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May 15th Newsletter

  

Welcome to the SIMCAC Weekly Newsletter....
....Where each week, we'll share SIMCAC announcements, member spotlights, local/national industry news, upcoming events, and recaps of past ones! 
The Results Are In: 
It's Official...A majority of our respondents have indicated that their IT budgets have stayed the same! 

Did you vote? If not, here's a new Question of the Week: 

 Are you experiencing Zoom burnout due to an increased number of zoom/video meetings?
(choose ONE option below)

*|SURVEY: Yes|* 
*|SURVEY: No|* 
 

*results to be provided in next week's newsletter. 
Recap: This Week's Virtual CIO Virtual Summit
 
For the past eight years, SIMCAC has proudly partnered with HMG Strategy to bring the foremost CIO leadership conference to the Capital Area. The theme for this year’s summit – Leading Courageously Through a Crisis – is very timely and resonated well with attendees from both the private and public.  Hunter Muller, HMG Strategy CEO and Mike Huthwaite, SIMCAC Chairman, opened the conference, welcomed attendees, and teed up the first session: an interview of Kristie Grinnell, Global CIO at General Dynamics Information Technology, who shared how they are leading and communicating differently with employees in the work-from-home environment. This includes listening to understand their personal and professional concerns in these difficult times and demonstrating empathy and compassion, in part, by encouraging staff to take time for themselves and their families.



A series of top-tier executives provided keynote addresses in the first set of sessions which helped position the agenda for the event. Snehal Antani, Former CTO within the U.S. Department of Defense, shared the leadership lessons he learned during his two years working for the military. These lessons include reflecting on whether he acted as a dictator or as an enabler during a crisis and whether he sought blame members of his team for mistakes or whether he encouraged them for continuously improving.



Speakers such as Coley Burke, CRO at Zerto, also discussed how business is being transformed by the crisis and that the status quo of how things are executed will be challenged going forward. Burke also shared that organizations that are wrestling with technical debt will find it very difficult to adapt and be agile in the new environment. To that end, organizations that have invested in cloud and digital technologies that can support remote work are finding that the investments are paying dividends in the work-from-home environment, said Marcus Session, VP of IT Services at Tampa International Airport.
The crisis has clearly shined a light on IT and its ability to keep the business operating and moving forward in this highly disruptive environment. Ken Grady, Corporate VP & CIO at IDEXX, shared that the impact that the IT organization is having on the company and to support its customers during this crisis is immeasurable.
 

 
The event was well-attended and the focus on the top challenges and opportunities facing CIOs and IT leaders in these difficult times reflects the strength of the partnership between SIMCAC and HMG Strategy in delivering compelling content for SIMCAC members and other attendees.
Give Back: Become A Virtual Judge for the Technovation Challenge


 

One of our core principles in SIMCAC is giving back to our community. Here is one example of something you can do from the comfort of your own home.  Currently, there's a pressing need for volunteer judges for the Technovation Challenge. 

As a judge, you would provide valuable feedback to teams of girls on the mobile apps they built from scratch this season. 

Collectively, Technovation Girls judges support and motivate 20,000 girls from 50+ countries. As an individual judge, you'll commit to scoring at least 5 submissions, but you can score as many as you like! 

Please help the SIM Community Outreach Committee support Technovation, who equips young women to become tech entrepreneurs and leaders. 

To find out more information and to register, please click on the button below.  
Become A Judge
Attention SIMCAC members! Since our members are the lifeblood of this great chapter, the success of this newsletter depends on our ability to share the happenings within it! So we're going to ask for your help in making this newsletter the best it can be. If you or fellow SIMCAC members have announcements, articles, pictures, videos, or any other content you'd like to share (and please do!), email to jamesparks@simcac.org or sulav@sulavregmi.com.

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