Haas to Bring Together Top CIOs for Seminar, Annual Award, Sept. 20

Chief information officers from such companies as Chevron, Kroger, and Raytheon will attend a ceremony to award the second annual Fisher-Hopper Prize for Lifetime Achievement in CIO Leadership on Sept. 20 at the Claremont Resort. The event, sponsored by the Haas School's Fisher CIO Leadership Program, will follow a half-day seminar for CIOs at Haas featuring executives from Gap, Chevron, Fannie Mae, Gartner, and Novartis.

A total of 25 CIOs were initially nominated for the Fisher-Hopper Award. A panel of six judges finally winnowed the cast to one winner, to be announced at an evening banquet, from four finalists: Chris Perretta of State Street Bank, Louie Ehrlich of Chevron, Chris Hjelm of Kroger, and Rebecca Rhoads of and Raytheon.

"It was a tough choice this year," said Jim Spitze, executive director of Haas' Fisher CIO Leadership. “All four finalists are hugely respected, both within their companies and within their industries. All are actively engaged in improving their profession. Thank heavens the team of 12 internationally acclaimed CIOs was finally able to break the tie."

The winner will be publicly awarded by last year's winner, Filippo Passerini of Proctor & Gamble.

Passerini was credited for changing the way CIOs view and implement information technology. He led the integration of P&G’s IT and services groups to form one of the largest and most progressive shared services organizations in the world. He also was one of the first CIOs to deploy an “open innovation” strategy of outsourcing IT and other services.

Winning criteria dictate that the CIOs must be "wicked smart" and have had a "massive and enduring" positive impact on their company and their industry. The goal of the award is to credit CIOs who take the role from merely managing a cost center to actively helping to generate growth and profits.

The award was named in memory of Haas alumnus and Gap founder Don Fisher, BS 51, and Max Hopper, who led the development of American Airlines' Sabre online reservation system, which transformed the airline industry.

Before the evening award ceremony, CIOs will gather at the Clark Kerr Capus in the afternoon for a seminar titled "Technology-Enabled Business Breakthroughs," featuring talks by top IT executives from Gap, Chevron, and Novartis Molecular Diagnostics as well as a panel discussion.

For more information about the events visit fisheritcenter.haas.berkeley.edu/award2013.html.

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