Community bloggers

Aaron Blair

Aaron returns as a contributor to ITWorld.ca focusing on health and eHealth commentary.Aaron has numerous years of project delivery and leadership experience in the healthcare sector at local hospital and provincial levels. Aaron has direct experience delivering, participating or overseeing health initiatives that include: the Enterprise Master Person Index (EMPI), the Integrated Services for Children Information System (ISCIS) for children born with autism, Ontario Lab Information System (OLIS), Connecting GTA, Hospital Report Manager (HRM), Clinical Connect, and many other initiatives spanning Erie St. Clair, Soutwestern Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area.Aaron holds a MBA with a project management focus, his Project Management Professional (PMP) credential from PMI and is a Certified Professional for Healthcare Information Systems in Canada (CPHIMS-CA), provided by the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS).In addition, Aaron both teaches and creates course material for the CPHIMS-CA credential preparation course for COACH.

Ahmed Saleh

Ahmed Saleh is the Public Relations Officer at the DMZ. He builds a strong narrative, clear messages and a compelling delivery of initiatives and stories that come from the DMZ community.Ahmed works to reach out to media and proactively pitch new story ideas to earn valuable exposure. He also works with startups to translate complex messaging into simple, accessible words that convey the essential points of their business in a powerful way. His approach is informed by his prior work as a Media Relations Strategist at a Toronto-based public relations firm.Ahmed has an extensive background working with clients ranging from Canadian startup businesses to American television host and producer Bill Kurtis.

Alex Davies

IT professional & freelance tech writer. Founder of The Art of the Gadget. PC gamer, indie comics fan & cinephile. Sometimes curmudgeon.

Alizabeth Calder

Alizabeth Calder is a senior technology strategist and a certified corporate director (ICD.D) Alizabeth is also a successful author. Her most recent project – Duty of Care; An Executive Guide for Corporate Boards in the Digital Era – is a much-needed guide for business leaders who need to close their digital knowledge gap in order to make the right decisions about digital technology investment and deployments. Alizabeth has been an active CIO since 1997. Her strategic accomplishments cross many industry sectors and demonstrate the practical value she brings to the digital conversation. As a CIO on demand and consultant, Alizabeth has delivered more than $1B in transformational investments.

Arianne Martin

Arianne Martin is an Audience Services Representative at ITWC. She studied public relations at Humber College and psychology at the University of Toronto because she's fascinated with understanding how people think. She loves reading, writing and playing video games and dutifully watches sports with her fiance. She enjoys the company of her two rabbits and one Siberian husky that has a penchant for tomatoes from the backyard garden.

Arik Kalininsky

Arik Kalininsky has over 16 years of experience in diverse managerial and architectural roles that span many facets of industry. He has led various IT groups, while taking an active leadership role as part of the senior management team. He holds a Bachelors degree from York University and a certificate for outstanding achievement from the Queen’ University Leadership Program.

Betsy Atkins

CEO & Founder Baja LLC. Serial Entrepreneur. Three-time CEO. Corporate Governance & Growth Guru. Expert in making boards a competitive asset. Dog Lover.

Bjorn Gudehus

With 15+ years of experience ranging from engineering roots to managing security governance and regulatory compliance to business development; providing unique insight from a consumer, supplier and consultant of security solutions and services. He believes that “proactive defense against emerging threats aligned to business risk” helps ensure operational resilience and protect critical data.

Bob Elliott

Bob Elliott is the managing director of SAP Canada. He is responsible for the business operations in Canada and driving growth for SAP’s industry-leading cloud, mobile, and database and technology solutions that help 9,000 Canadian customers in 25 industries become best-run businesses.

Boris Shiklo

Boris Shiklo is CTO at ScienceSoft, a software development company headquartered in McKinney, TX. He is responsible for ScienceSoft’s long-term technological vision and innovation strategies.

Brian Clendenin

Brian Clendenin is with Rubrik, Inc. "We are at one of the most exciting moments in history when it comes to innovation in IT driving innovation in business." Widely recognized as a powerful speaker intertwining storytelling and expertise, Clendenin writes and speaks on the topics of leadership, cloud, data management, security, mobility, IT strategy, and digital transformation. Invests his time interviewing engaging thought leaders.

Brian Owen

Organizing a conference for Canada's voice-first community with dates to be announced. Committed to #VoiceFirst education, evangelism, tech. & market transformation.

Bruce Harpham

Bruce Harpham writes about project management training at Project Management Hacks. His experience includes leading cost reduction and process improvement projects in the financial industry. Sponsors make or break IT project success. Learn how to build an effective project sponsor relationship with our new report. Go to Project Management Hacks to receive the latest articles.

Bruce McRitchie

Bruce Stewart

Bruce Stewart is a 40 year veteran of IT management and above. He is an executive advisor serving CIOs and senior executives in areas of governance, strategy, complex architectural transitions, portfolio yield and value generation. - See more at: http://blogidol.ca/author/bastewart#sthash.irsVlPlk.dpuf

Chris Henry

Chris is a global digital, operations and IT security expert (and Former CIO) who provides leaders, teams and organizations with innovative strategies, services and solutions. In the first 22 years of his professional career he gained experience in hospitality & tourism, complex omni-channel retail, mixed-use real estate, not-for-profit and professional services organizations including Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Grant Thornton and The Terry Fox Foundation. In 2013 he leveraged his global technology, operations and IT security experience to become a consultant and speaker.

Chris Lau

In search for alpha. Telecom, media, technology. Social media. Financial Markets. Real-Estate Agent. Seeking Alpha Contributor. Toronto, Ontario · bit.ly/uaDXCc

Claudiu Popa

Claudiu Popa is a security and privacy advisor to Canadian enterprises, associations and agencies. He is an author, speaker and lecturer.

Daryl Hepting

Daryl Hepting is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and an associate member of the Film Department at the University of Regina. His research is focused on the development of tools to help people deal with and navigate complex information spaces, in application areas as diverse as environmental decision support, eyewitness identification, and multimedia composition.

Dave O'Leary

Dave is a founding managing partner of REDDS Venture Investment Partners (www.reddsvip.com). His career in post-secondary education included roles as CIO, Vice-President and acting President. Dave is a member of the Practitioner Board of the Association for Computing Machinery. He chairs the ACM Practitioner Board Marketing Committee and is also a second term member of the Board's Professional Development Committee. (ACM - Association for Computing Machinery--official IFIP international member representative, largest and most respected international computing science, research, education, innovation professional association well known for their AM Turing Award (Nobel of computing) with 1 million USD prize, 1.5 millions user digital library, 2 million reach, learning center, Applicative conference, Queue magazine, 200 conferences/events, 78 publications/news, 37 Special Interest Groups). He is a board director of the Global Industry Council and the immediate Past President of the Canadian Information Processing Society of British Columbia. Dave is co-founder and director of an ISV computer technology business and is currently leading and advising start ups in the USA, China, Europe, and Canada. He serves as a task force member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and is the past chair of the Canadian National Council of Deans of Information and Communications Technology. He served two terms as a director of the Canadian National Information and Communications Technology Sector Council advising on National technology and economic strategy. Dave has appeared as a panel member in a number of Microsoft webcasts and has presented globally on the business and technical impacts of technology in training. He is the recipient (2002) of the highest national award for leadership in post-secondary education.

Dean Wiech

Dean Wiech is managing director of Tools4ever, a global provider of identity and access management solutions. Dean has worked with businesses, educational entities and municipalities for more than 20 years, helping them identify solutions that make their businesses and operations more secure, efficient and easier to manage. He is responsible for Tools4ever’s US operations, and has written dozens of articles about identity and access management, security, IT audits, strategy, BYOD, the cloud and managing IT solutions for small businesses to enterprise systems.

Don Sheppard

I'm a IT management consultant. I began my career in railways and banks after which I took up the consulting challenge! I try to keep in touch with a lot of different I&IT topics but I'm usually working in areas that involve service management and procurement. I'm into developing ISO standards, current in the area of cloud computing (ISO JTC1/SC38). I'm also starting to get more interested in networking history, so I guess I'm starting to look backwards as well as forwards! My homepage is http://www.concon.com but I am found more here.

Donna Lindskog

Donna Lindskog is an Information Systems Professional (retired) and has her Masters degree in Computer Science from the University of Regina. She has worked in the IT industry since 1978. Most of those years were at SaskTel where she progressed from Programmer, to Business Analyst, to Manager. At one point she had over 48 IT positions reporting to her and she has experience outside of IT managing Engineers. As a Relationship Manager, Donna worked with executive to define the IT Principles so departmental roles were defined. As the Resource Manager in the Corporate Program/Project Management Office, she introduced processes to get resources for corporate priorities. In 2003 she was given the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in Technology.

Emily Nielsen

Emily regularly acts as a trusted advisor to some of Canada’s largest organizations. In 1999, Emily launched what has become one of Canada’s top Unified Communications and Call Center Consulting firms, Nielsen Consulting.Clients work with Emily when they want to dramatically shortcut their way to the perfect solution to their most challenging communication problems.

Fariba Anderson

Fariba is a seasoned IT executive with 25 years in the technology industry. As the previous CIO of MPAC and current CEO of AcuteNet, she has developed strong business acumen and a reputation for creating value through innovative solutions. She is recognized by the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario as a Privacy Ambassador due to her leadership to embed Privacy by Design within the technology construct.

Gartner

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. We deliver the technology-related insight necessary for our clients to make the right decisions, every day. We are the valuable partner to clients in over 9,000 distinct enterprises worldwide. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, USA, and has 6,400 associates, including more than 1,480 research analysts and consultants, and clients in 85 countries. For more information, email info@gartner.com or visit www.gartner.com.

Gary Davenport

Gary is the President of the CIO Association of Canada (CIOCAN) which represents approximately 300 CIOs across Canada by growing IT leaders, speaking with one voice on issues facing CIOs and building a vendor-neutral community for the safe exchange of ideas and best practices.

George Pajari

George Pajari is a “CISO-for-hire”, providing cybersecurity leadership to SaaS cloud startups. He was previously the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of Hootsuite, the most widely used social media management platform with over 15 million users including more than 800 of the Fortune 1000 companies. He was responsible for information security, IS risk management, and IT general controls. Prior to that he was the Security Architect at Hootsuite, and before that, Manager of Network Operations for Glentel's national digital radio service. He is a member of the BC Government's Provincial Security Advisory Council, a member of the Vancouver (ISC)² Chapter executive, and one of the organisers of the Vancouver BSides and BC AWARE Day security conferences. He was invited by the (ISC)² to write the Security Architecture and Engineering section for the next edition of the Official (ISC)² Guide to the CISSP CBK (Common Body of Knowledge), to be published by John Wiley in 2019. George's professional certifications include the CISSP-ISSAP, CISM, and CIPP/E. He is learning to play the bagpipes and his paper on a new device for improving piping skills will appear in a forthcoming issue of Piping Times.

Hugh Chatfield

I'm the owner and principal consultant of CyberSpace Industries 2000 Inc., a consulting and training firm specializing in SGML/XML and documentary/multimedia production. I hold an honors degrees in physics and an honours post graduate certificate in documentary production.My company is a founding member of the goUBL.com business ecosystem, to promote the use of the OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL) in North America.

Humza Teherany

Humza is Chief Executive Officer of Compass Digital Labs and Chief Innovation officer at Compass Group Canada. Compass is the world’s largest hospitality, retail and support services company. He is responsible for technology, innovation, digital marketing and consumer experience strategy, across industry verticals such as; Retail, Sports, Entertainment, Business and Industry, Healthcare, Education, Oil and Gas among others. Humza is also a member of the Board of Directors @ the CIO Association of Canada.

Information and Technology Council

The Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) is a not-for-profit national centre of expertise for the digital economy. Through trusted research, innovative talent solutions, and practical policy advice, ICTC fosters innovative and globally competitive Canadian industries empowered by a talented and diverse digital workforce.

Inka Bari

Business Technology Transformation Leader with Comprehensive Expertise in the financial industry. Drives multi-million dollar revenue growth by championing complex business and technology transformations focusing on Data and Analytics with flawless execution. Inka bridges the gap between business requirements and technology specifications by being the Influencer and Trusted Advisor. Facilitates those difficult discussions that reap resolution and consensus - allowing teams to effectively deliver initiatives aligned with vision. Develops and mentors team members into leaders.

Ira Sopic

Ira Sopic is currently focused on how insurance carriers are integrating AI and advanced analytics into their existing processes to increase efficiency and revolutionize the way they work. This includes the key partnerships that the industry is creating and a clear picture of how the future will be shaped.

Italia Corigliano

AVP, Marketing and Communications, ITWC, publisher of ITWorldCanada.com. 20+ year background in Marketing and Communications.

Jacques Latour

Jacques Latour is the chief technology officer at the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA). Latour joined CIRA in March 2010, bringing with him more than 20 years of experience in the IT sector. As chief technology officer, Latour is responsible for the research and development of products and services, a critical function in pursuit of CIRA’s new strategic direction.

John Fox

John Glowacki

John Glowacki has the distinction of improving customer satisfaction and exceeding business objectives within the Governments of Canada and the United States, most recently as COO of Shared Services Canada (SSC; with direct procurement authority as the largest economic buyer of ICT in Canada), a fiduciary role as CTO of the 3rd largest managed service provider in the world supporting many governments and industries, and leading very large scale turnarounds in the private and public sectors. John has lived and worked in North and South America, East and West Europe, and Asia.

Ken Metcalfe

Ken is CIPS Director I.T. and Corporate Privacy Officer, and has been a member since 1978. Since 2003 he has been CIPS external liaison, representing both votes for ICCP.org. Ken also serves as President, Board of Directors at the ICCP since January 2013.

Kerry Augustine

Kerry Augustine is an Information Systems Professional (I.S.P.) with over 20 years experience in the Information Technology (IT) industry that spans a variety professional, business, and government organizations. Kerry is currently the Director of Application Management Services for the Manitoba Government, Business Transformation and Technology (BTT) and Co-Chair of the Canadian Cyber Defence Challenge (CDC). The CDC is a Canadian Not-for-Profit organization and it's goal is to educate and empower the local community to use the Internet safely and securely at home, work, and school, protecting the individual, the networks they connect to, and Canada's shared digital assets.Kerry is passionate about working with students and developing the next generation of industry professionals and leaders – particularly in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).

Kevin Pashuk

Kevin Pashuk blogs regularly about his life as a Chief Information Officer in the educational sector. His writings cover educational technology, IT leadership, and whatever else might be on his mind. Some people even agree with him.

Larry Down

Lyle Bunn

Lyle Bunn is an independent analyst, advisor and educator in the digital media industry, who has been focused on dynamic place-based media for the past 13 years of his 39-year career in information technologies and telecommunications. He has assisted over 300 firms in their planning, execution and optimization of location-based digital media and has helped to train over 10,000 professionals. Lyle has received 6 major industry recognitions including an Honorary Doctorate for his contributions to industry education and he was named as one of the 11 Most Influential People in the industry by DigitalSignageToday and one of the industry Innovators and Influencers by Sign & Digital Graphics Magazine. He has published over 280 articles, whitepapers and guidebooks on related subjects and has served as editor of dynamic Media supplements in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and The National Post. He serves on the advisory boards of the industry’s primary events and on the judging panel of several digital signage awards programs.

Mark Burdon

Mark Burdon is a technology professional based in Barrie, Ontario. He has worked in sales and marketing for companies including IBM, Rogers, Open Text and gShift. Mark has provided B2B content marketing services to companies including Intuit, Welcome Networks, and Startup Canada. He is a freelance writer with Cloudworker Solutions.

Mark Nunnikhoven

Mark Nunnikhoven has spent the last 20+ years working in government and private sector to improve the state of security. He is one of the foremost experts on cloud technologies and cybersecurity issues. With a focus on modernizing security practices and usable security systems at scale, Mark works with organizations around the world. Often quoted in the media both at home in Canada and internationally, Mark is an engaging public speaker, an O'Reilly video author, an accomplished computer scientist, and security leader.

Mark Olson

Mark has been an IT leader in primary and secondary support, training, application implementation and operation, and IT infrastructure and operations. He is currently active as a Project Manager and business operator. He has worked in the fields of Municipal Government, Health Care, NGO's, Energy, Agriculture and Transportation. He has held roles on the board of CIPS Calgary, and is a past president of CIPS Alberta.Mark's interest, and focus, is on the pragmatic and personal aspects of IT; how do we make organizations and individuals ready to make use of the systems that are provided, and what is necessary to ensure that systems advance the interests of the organizations and individuals that pay for them?

Mat Pancha

Mat Panchalingam is Sr. Director of IT & Operations at ITWC.

Michael Ball

Over 25 years in IT, from hardware engineer through software developer and Network Administrator. From Security Architect to CISO at a prominent Canadian Insurance Company. I've managed very large teams, I've managed very small teams.. I've stood alone. But year after year, there's always been something great around the corner to keep me on my game.Specialties: Identity and Access Management Infrastructure and processes, Risk Management, Network Security Architecture.

Michael Gladstone

Michael Gladstone is Director, Information Systems & Technology at Condrain Group. Areas of expertise include strategy and business-IT alignment. He earned his MBA from the Schulich School of Business and a BSc in Computer Science from York University. Michael is the chair of the Technology Committee of the CIO Association of Canada and the President of Mettle Multisport Triathlon Club.

Michael Issaev

Michael is an accomplished senior IT leader with global IT experience across a number of sectors. He’s dedicated to moving businesses forward through digital transformation. Currently, he is the CTO for Patient News, a leader in healthcare marketing and advertising.

Mike Gifford

Mike Gifford is the founder of OpenConcept Consulting Inc, which he started in 1999. Since then, he has been particularly active in developing and extending open source content management systems to allow people to get closer to their content. Before starting OpenConcept, Mike had worked for a number of national NGOs including Oxfam Canada and Friends of the Earth.As a techie at heart, Mike likes to get into the code when he gets the chance. Being ultimately concerned about the implementation and implications of the technology, he is able to envision how your website can become a much more powerful communications tool for your organization.Mike has been involved with accessibility issues since the early 1990's and is a strong advocate for standards based design.

Nicole Simone

Nicole Simone is a writer, web developer and founder of canine welfare group, Redemption Dogs.

NPD Group

The NPD Group provides market information and business solutions that drive better decision-making and better results. The world’s leading brands rely on us to help them get the right products in the right places for the right people. Practice areas include automotive, beauty, consumer electronics, entertainment, fashion, food / foodservice, home, luxury, mobile, office supplies, sports, technology, toys, and video games.

Pat d'Entremont

Pat d’Entremont is a Co-owner of Nicom IT Solutions of Halifax, where he is responsible for new business development. Pat is very active in the Halifax Business Community, and is currently serving on the Transportation Committee of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce, as well as being Chair of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters’ Nova Scotia Division.

Robert Brennan Hart

Robert Brennan Hart is the Founder and CEO of the Canadian Cloud Council and currently sits on the United Nation's Global Digital Council and DocuSign Global Advisory Board.

Robert Cordray

Robert Cordray is a former business consultant and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience and a wide variety of knowledge in multiple areas of the industry. He currently resides in the Southern California area and spends his time helping consumers and business owners alike try to be successful.

Roberta Kowalishin

Roberta Kowalishin, a strategist and technology leader, is currently Director of Technology (CTO) at DIALOG Design, a multi-disciplinary, international design firm. DIALOG’s ethos is that design can, and should, meaningfully improve the wellbeing of our communities and the built environment we all share. Roberta brings broad technology strategy and implementation experience as CIO/CTO in industries that are being disrupted by technology: consumer news media (CIO at NY based Hearst Newspapers), cybersecurity and records management (Director in PwC's privacy and forensics practices), satellite network services (VP, Technology at CapRock Communications) . This experience and her passion for challenging people and companies to re-invent how technology interacts with their environments has helped DIALOG, as a design firm, simplify, streamline and trust digital technology take full advantage of new ways to collaborate across geographies, disciplines and project teams. Roberta holds an MBA from MIT, a Bcom Economics from McGill and Harvard’s Graduate Cybersecurity Certificate. She has been cited as a next generation CIO in the Wall Street Journal and been quoted Business Week, Wall Street and Technology and Information Week. Most recently, she authored a blog for consumers with plain English advice about how to stay safe in an insecure cyber world.

Robin Hornby

Robin Hornby PMP is President of Tempest Management in Calgary. Robin’s career began in the UK as a systems engineer. He moved to Canada in 1977, and worked in the telecommunications sector before embarking on a 30-year project and delivery management career in the IT professional services business. Robin set up his consulting company in 1997, taught at Mount Royal University for ten years, and is the author of three books. He is a long-time member of PMI, has presented frequently at PMI symposia, ProjectWorld, and at client conferences. Robin now writes, consults, and conducts seminars that focus on aspects of project management he believes are neglected – commercial practice, project business management, and PM leadership to achieve project quality. www.tmipm.com

Ron Richard

Ron Richard, Quality, Information Technology and Enterprise Risk Management specialist, has earned professional designations from multiple countries, held positions at most any level, and acquired more than 30 years of relevant experience including related work done at the College of the North Atlantic. Ron is author of Inherent Quality Simplicity and the Inside Internal Control newsletter Modern Quality Management series.

Salman Khan

Salman Khan has an undergraduate degree in Computer Science and recently graduated with an MBA in Technology and Innovation from Ted Rogers School of Management. He is interested in learning about big data, analytics, and emerging technologies. Salman has recently completed a research project with author and Professor Murtaza Haider on the ROI of big data analytics. Salman tweets at @SalmanK84s.

Sandra Abuwalla

Sandra Abuwalla is a strategic digital Marketing Communications & Brand Marketing professional with extensive experience in North American and International B2B and B2C hi-tech markets, having worked at global organizations such as Samsung, HSBC Bank and TELUS. She has a great track record creating innovative digital marketing strategies and implementing tactics across vertical industries, to achieve brand recognition, thought leadership and business objectives. She is passionate about tech blogging, content development, copywriting, digital and social media, and journalism. She won the Samsung President’s Award for Project Excellence, the TELUS Employee of the Year for Community Service, and has served on the Executive Committee of the Peel Children’s Aid for over 5 years.

Sean Carruthers

Sean Carruthers is a freelance writer, video producer and host based in Toronto, Canada. Most recently, he was a Senior Producer at butterscotch.com, where he was responsible for the conception, writing, production and editing of a number of web video shows, including Lab Rats, How Do I?, Status Update, The Noob, and more.

Sherif Sheta

Sherif Sheta is a turnaround CIO and transformational IT leader who believes that information technology is achieving greater purpose within the corporate culture, becoming the competitive advantage, not merely an enabler of business objectives. He excels in the design, implementation, and execution of IT strategies that break down organizational silos, foster collaboration, convincingly build consensus, and drive positive change. Eminently relatable, Sherif leads by example, leveraging digital innovation to unleash creativity, generate new product ideas, heighten connectivity with customers, and grow the business.

Sikandar Aftab

Sikandar Aftab is a data-focused technology and business professional, helping drive critical business initiatives through technology-based solutions and integrations that meet stringent compliance, security and reporting requirements. Areas of expertise include cross-system analytics, cloud computing and vendor management. Sikandar currently works as a business intelligence and systems analyst in the healthcare finance sector in Toronto, Canada.

Software Reviews

We collect and analyze the most detailed reviews on enterprise software from real users to give you an unprecedented view into products and vendors before you buy.

Stephen Abraham

Stephen Abraham is the CIO and IT Director for the Medical Council of Canada, the organization that issues Licenciates for Physicians practicing medicine in Canada. Mr. Abraham has been a CIO for a decade. He has made many mistakes during his 30 years in IT, and has learned a few things along the way.

Stephen Ibaraki

Stephen Ibaraki Chairman and Managing General Partner REDDS Capital, Founder ITU ACM XPRIZE AI for Good Global Summit.. Globally unique with Chairman, Founder, Board roles in: Business/finance, successful Entrepreneurship, no.1 global Science orgs, UN innovation progs, top Industry-orgs/think tanks, no.1 Summits (acronym BE-SUNIS). 100+ global engagements guiding $10+ Trillion in sustainable investments.Stephen Ibaraki's philanthropic focus is on donating time/resources for non-profits advancing research, innovation, start-ups, science, entrepreneurship, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and UN ITU World Summit on the Information Society Action Lines. With over 100 senior executive roles, awards and recognitions, Stephen Ibaraki is an IT World writer (amongst the top monthly and tops yearly such as in 2015 with two of the top five blogs), retired multiple award winning internationally recognized tenured college educator (computing, math/business) & program convening chair / program research head, multiple award winning serial entrepreneur and executive board chairman. A few of his most recent roles include: Jury UN ITU Telecom World Global Innovation Awards; Invited editorial team UN ITU first Journal on innovation, first issue on AI; Chair UN ITU Telecom World session B2B MSMEs and MNCs innovation, collaboration; Invited contributor first UN ITU Emerge Report on ICT innovation and entrepreneurship for MSMEs; Jury 2017 CES LIDT 10Under20 global innovation awards; Organizing the first UN summit on AI June 2017 with UN ITU and XPRIZE, Founding Managing Partner REDDS Venture Investment Partners; IBM WATSON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE XPRIZE AMBASSADOR; Stephen is founding chairman UNESCO(UN)-founded-IFIP (International Federation for Information Processing representing 90+ countries and reaching ~1 million scientists and ICT professionals) Global Industry Council and vice-chair IFIP IP3 board, vice-chairman IFIP World CIO Forum, 2016-2018 co-chairman ACM practitioner board, 2016 founding chairman practitioner board marketing committee and 2011-2016 chair practitioner board professional development committee (Association for Computing Machinery--official IFIP international member representative, largest and most respected international computing science, research, education, innovation professional association well known for their AM Turing Award (Nobel of computing) with 1 million USD prize, 1.5 millions users digital library, 2 million reach, learning center, Applicative conference, Queue magazine, 200 conferences/events, 78 publications/news, 37 Special Interest Groups); past national board chairman and president Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS--Canada's oldest government chartered professional association and official Canadian representative to IFIP); invited speaker WSIS + 10 United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting; opening session chairman and keynote United Nations Global e-GOV Forum International Scientific Practical Conference; keynote/speaker 2016 38th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE--largest premier conference on SE sponsored by ACM, IEEE-cs, SIGSOFT, TCSE) / 3 sessions IFIP World Computer Congress / 2017 UN Global e-Gov Forum and conference; invited speaker founding chair technology advisory council Financial Services Roundtable FinTech Ideas Festival (FSR: 100 top Fortune CEOs, 92.7 Trillion in managed assets, 1.2 Trillion revenue); invited speaker founding chair advisory board Digital Africa; invited advisor to board within IEEE; invited advisor TEDxLA; in 2016, Chairing moderator speaker, 1 session on financial services and three AI sessions at three flagship conferences and featured in the WTSA snapshot summary report going to 77,000 leaders in government, industry, academia: UN ITU World Telecom Standardization Assembly (held every 4 years); UN ITU Telecom World; UN ITU Kaleidoscope, Chairing the awards committee; ... For lifetime achievement, he is an ICT nominated founding CIPS Fellow, founding NPA Distinguished Fellow, founding GITCA global Fellow, CIPS Hall of Fame. He is the only recipient, in its 40 year history, of the Computing Canada (the largest, oldest and most respected publication), IT Leadership Lifetime Achievement Award selected from nearly 1 million professionals in business / industry / government / academia / media / non-profits. Judges including leaders from the ICTC government sector council, academia, media, business, industry, sector non-profits. The diversity of awards also include: UNITED NATIONS ITU WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society) Prizes 2016 Champion for the project "Creation of the Global Industry Council”, Silver Core Award 2016 for exceptional service nominated by the IFIP President, ASTBC Lifetime Advanced Technology Award for innovation recognized by the premier, NPA / Interop (largest interoperability international conference) global IT industry's first international Awards for Professionalism Career Achievement Award, CIPS career achievement Gary Hadford Award for innovation, over 10 Microsoft Awards (MVP 2006-2017 including top 5 selection as MVP, top two profiled in 2016, top 7 as blogger, ...), Global Gold Awards),...many more. He's also a first recipient of the IT Hero Award from the Information Technology Association Canada (more than 30,000 businesses in $150B ICT industry) and Government Industry Canada. For more information see Ibaraki's official CIPS Fellows profile: http://www.cips.ca/stephen-ibaraki --- For a personal profile see Ibaraki's LinkedIn profile: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/sibaraki

Tamer Marzouk

A management consultant, with 18 years of experience in diverse capacities, Tamer Marzouk began his career as an IT professional. Marzouk is an author, speaker, and lecturer. Marzouk holds MBA and M.COMP degrees with research focused on change management and human behavior in ERP implementations.

Test Test

tester

William Turgeon

William has been in the computer industry since 1970, first working on industrial process controllers as a Certified Electronics Technologist. He worked with early 'personal computers' (pre-IBM) like the Osborne; TRS-80's and Kaypro's, and trained in networking with WANG PC’s in the early 1980’s, and Novell in 1985.Since then, William has been involved in the IT industry as a Professional Consultant, Senior Systems Engineer and Technical Architect. He holds a BSc. in Computer Engineering and also holds a large number of trade certifications including: Microsoft - MCP; MCP+I; MCSE; MCSE+I; MCDST; MCDBA; MCTS & MCITP Novell - CNA; CNE; ECNE & MCNE CompTIA - A+; Network+; iNet+; Server+; Project+ & Security+. He is ITIL certified and is also a SFIA Accredited Consultant. Finally, he holds the Registered Professional designations, I.S.P. and ITCP, issued by the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS).He currently contracts as ComputerWise Consulting Inc.

Yogi Schulz

Yogi Schulz has over 40 years of Information Technology experience in various industries. Yogi works extensively in the petroleum industry to select and implement financial, production revenue accounting, land & contracts, and geotechnical systems. He manages projects that arise from changes in business requirements, from the need to leverage technology opportunities and from mergers. His specialties include IT strategy, web strategy, and systems project management.