Laurel Miller

JOHN TURNER

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LEADER AWARD

Turner, Vice President and CIO, Information Technology, leads the global information technology organization at 3M. In this role, he oversees an array of 3M’s global IT functions, from infrastructure and applications to client-facing and digital-commerce solutions. He leads a team of more than 1,600 3Mers and 2,000 professional services resources.

Since assuming his role in 2013, Turner and his team have contributed significantly to 3M—rationalizing more than 3,000 applications with primary area ERPs, standardizing processes and reducing cost to serve with an end-to-end SAP solution. As part of 3M’s business transformation, his team has also established a robust technology governance structure and implemented new cloud solutions, global service models and digital commerce solutions.

Turner joined 3M in 1990 and has served in a variety of IT and financial roles with the company. Most recently, he was director of 3M’s global IT infrastructure services group.

Prior to joining 3M, he served in various finance roles at Honeywell.

Turner holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and marketing from the University of Minnesota, and is a Certified Professional Contracts Manager.

EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL IT AWARDS

JAMES RHEE

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INNOVATOR AWARD

James Rhee, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Ashley Stewart, is an impact-focused entrepreneur, investor, operator and educator. As both CEO and investment firm founder, Mr. Rhee has generated market-leading returns by creating bespoke capital and operational solutions through the contemporaneous application of algorithmic, technological and cultural change. He has a uniquely diverse network and knowledge base spanning the private equity, retail/consumer, venture and media/technology communities. At Ashley Stewart, as Chairman and CEO, Mr. Rhee has authored and executed upon an innovative complement of CRM, digital and organizational changes that have transformed a twice bankrupt, unprofitable brick-and-mortar retailer with decades of operating losses into an industry leader founded upon a values-based, social commerce paradigm. FirePine Group, the investment firm he founded in 2009, has invested the capital of some of the world’s most sophisticated investors and their family offices to successfully fuel transformative and impactful change in multiple enterprises, including Ashley Stewart.

Prior to this, Mr. Rhee was a senior investment professional at two leading, Boston-based investment firms, one specializing in growth and the other focused on distress. Mr. Rhee has played a leadership role in multiple platforms, including the carve-out of the Meow Mix brand from Ralston Purina, the purchase and then turnaround of Murray’s Discount Auto Stores from a bank group, the growth catalyst investment in Mattress Firm and the turnaround of Ultra Diamonds.

Mr. Rhee is a visiting lecturer at Duke Law School and teaches his proprietary valuation and happiness class at leading educational institutions and professional organizations across the country. He is a regional winner of the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the recipient of one of five 2016 Power Player Awards granted by the National Retail Federation, and the 2017 recipient of the Black Retail Action Group Business Achievement Award. He is a member of the board of the National Retail Federation.

Mr. Rhee received his AB with honors from Harvard College and his JD with honors from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He lives outside Boston with his wife and three daughters. He is a former high school teacher.

EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL IT AWARDS

DAVE KOTCH

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI

Dave Kotch, Vice President & Chief Information Officer, began his career with FMC in 1984. Since then, he has held various positions within the Information Technology (IT) organization. Dave was instrumental in leading FMC’s SAP implementation in the late 1990’s and formed FMC’s SAP competency center, which provided support for the SAP systems following the implementation. In 2002, Dave was promoted to Director of Information Technology and served in that role until he was appointed Chief Information Officer in 2007.

During his tenure as Chief Information Officer, Dave and his organization have helped FMC complete multiple acquisitions and divestitures which transformed FMC into a leading global agricultural chemical company.

Dave is a member of the Mercy Health Systems Board of Directors and its compliance subcommittee. He is also a member the Chemical Information Technology Center’s CIO organization and the CIO Executive Summit, belongs to various business associations and resides on several boards within his local community.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems with a minor in Economics from King’s College, and a Master of Business Administration degree in Marketing from Temple University.

EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL IT AWARDS

Tech leaders Turner, Rhee, and Kotch honored at Eighteenth Annual Fox IT awards

Temple University’s Fox School of Business will honor three top technology leaders at its 18^th Annual Information Technology (IT) Awards.

This premier event, held April 10 at Temple’s Mitten Hall, is organized for Greater Philadelphia’s technology community by the Fox School’s renowned Department of Management Information Systems (MIS) and Temple’s Institute for Business and Information Technology (IBIT).

This year, IBIT recognizes: John Turner of 3M; James Rhee of Ashley Stewart; and Dave Kotch of FMC Corporation.

“The IT industry is rapidly evolving and requires adept and flexible leaders like John, James, and Dave,” said Dr. M. Moshe Porat, Dean of the Fox School. “That’s why we are proud to honor them as this year’s Fox IT Awards recipients. They join a rich pantheon of industry leaders who have been recognized at this annual event, and their example will serve the future of the industry and the current students at the Fox School.”

John Turner will receive the Fox IT Leader Award, given annually to a person who demonstrates leadership in the use and development of IT in business. Turner is Vice President and Chief Information Officer at 3M, a global science company producing innovations that improve lives daily.

James Rhee will receive the Fox IT Innovator Award, given annually in recognition of innovation in the application of IT to create business opportunity. Rhee, serves as Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ashley Stewart, a leading multimedia fashion brand at the forefront of omni-channel retail and social commerce.

Dave Kotch will receive the Fox IT Award for Distinguished Alumni, given annually to a graduate of the Fox School of Business in recognition of a distinguished career in IT. Kotch is Vice President and Chief Information Officer of FMC Corporation, one of the world’s leading specialty companies focused on agriculture and lithium technologies.

“Our Fox School MIS students can look to this year’s three deserving recipients as role models,” said Dr. David Schuff, Professor and Chair of the Department of Management Information Systems at Temple’s Fox School of Business. “They are examples to our students of how IT leadership shapes the future of business.”

Added Dr. Munir Mandviwalla, IBIT’s Executive Director and Associate Professor of MIS at the Fox School: “Digital transformation is changing every industry. Consistent with its industry engagement mission, IBIT is proud to identify and recognize exceptional digital transformation leaders in the manufacturing, retail, and chemical industries.”

Recipients of the 2018 IT Awards are nominated and selected by a committee comprised of senior leadership at the Fox School of Business, the Fox IT Advisory Board, and previous recipients.

For more information on the current Fox IT Awards, visit http://ibit.temple.edu/itawards/ and see previous recipients at http://ibit.temple.edu/programs/it-awards/

Contact:
Christopher A. Vito
Temple University
215-204-4115, cvito@temple.edu

The Cyber-Based View of the Firm

The Institute for Business and Information Technology (IBIT) is pleased to announce the release of The IBIT Report –The Cyber-Based View of the Firm, by Tamara Schwartz and David Schuff, Temple University.