including advertiser DDB Needham Worldwide and publisher Macmillan Publishing in New York, petrochemical firm Amoco Corp. in Chicago and investment house Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, Iowa.

His positions and active affiliations with organizations like the Society for Information Management put him in the loop of influence in the IT sector nationally. Yet, Williams would gaze across the landscape and could count other African Americans in executive positions in the field on one hand.

"I was constantly being sourced for senior-level professionals who happened to be people of color, and my pipeline was kind of dry," Williams said.

He decided he would move to fill and nurture that starved pipeline with African American IT talent, establishing the Information Technology Senior Management Forum in 1996. The ITSMF is a national organization focused on developing upper-level executive talent among African Americans in IT.

"My motivation was that I could see that it was a pretty decent career for folks if they really wanted to get into it and aspire to the top jobs," said Williams, the founding chairman who is now retired and consulting in Durham, NC

The organization says that fewer than 3 percent of all senior-level IT managers in the United States are African American — despite an African American population of 12.9 percent. The 95-member forum’s goal is to achieve a 10 percent participation of African Americans at all levels of IT management.

The ITSMF achieves its goals through sharing and leveraging members’ experiences, becoming role models and providing training, establishing networking platforms, identifying senior IT management promotion opportunities, developing strategic partnerships and mentoring high-potential IT professionals.

The group holds quarterly meetings, including one held in conjunction with the annual BDPA technology conference, and members openly discuss issues in IT, along with sharing ideas for advancing their careers.

The organization also holds an annual awards ceremony where it attracts high-level IT executives and presents awards to IT industry leaders and its corporate partners, which include Deloitte, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard and EDS.

Another component for the organization is to create role models for aspiring African American professionals to emulate. "There aren’t many mentors for us that look like us. Our Executive Protégé Program provides a solution for that challenge by matching up and coming African American leaders with seasoned veterans. EPP is one of our cornerstone programs and allows our members to engage in mentoring to others and pass on some of their secrets to success," Curvie Burton said.

Click here to read the full article

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[NOTE: The photo at the top shows the 2006-07 ITSMF Executive Board Members are (back row, left to right) Robert Perrin, networking Magellan Associates; Michael McNeil, membership, Pitney Bowes; Michael Robinson, Corporate Partners Program, Microsoft; Larry Quinlan, vice chairperson Deloitte; Carl Williams, ITSMF founder; Curvie Burton, chairperson, EDS; Bruce Carver, corporate secretary, Dana; Doug Ash, Executive Protégé Program, Lockheed Martin; Jerome Oglesby, personnel, Deloitte; and A.J. Pearson, programs, HSBC; (Bottom row, left to right) are Kim Tubbs-Herron, marketing, Microsoft; Viola Maxwell-Thompson, executive director; Louise Tilmon, executive assistant; Stephanie Hill, finance, Bank of America, and Elaine Norman, bylaws, American Cancer Society].

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Would you care to share your thoughts on ITSMF? Have you seen more Black executives in the IT industry over the past decade?

iPass' Ken Denman Presented With Beacon Award by Information Technology Senior Management Forum

iPass, a global provider of services that unify management of enterprise mobility, announced that CEO Ken Denman, was honored with a Beacon Award by the Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF) earlier this year in San Jose, California. ITSMF is a non-profit organization whose mission is to fill the executive pipeline with the next generation of African American IT professionals.

The Beacon Award, which recognizes an entrepreneur of an Information Technology firm which has demonstrated significant growth in the industry.

"We at ITSMF draw our strength from two major sources: our members, who include senior IT executives or owners of well-established technology businesses, and our corporate partners," says Curvie Burton, ITSMF Chairperson. "This awards ceremony is our way of thanking those who have helped make our organization what it is today, as well as acknowledging leaders who represent significant achievement and contribution to the advancement of African Americans in the IT industry."