Past Events - 2019

December 19, 2019 - Holiday Gala

Annual F/W SIM Members Only Holiday Gala at the Stamford Yacht Club.  

Entertainment by the Mark Richards Musical Ensemble

From Alice Tully Hall to Juilliard to Yale and European Tours, Mark has balanced his music with his Technology career. Once again this year, Mark and his fellow musicians will help us celebrate the season with their wonderful talent. The ensemble consists of:

Maria Tiscia - Vocal

Joe McWilliams - Keyboard

Mark Richards - Trumpet

Frank Sisson – Double Bass

November 21, 2019 - Fireside Chat with Susan Certoma

“A somewhat random, but purposeful career walk down Wall Street” 

An informal dialogue with Board member, Susan Certoma and Host Board Member, Beverly Lieberman.

Candid answers to questions about Susan’s career, key influencers, leadership challenges and, life-changing decisions. 

She talked about the skills and experiences that prepared her to navigate a highly diversified career spanning executive leadership roles and top tier firms: Head of Sales / Trading Technology – Goldman Sachs, CIO - Wachovia Bank (now Wells Fargo), President- Broadridge and most recently, President - EEI. We will also hear how Susan acquired a Board position at Southwest Power Pool, a major Energy Organization responsible for the bulk electric grid and wholesale power market in the central United States.

October 30, 2019 - CIO Executive Leadership Summit

Enterprise 2025: Accelerating the Digital Roadmap to Survive and Thrive

The mantra in today’s fast-changing business environment is disrupt or be disrupted. CIOs and technology executives play a critical role in partnering with the CEO and the Board to identify how digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, analytics, the Internet of Things and robotic process automation (RPA) can be leveraged to create competitive differentiation in the global digital economy.

The innovative mindset and cultural transformation skills needed to usher a successful digital roadmap for the business will be the focal point of the 2019 Stamford CIO Executive Leadership Summit.

September 19, 2019 - RPA - The State of the Art and The Coming Future

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has been hailed as one of the great technological revolutions of our time. RPA has become a powerful tool for IT executives, but the implementation has been far from smooth for some. The ability to automate repetitive, rules-based tasks and create efficiency in meeting customer needs has been lauded for its potential to free employees to focus on higher value work and reduce enterprise costs. To some employees, the implementation of RPA is seen as a threat, and a ’job killer’ in traditional white collar fields like accounting and law. Please join us for a fascinating discussion by two of the leading practitioners in the area interviewed by SIM Board member Sigal Zarmi

Moderator:
    Sigal Zarmi - Managing Director, Head of Transformation, Morgan Stanley; FWSIM Board Member

Panelists:
    Daniel Barchi - Chief Information Officer, New York Presbyterian
    Justin Greenberger - Vice President, Customer Success, UIPath
    Peter Cumello - CIO, WorkFusion

July 18, 2019 - Annual FWSIM Members-Only Clambake Social

Our annual Members-Only Clambake Social at the Jacky Durrell Pavilion at Fairfield Beach.  You and your guest get to enjoy a wonderful evening dining on your favorite meal of lobster, chicken or a vegetarian entree overlooking Fairfield Beach, in the company of your friends and colleagues, and it's all purely social time. Kick off your shoes and take a walk on the beach, if you like!


In addition to a great meal, good company and the ocean air, you'll get to enjoy wonderful musical entertainment, provided again this year, by Liz McNicholl of Musical Folk. Liz did such a great job last year, that we just had to ask her back.

June 20, 2019 - Cybersecurity in the Boardroom

Learn why Cyber Risk is more frequently on the Board's agenda and why Board & Leadership together need to support a cyber-minded culture with YOUR help!

Background
As Digital, Data and Cloud are now key business imperatives to driving success in strategic growth and operational efficiency, they do in turn significantly increase business cyber security exposures. Cyber is therefore no longer merely a technology issue. Cyber is now a strategic business risk that will continue to impact every facet of every organization unless it's better understood and gets the combined support of Board and C-Suite to instill a Cyber-minded culture across all constituents. 

Moderator:
Tom McCurley - CIO, The Chefs' Warehouse

Panelists:
Sean Cross - CEO & Managing Partner, Silicon Alley Advisors
Ariel Evans - CEO of Cyber Innovative Technologies and Cyber Intelligence 4U,            Faculty Chairperson, Rutgers Executive Cybersecurity Program.
Matt Lagana - IT Director & CISO, MBIA, Inc.
Robert Zandoli - CISO & CTO, Bunge

April 18, 2019 - Personal and Professional Networking Beneath The Surface

It is common knowledge that building rich, deep networks is critical to your career success. Underlying good networking skills are a set of foundational skills, which include observing non-verbal cues, seeing the other person’s point of view, listening with intense focus, and seeking out diverse perspectives.

The evening’s fun and educational session will involve a set of simple, optional exercises that will provide you with an awareness of techniques which, if practiced and internalized, can be applied in a variety of business situations, such as tonight’s networking event.


The Speaker
Jim Tosone Managing
Director, Tosone Associates LLC

March 21, 2019 - Beyond the Hype: Why Blockchain Matters

According to Gartner, ‘Blockchain’ has been the number one search term on their Web site since 2017. Blockchain may have been discounted because of the early hype and the collapse in the value of cryptocurrencies. However, the game changing potential of Blockchain technologies, including smart contracts, Cybersecurity, and decentralized finance mean that CIO’s and senior technology managers need to be up to speed and prepared to make good decisions on how Blockchain technologies can help their business. Westchester Fairfield SIM is pleased to welcome Solomon Lederer, CEO of Blockchain training startup Blockmatics who will talk about the latest technical, business and legal reasons why you should be getting ready for Blockchain now.

The Speaker
Solomon Lederer
Co-Founder, Blockmatics

February 21, 2019 - The Future of Work

Despite the economic upheaval of the last twenty years, the world has been forging the foundations of a long-lasting period of global economic expansion. The digital disruption taking place within enterprises and across industries is transforming markets and setting the stage for dramatic increases in productivity, profitability, employment, and income.
The adoption of advanced capabilities like cognitive computing and artificial intelligence (AI) will enhance and accelerate this economic growth. Machines that learn have the potential to substantially augment human capability in nearly every profession, and profoundly affect the nature of work.
AI will redefine the specific tasks that comprise most occupations. While the vast majority of them will persist, employers will need to reorganize tasks within those occupations, and redefine the skills needed to successfully complete those tasks. 
While we are still in the early stages of this transformation and the full economic potential of AI won't be realized for decades to come, IBM is optimistic about this potential for progress and prosperity and are working closely with economists, academics, and policymakers to understand the economic effects to to guide them in a way that benefits all humankind.

The Speaker
Martin Fleming
Chief Analytics Officer and Chief Economist for IBM

January 17, 2019 -Meeting The Challenges for Technology Executives in the 2020’s

Effective Management and Work Relationships for Technology Managers

One of the great challenges for technology managers in the emerging work world is finding effective ways to recruit, retain, manage and motivate a tech workforce that is distributed geographically and demographically. Human-Centered Management practices allow today’s technology executives to develop individuals who will be effective in a team environment that can lead to both personal satisfaction and professional accomplishment.

The Speaker: Whitney Hess       https://whitneyhess.com/about/