Lu Lu, Associate Professor, School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management and Wangoo Lee, Graduate Fellow are partnering with DIF to explore the role of AI avatars in hospitality. The Embodied Intelligence project will involve comparison and effects of AI avatars on the efficacy of hospitality interactions.
IBIT News
Sondra Barbour appointed IBIT Advisory Board Chair
Sondra L. Barbour, Retired Executive Vice President, Information Systems & Global Solutions, Lockheed Martin Corporation
In her newly appointed role as Advisory Board Chair, Sondra L. Barbour aims to continue strengthening IBIT’s student development, research, and industry partnerships.
Since starting as a founding board member in 2005, I have focused on raising awareness about the quality of the education students receive and the career paths they can pursue. In recent years, we have also prioritized mentoring students and connecting them to industry executives, as well as researching emerging technologies.
She is proud of the launch of the Digital Innovation Foundry, where “industry and the school come together to work on solving really tough real-world problems.” Barbour also helped to start IBIT’s Executive-in-Residence program, which connects students, faculty, and senior industry leaders.
Throughout her career at Lockheed Martin, Barbour gained extensive technology leadership experience, from information systems design and cybersecurity to supply chain oversight and risk management. Fortune magazine selected her twice as one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Business.” She is a Temple University Fox alumna, with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Accounting.
Barbour brings notable experience to the chair position, with past and current board service at NiSource, AGCO, Perspecta Inc., and 3M Company. She intends to build on the legacy of former founding chair Bruce Fadem.
I’m very excited that Bruce is remaining as a board member. He did a great job establishing a formal structure for the board, and we’ll continue operating like a corporate board to make the best recommendations.
Noting that leadership change is always a good moment for reflection, she plans to engage board members for their insights on IBIT’s future.
I want to ensure everyone has a voice and they’re heard. The members of this board are tremendous, with a huge amount of experience and diverse industry perspectives. We all have something significant to contribute.
Learn more about Sondra Barbour
David McGettigan, SVP at Pfizer
Early in David McGettigan’s career, he saw firsthand how digital innovation can transform daily life. In the 1990s, he led the creation of Mobil Oil’s Speedpass electronic payment device, which enabled millions of gas station customers to pay at the pump without cash or presenting a credit card. The popular radio-frequency identification (RFID) device was deployed 16 years before anyone ever heard of Apple Pay.
Beginning my career at ExxonMobil taught me how to work at large scale while innovating through leveraging technology
After leading many e-business achievements in the energy sector, such as the direct distribution of motor oil online to racing enthusiasts, he decided to change industries.
I wanted to do something that was more for the greater good and in a field that was intrinsically rewarding.
He made the move to pharmaceuticals 24 years ago. Currently, as Senior Vice President at Pfizer, he oversees enterprise resource programs, cloud and network services, and technology integration for acquisitions.
The ability to leverage technology and bring innovative medicines to patients is the primary driver for me and my team. It’s also very gratifying because we get to create these new capabilities and then observe the outcomes and advantages.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, he served as Pfizer’s head of digital manufacturing. McGettigan’s team created the patent-pending Digital Operations Center, which provides end-to-end visibility across the entire manufacturing network, resolving issues in real time while accelerating and scaling production. This capability became crucial during the pandemic and was leveraged to deliver hundreds of millions of vaccine doses globally.
McGettigan has taught at Temple University for more than two decades, both online as well as in person. In his Management Information Systems 5001 course, he offers MBA students a foundational overview of how technology impacts people in all business roles and shares how leaders can utilize technology for competitive advantage.
In serving on the IBIT Advisory Board, he sees an opportunity to engage with many more students.
IBIT ensures that students have the skills to meet the demands they’re going to face when they graduate,” he says. “I want to apply what I have learned in my career and play a role in providing help to students through scholarships, career counseling, and recruiting.
Digital Innovation Foundry Scholarship 2024
Digital Innovation Foundry (DIF) Scholarships are awarded to high performing students who demonstrate exceptional achievement and accomplishment. Cole Roberts, Ayush Gupta, and Yuval Shimoni are the recipients of the Fall 2024 endowed DIF Scholarships.
Cole Roberts
Stewart Family Endowed Scholarship
Fall 2024
Ayush Gupta
Fadem Endowed Scholarship
Fall 2024
Yuval Shimoni
Niraj & Cara Patel Endowed Scholarship
Fall 2024
Mastering IT Investment Strategy
Wednesday, October 2, 2024, 12:00 – 2:00pm
Temple University
Digital Innovation Foundry Workshop Series
Ever wonder how companies determine the next big Information Technology (IT) investment? It starts by examining performance, peer comparison, and then building a business case. This hands-on workshop will help you learn how companies align their IT spending with strategy and business value, using the Technology Business Management (TBM) framework. The workshop will improve your ability to contribute effectively to digital transformation initiatives by ensuring transparency and driving cost optimization. The workshop will cover key aspects of the TBM framework, including service costing and value measurement, providing students with a comprehensive understanding of how to apply these principles in real-world scenarios.
Workshop Leaders
Director
KPMG
Chief Information Officer
Kyndryl
Attendance
Space is limited to 20 Temple University students.
Throughout the workshop, students will engage in an in-depth exploration of the TBM framework, learning to categorize data accurately based on TBM, which will enable for an accurate comparison against TBM’s published benchmarks. Through analysis, students will identify the outliers and define a solution to drive down the costs. Once the students define a solution, they will build an assumption and lever-based business case, which will outline how to take the defined solution, estimate the cost to implement, and the run cost of the service post implementation.
By the end of the workshop, students will have acquired practical experience in applying the TBM framework to achieve transparency, drive value in IT investments, and craft a business case that effectively communicates the benefits of initiatives to stakeholders.
Laptop required.
