IBIT News

CIO 2.0: Next generation of insights on digital business strategy

April 08, 2011

The Fox School’s Institute for Business and Information Technology in collaboration with the Special Issue on Digital Business Strategy of Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ) presents the Fox IT symposium: CIO 2.0: Next generation of insights on digital business strategy.

The symposium will integrate different points of views on how IT shapes and influences business strategy. As exponential advances in the price/performance of computing, storage, bandwidth, and software applications drive the next generation of digital technologies, it is time to rethink the role of IT strategy, from functional-level strategy aligned, but subordinate to business strategy, to a fusion between IT strategy and business strategy termed digital business strategy. The symposium will discuss how next-generation CIOs can take advantage of their deep knowledge of digital technology to take a leadership role in their firm’s formulation of business strategy.

Panelists

Andrea Anania, Retired, VP and CIO, CIGNA
Richard Cohen, Managing Director Principal, Deloitte
Bruce Fadem, Retired, VP and CIO, Wyeth
Jim Accardi, CIO, Education, Aramark
Edward Quinn, VP – Application Development, Hewlett-Packard

Moderator

Paul A. Pavlou, Associate Professor, Temple University

Niraj Patel appointed 2011 Executive-in-Residence

Niraj Patel, BBA ’90, President, ISGN, Partner, Witmer LLC, and Managing Director, Musser Consulting Group has been appointed “Executive in Residence” at the Fox School’s Management Information Systems (MIS) department and the Institute for Business and Information Technology for the 2011 year.

Mr. Patel was selected as Executive in Residence because of his stature in the field and his continued support for the Fox School. As part of the appointment, Mr. Patel will be spending several days through the year interacting with Fox School MIS students and faculty. Patel will be visiting Fox in March 2011 to start the program. “We are fortunate to have Niraj Patel, one of our most successful, entrepreneurial, and innovative alums as our Executive in Residence” said Munir Mandviwalla, associate professor and chair of the management information systems department at the Fox School of Business.

“As a proud Temple alum, I am very much looking forward to engaging with Fox School MIS faculty and students” Patel said. “The MIS faculty and students at Temple have an entrepreneurial spirit and focus on innovation that is closely aligned with my interests.”

Biography

Niraj Patel
President, ISGN
Partner, Witmer LLC and Managing Director, Musser Consulting Group

Niraj Patel is a senior business executive with a successful track record of uncovering a corporation’s hidden value and opportunities to create long-term strategic and innovative solutions to increase profitability and performance. His plans have included strategies to address organic growth, in-organic growth through acquisitions, investments, technology solutions and exit strategies. Patel has a passion for distinguishing where possibility does or does not exist in a business endeavor. His business expertise represents the culmination of 15 years focusing on growth strategies through innovation. His business acumen coupled with utilizing some of the most forward thinking business minds, enables him to assist international organizations with value innovation, calculated risk and exponential growth.

Patel currently serves as President of ISGN, a Partner of Witmer LLC and Managing Director for the Musser Consulting Group. As a multi-national/cross border expert, he has a strong client base in India and has completed large scale projects bridging nations. Patel works closely with his diverse clients including single product firms, medium size firms targeting rapid growth and international conglomerates. It’s their potential that drives Patel to engage their leaders to conceptualize and generate innovative ideas, analyze business strategies, and develop effective solutions, processes and procedures to produce streamlined profitable operations. His approach assists organizations accelerate growth and realize their fullest potential.

Patel is one of the founders of ISGN. ISGN has grown from 100 employees to 1,800 worldwide and customer base has increased to over 1,100. Previously Patel served as a founding member and Executive Vice President/CIO for GMAC Commercial Mortgage. As a member of the Executive Committee, he was a key contributor to the organization’s international growth by consistently delivering double-digit net income growth reaching as high as $341.6 million annually, increasing loan originations from $2 to $29.9 billion, building loan servicing from $5 to $276 billion.

Recognized as an award winning innovator and viewed as one of the leading technologists of his generation, Patel serves on numerous boards and panels, speaks at industry conferences and has been quoted by The Wall Street Journal and numerous commercial real estate, finance and technology publications. Patel’s community and professional memberships have included the Microsoft Executive Circle; Eastern Technology Council; the Board of Advisors of the Management Information Systems department at the Temple University Fox School of Business; the NPower CIO Advisory Council. and His executive board experience includes: the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) Board of Directors, EnableUS and MortgageRamp.

He has a BBA in Finance and MIS from Temple University and resides in suburban Philadelphia with his family.

About the Fox School’s Management Information Systems (MIS) department and Institute for Business and Information Technology (IBIT)

The Fox School’s MIS department offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs in information systems and includes more than 600 majors and minors and 12 faculty members. Ranked number 1 in the world for research in 2010 by the Association for Information Systems, and in the top 10 by The Chronicle of Higher Education and TechRepublic in 2008/2009, the MIS department is one of the youngest and most successful IT oriented departments in the U.S. The associated Institute for Business and Information Technology (IBIT) connects students and faculty with industry leaders through a membership structure, and provides project and professional development opportunities. For more information, visit community.mis.temple.edu or ibit.temple.edu

Center for Design and Innovation hosts DESIGNweek 2011 and inciteXchange

The Center for Design and Innovation hosted THE DESIGNweek challenge – North Broadband on March 14-17, 2011. DESIGNWeek is an annual student competition to transform ideas into actions. The Challenge brings together students from across the University to collaborate across disciplinary lines to create innovative solutions to address some of today’s most challenging urban issues. The Center also hosted the inaugural inciteXchange workshop on March 18, 2011.

Distinguished Speaker – Jack Hughes

The Fox School’s Institute for Business and Information Technology presents the Distinguished Speaker Series, featuring talks by leading professionals on essential business technology topics.

Jack Hughes

The Changing Nature of Work

Jack Hughes
Founder and Chairman
TopCoder, Inc.

February 10, 2011

About the event

The world of work is rapidly changing. The internet will have profound effects on how companies manage a highly diverse, mobile and gloabl workforce. Management models will undergo shifts to meet these new challenges and opportunities. Managers will need to develop new skill sets, measurement and motivation systems to engage these new models of work. Mr. Hughes will discuss these changes and their effects in the context of TopCoder–the world’s largest competitive software development community.

Biography

In November 2000, Jack Hughes founded TopCoder on the premise that talent and skill are the determinant factors in the quality and utility of software and software has become central to the global economy.

In both his own programming experience and as co-founder and chairman of Tallán Inc., a provider of web-enabled business solutions, Hughes recognized that while successful projects were driven by superior programming skills, the talent was unqualified and largely unrecognzied. TopCoder’s mission is to create objective ratings that place high value on the programming industry’s best and brightest, and build opportunity and community for programmers through ongoing programming tournaments and employer connections. Under Hughes’ tenure as chairman at Tallán Inc., the company was recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in North America four years in a row by consultancy firm Deloitte & Touche and by Inc. Magazine for its outstanding performance. In 2000, CMGI, Inc. acquired a majority ownership of the company.

Hughes holds a B.S. degree in computer science from Boston College. He is director and vice chair of the executive committee and chair of the strategy committee for the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation.

Attendance is free on a space available basis for qualified industry and academic professionals. For more information, please contact ibit@temple.edu.

Distinguished Speaker – Joe Spagnoletti

The Fox School’s Institute for Business and Information Technology presents the Distinguished Speaker Series, featuring talks by leading professionals on essential business technology topics.

Joseph C. Spagnoletti

Campbell’s IT Vision and Organizational Impacts

Joseph C. Spagnoletti
Senior Vice President
Chief Information Officer
Campbell Soup Company

October 13, 2010

About the event

The IT function in organizations is rapidly changing. IT roles are changing from technology to process – blurring lines with other functions. IT leader roles are shifting from traditional technology support to business process, portfolio management and change management. Campbell Soup and Joe Spagnoletti are leading the charge into this new much more enhanced and different role for IT in the organization. Learn best practices and change strategies from one of the most forward thinking IT leaders in industry.

Biography

Joseph Spagnoletti leads Campbell’s global information technology function, providing IT strategy to help Campbell meet its business goals. Since he joined Campbell in 1997 as Director-IT, Food Service, Joe has held several positions of increasing responsibility in global sales and marketing, supply chain, and research and development. Most recently, he was Vice President-IT for Campbell North America, where he successfully led several key projects, including the implementation of a trade management system and oversight of North American SAP implementations.

Previously, Joe spent seven years as an Information Technology Director with medical technology company Becton Dickinson, responsible for the medical device and acute care businesses. He began his career developing and implementing financial systems for a New York City software development firm.

Joe earned his Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Albright College. He serves on the Cooper Health System’s Audit/Ethics Committee. In 2004, he was recognized with Campbell’s Influence with Honor leadership award.

Attendance is free on a space available basis for qualified industry and academic professionals. For more information, please contact ibit@temple.edu.