2013 San Francisco CIO Executive Leadership Summit: Transformational CIOs Are Indispensable Business Leaders in Complex 21st Century Digital Economy

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Companies with strong, dynamic and business-ready CIOs enjoy significant competitive advantages in highly complex global markets and IT vendors that work closely with CIOs develop more profitable business relationships. Those are among the key messages delivered at the 2013 San Francisco CIO Executive Leadership Summit, an invitation-only event for top-tier IT industry leaders.

"In today's highly networked digital economy, the role of the CIO is dramatically more important than ever before," said Hunter Muller, President and CEO of HMG Strategy, LLC. "The CIO's role as transformational leader and indispensable business partner has become absolutely critical for driving growth and value in modern markets. Attributes of transformational CIOs include credibility with the CEO and integration with the executive team; superior interpersonal and communication skills; and the ability to mesh business requirements across the organization with technology and innovation to create both a short and long-term roadmap."

CIOs and senior IT executives from numerous market-leading organizations attended the summit, held March 12^th at the Four Seasons Silicon Valley Hotel in Palo Alto. Keynote speakers and keynote panelists included:

• Ramon Baez, SVP & Global CIO, Hewlett-Packard Company
• Doug Landis, VP, Sales Productivity, Box
• Chris McGugan, VP & GM, Emerging Products & Technology, Avaya
• Kimberly Stevenson, VP & CIO, Intel Corporation

Additional speakers and panelists included Sandy Bakken, Information Officers Practice, Russell Reynolds Associates; Dr. Alexander Bockelmann, SVP & CIO, Fireman's Fund Insurance Company; Ron Bodkin, Founder and CEO, Think Big Analytics; Brian Bonner, VP & CIO, Texas Instruments; Ryan Bulkoski, Senior Associate, Heidrick & Struggles; Scott Cadwalader, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Diligent Partners, LLC; Bob Concannon, Senior Client Partner, Korn/Ferry International; Walter Curd, VP & CIO, Maxim Integrated Products; Scott Fenton, VP & CIO, Wind River Systems; Doug Harr, CIO, Splunk, Inc.; Bask Iyer, SVP & CIO, Juniper Networks; Sheila Jordan, SVP Communication and Collaboration IT, Cisco Systems, Inc.; Mike Kail, VP IT Operations, Netflix; Tony Leng, Managing Director and CIO Practice Leader, Diversified Search; Mario Leone, Managing Director and Founder, Apri Technology Partners; Gerri Martin-Flickinger, SVP & CIO, Adobe Systems Incorporated; David Smoley, SVP & CIO, Flextronics International; John Strain, EVP & CIO, Williams-Sonoma, Inc.; Ricardo Sunderland, Global FinTech Leader, Egon Zehnder International; Mark Tonnesen, SVP & CIO, Electronic Arts; and Marshall Wells, Technology Consulting Lead, Accenture.

The summit was produced by HMG Strategy, a leading global provider of innovative IT leadership, management and technology support. Sponsor Partners of the summit included Avaya, Box, Accenture, Canon, Code 42, Netuitive, Okta, Rackspace, ServiceNow, Think Big Analytics, Tibco and Workday. Supporting Partners included Comcast Business, QlikView and Riverbed. Associate Partners included Diligent Partners, Diversified Search and Fulcrum Associates. Strategic Partners included Egon Zehnder International, Heidrick & Struggles, Korn/Ferry International, Russell Reynolds Associates and Spencer Stuart. John Wiley & Sons is the firm's global media partner.

"We are building the strongest CIO community on the planet," said Mr. Muller. "We deliver world-class value for the IT industry through our thought-leadership, proprietary research, International Advisory Board and executive leadership series."

About HMG Strategy

HMG Strategy is a leading global provider of innovative IT leadership, management and technology support to CIO/Senior IT executives by focusing on the 360-degree needs of the CIO/IT Leader. Our events and services raise thought leadership, knowledge sharing and networking to the highest level. HMG Strategy provides access to an international network of nearly 50,000 CIO/Senior IT executives, industry experts and world-class thought leaders. For more information about HMG Strategy and its unique portfolio of CIO/IT leadership resources, visit www.hmgstrategy.com or contact Cathy Fell at 203-221-2702 or via e-mail at [email protected]  

SOURCE HMG Strategy, LLC