Leading Chief Information Officers Named as Finalists for the 2011 Award for Innovation Leadership Given at MIT Sloan CIO Symposium

The 8^th Annual MIT Sloan CIO Symposium today announced three finalists for the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium 2011 Award for Innovation Leadership. The winner will be announced at the Symposium on May 18, 2011. The theme of this year’s Symposium is “Beyond the Crossroads: How Will the CIO Role Evolve in the Digital Business World?”

The MIT Sloan CIO Symposium Award for Innovation Leadership honors Chief Information Officers (CIOs) who lead their organizations to pursue the innovative use of Information Technology (IT) and business processes to deliver business value.

The MIT Sloan CIO Symposium 2011 Award finalists are:

• Marco Antonio Orellana Silva of CODELCO-Chile
  Mr. Orellana serves as Executive Manager of Information, Communication & Automation Technology (IC&A) at CODELCO-Chile, the world’s largest copper producer. He created and implemented DIGITAL CODELCO, an IC&A-based vision for the mining industry. His current and future vision for DIGITAL CODELCO has won wide support from IC&A industry leaders worldwide. Mr. Silva was recognized as “Manager of the Year” in 2007 by the Center for the Study of Information Technology (CETIUC) at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and “CIO of the Year” in 2010 by the Chilean technology community.

• Tony Young of Informatica
  Mr. Young, Chief Information Officer of Informatica, is responsible for the strategic direction of the company’s global information systems and technology infrastructure. During his tenure at Informatica he and the IT department have won prestigious industry awards, including the 2006 CIO Decision Midmarket Leadership Award, the 2006 Ventana Research IT Performance Management Leadership Award and the 2007 100 Best Places to Work in IT by ComputerWorld.

• Clifford Gronauer of the Missouri State Highway Patrol
  Mr. Gronauer is Chief Information Officer for the Missouri State Highway Patrol, supporting nearly 10,000 criminal justice professionals statewide, around the clock. He is also a member of the State of Missouri Information Technology Advisory Board.

The Award for Innovation Leadership ceremony will take place during the 8^th Annual MIT Sloan CIO Symposium from 4:45 pm to 5:15 pm in the MIT Kresge Auditorium on Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at MIT in Cambridge, MA. Professor Glen L. Urban, Dean Emeritus, MIT Sloan, will present the award.

After two rounds of intense review, a panel of judges that includes CIOs, academic researchers and IT professionals, selected three finalists who exhibit the key traits of a CIO leader:

• Trusted Advisor - to the CEO, CFO, and other senior executives. Incorporates IT into business decision-making by educating business executives on IT potential, managing risk and participating in key operational and executive committees.
• Business Leader - Intimately aware of business challenges, competitive landscape, and the organization's core strengths. Able to identify opportunities to improve business performance and deliver business value through the innovative use of IT and business processes.
• Strong Communicator - articulates a vision for IT-enabled innovation and works across the organization and with external stakeholders to gain support for this vision. Collaborates to identify, secure resources for and achieve organizational alignment to enable innovations.
• Proven Manager - delivers core IT services, using internal staff and external services, within budget and staff constraints. Measures and reports IT performance against business-oriented metrics. Recognized among peers as an effective manager.

A list of the 2011 Award for Innovation Leadership judges is available at http://www.mitcio.com/award.

The agenda of the 8^th Annual MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is available at www.mitcio.com/agenda.

About the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium

The MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is the premier global event for CIOs and senior IT executives to become better business leaders. In one day, CIOs and senior IT executives receive actionable information that enables them to meet the challenges of today’s changing global economy. The annual event offers a day of interactive learning and thought-provoking discourse on the future of technology, best practices, and business that is not available anywhere else. The MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is organized and developed by a team from the MIT Sloan Alumni Club of Boston, the MIT Center for Digital Business and the Boston Chapter of the Society for Information Management. Visit www.mitcio.com for more information and registration.

To stay connected to the community developing around the Symposium, please join The Global CIO & Executive IT Group (An MIT Sloan CIO Group), which can be found on Linkedin.com: http://www.linkedin.com/groupInvitation?groupID=1719457. Follow Symposium updates on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mitciosymposium.

Media Note:

Media interested in obtaining a press pass or speaking with any of the 2011 Award for Innovation Leadership finalists should contact Christen Graham or Rachel Greenstein of Warner Communications at 978-526-1960.