Top CIOs to Gather at Haas to Explore Profession in Transition

Some of the world's most visionary chief information officers will come together at Haas Sept. 14 for a day of events focused on the position's evolving role within organizations.

The gathering will include "Renaissance CIOs" from such diverse companies as Cisco, Charles Schwab, Frito-Lay, Marriott, and Merrill Lynch as well as a panel discussion on where the CIO profession is going. The day's events will culminate with a banquet at the Claremont Hotel to announce the winner of the first Fisher-Hopper Prize for Lifetime Achievement in CIO Leadership.

A "Renaissance CIO" is "wicked smart" and has had a "major enduring competitive impact" on both the company he or she works for as well as the industry that company belongs to, says Jim Spitze, executive director of Haas' Fisher CIO Leadership Program at Haas, which is co-hosting the program with Gartner. The idea is to transform the role of the CIO from merely managing a cost center to playing an active role in generating growth and profits.

Finalists for the Fisher-Hopper Lifetime Achievement Award are AT&T's Felix Thaddeus Arroyo, Proctor & Gamble's Filippo Passerini, Flextronics' Dave Smoley, and UPS' Dave Barnes. The prize will be awarded annually in memory of Haas alumnus Don Fisher, BS 51, founder of Gap Inc., and Max Hopper, who led the development of the Sabre computerized travel-reservation system, which transformed the airline industry.

Other CIOs scheduled to take part in the day's events include Dawn Lepore of Charles Schwab, Pete Solvik of Cisco, and Bobby Martin of Wal-Mart.

The day also will feature a discussion of a new study by the Fisher CIO Leadership Program that identifies the "invisible factors of extraordinary success" for CIOs. The study, which involved in-depth interviews with several of the field's luminaries, was initiated by Hopper.

The CIO events will start at Haas at 1 p.m. in the Wells Fargo Room and continue until 9 p.m. at the Claremont. For more information on the events, including an agenda and registration, visit fisheritcenter.haas.berkeley.edu/award.html.

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