Speakers at the CIO Agenda Conference

Paul Adamonis

Paul Adamonis is the Accuvant North Central Region Director of Sales. In this capacity he is responsible for a team of 12 security sales professionals covering an eight state region. Customer interaction includes companies in the Fortune 1000 level and spans many different business sectors. Paul has worked in the IT Security field for 12 years and has handled vendor management for a $100 Million business operation. Prior to entering the IT field, Mr. Adamonis spent 18 years in the financial sector holding positions with the FDIC and various banks as a commercial lending officer.


Sharon DeWitt (Getz)
Sharon is an information and change management executive with over 20 years experience in Information Technology and over 10 years experience in executive leadership.   Sharon has worked in various industries including defense, public utilities, manufacturing, distribution, consumer marketing, aerospace and professional services.  Sharon is currently the Director of Information Technology at Scot Forge in Spring Grove.   Scot Forge is a 100% employee-owned manufacturer of custom open die and rolled ring forgings. Started as a small hammer shop in Chicago, IL in 1893, Scot Forge has over 100 years of experience, leading the industry as one of the most modern and respected forging companies in the world.   Prior to that Sharon was at Zebra Technologies, Inc. and was responsible for Zebra’s Global IT Organization for over 9 years until she joined the Business Development Team as the Sr. Director of Acquisition Integration responsible for the leadership of integration planning and execution of all functional areas for several newly acquired companies into Zebra Technologies.   Sharon holds a B.S. degree in Computer Information Science and a MBA from Cleveland State University.


Mark Diamond
Mark is founder, President & CEO of Contoural, Inc.  Mark Diamond is one of the industry thought leaders in litigation readiness, e-discovery, compliance, archiving, data  protection and ILM strategies and practices.  A frequent industry speaker, Mr. Diamond addresses how organizations can better align legal and business requirements with IT and storage spending. One of the pioneers in the strategic storage services industry, Mark has successfully built and grown consulting, education and support organizations from inception to large, worldwide organizations numerous times.  Previously, Mark was co-founder of Symantec’s (OpenVision) Professional Services group. Additionally, Mark was founder and General Manager, Worldwide Professional Services for Legato Systems. He was Vice President of Worldwide Professional Services at RightWorks, a provider of business application software to the B2B marketplace.  He recently served as Chair of the Storage Networking Industry Association customer advisory board on data security.  He has a Bachelors degree in Computer Science from the University of California San Diego.


Gary Gorson

Gary Gorson, Chief Information Officer,  brings nearly twenty years of IT consulting and senior-level IT leadership experience to Shell Vacations, LLC.  A Chicago area native, Mr. Gorson gained expertise in designing, building and managing e-business and technology infrastructures as Director of ASP Operations for Cyborg Systems, and as Vice President IT Operations for Automatic Data Processing and William M. Mercer.  His expertise includes real-time systems engineering and business process optimization through technology utilization.  Through his innovation and leadership, Shell Vacations was awarded the 2006 CIO 100 award.  Mr. Gorson holds a Masters Degree in Computer Science from De Paul University and conducted post graduate work as a PhD candidate at Illinois Institute of Technology in Artificial Intelligence.


Robin Hamerlinck
Robin Hamerlinck is Vice President, Global Information Systems at Shure Incorporated, the world’s leading manufacturer of microphones and audio electronics based in the Chicago area.  She has over 15 years of experience in technology with a focus on driving change and creating value from technology for businesses.  In less than two years at Shure, Robin has made significant strides in the implementation a long range plan to modernize IT solutions, moving from a multiple-vendor/multiple-technology architecture to a single global platform while reduce the IS costs by 30%.  Further she has driven significant progress toward leveraging the enhance ERP (SAP) capabilities across offices in Asia, Europe and the U.S., enabling faster decision making and expanding the availability of information and tools to users.  Prior to Shure, Robin was the Chief Technology Officer at Merisant.  She earned a Bachelor’s degree from the Western Illinois University, and is currently active in many Chicago based IT forums.  Robin is a Chicago resident and has three hobbies…her children, Zachary, Clayton and Elizabeth, but she also enjoys playing golf when she can find the time.


Mark Hattas

Mark Hattas co-founded Geneca in 1998 as a young, 26-year old entrepreneur. Today, as Geneca’s CEO, he is at the helm of one of the fastest growing IT services firms in the Chicago region.  Geneca is a trusted technology partner to many Fortune 1000 companies and a destination workplace for Chicago’s brightest IT professionals.

Mark is a charismatic leader widely respected for his commitment to his clients, employees, community, and family.  With a career largely devoted to raising the bar on the delivery standards of IT services firms, Mark and his team work passionately to help IT organizations predictability deliver business value.


Mark is an active member of the Board of Directors for the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, i.c.stars, and the Charles Tillman Cornerstone Foundation. He is the recipient of a Young Executives Award and an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist. He has led Geneca to its receipt of  numerous awards including the Inc. 5000, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce’s Workplace Excellence Award, and Crains Best Workplaces.  Mark is an invited speaker on topics such as Generational Theory, business and innovation strategy, and the role of IT in delivering business value.


Sony Jacob
As Vice President and CIO Sony Jacob is responsible for driving the Strategic direction of Tecta’s technology organization. An entrepreneur at heart Sony joined Tecta in December of 2004 to build the Information technology group; he was instrumental in developing the design of our corporate data center and connectivity to our 50 operating location. Over the last 4 years he has spear headed our Navision ERP rollout, to provide strategic leverage for Tecta across the different business functions of finance, operations, service and sales. Before joining Tecta Sony held technology leadership roles at Caremark Inc and The Terlato wine group. Mr. Jacob has an electrical engineering degree from Mangalore University India, holds a Masters in technology management from DeVry University, and has obtained his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business. Lastly, Sony is a certified member of the PMI organization since 2005.


Divakar (Dave) Kamath
Dave joined IDEX as their CIO in Jan 2004. IDEX is a one billion dollar global manufacturer of pumping, dispensing and other engineered products and provides solutions for diverse markets. Dave is responsible for delivery of IT services across the IDEX portfolio of 34+ companies. Prior to joining IDEX, Kamath was the vice president and Chief information Officer at IMC Global Inc, a global manufacturer with annual revenues over $1.5 billion. Before IMC Global, he served as the VP-IS at SunSource Industrial Services company and VP- Materials/ Logistics Planning at one of its subsidiaries after having progressed through increasingly responsible operational positions.


Jim Krueger

Jim Krueger is Chief Information Officer at Hydrite Chemical Co.   Hydrite is a midsized chemical manufacturer and distributor with ten locations in the upper Midwest.  Jim was the driving force in implementing Hydrite’s ERP system using a Business Process Re-Engineering methodology.  The project completely transformed Hydrite’s technical infrastructure and business systems.   Since completing the ERP implementation, under Jim’s leadership Hydrite has leveraged the ERP information by designing, developing and implementing many business process improvement systems integrated with the ERP system.  He instituted an Information Planning Process that aligns the Information Technology plan with Hydrite’s business plans.  Prior to joining Hydrite Jim held individual contributor and management positions in Information Technology, Engineering, Manufacturing Operations and Material Planning at GE Health Care Systems.   Jim has a BS in Mathematics and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater.


Dennis P. L'Heureux, MS, CPHIMS, FHIMSS

Dennis L’Heureux joined Rockford Health System as its Vice President & CIO in 1994 and is now serving as Senior Vice President & CIO.  Although a native of Rhode Island, prior to moving to the Midwest most of his career included positions in Massachusetts.  He was Vice President & CIO at MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham; Vice President for Clinical and Management Support Services at Leonard Morse in Natick and Associate Vice Chancellor for Information Resources at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester.  An engineer by education, Dennis graduated with his Bachelors Degree in Industrial Engineering from Northeastern University, Boston in 1974 and again in 1977 with his Masters Degree in Engineering Management.  Dennis is a Fellow in the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and served as its President in 1992.  He is also actively involved in the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives.  He represented the American Hospital Association as a Director for the Health Industry Business Communication Council of Phoenix, Arizona and was Chairman of the Board of Directors for the West Suburban Joint Diagnostic MRI Center in Wellesley, Massachusetts.  He is a certified as a Professional of Health Information Management Systems.


Steven Loos

Steven Loos is Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer for Wheels, Inc.  Steven joined Wheels in 2006 with more than 20 years of information technology leadership experience at United Airlines, Delco Remy International and Kellogg. Over his career he has implemented numerous client-based technology programs, enabling the development of systems and programs that are built to meet and anticipate client needs on an ongoing basis.  At Wheels he leads all technology development and management teams, including our client-facing systems, internal application, business continuance and systems infrastructure.  Steven has a BBA from the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and serves on the board of directors for a Chicago area-based public school education foundation.


Bruce Massel

Bruce Massel is the Vice President of Information Technology and the Project Management Office at Fidelitone Logistics.  Bruce has more than 23 years of information technology leadership, management and consulting experience with mid-sized distribution companies. In addition to his IT experience, Bruce also has more than 6 years of operations, sales and web marketing management experience. His career has progressed from a technical programmer to a hands-on business leader in the implementation of innovative and practical technology solutions.  He has led IT departments as CIO in multiple industries after beginning his career at Coopers & Lybrand as an EDP auditor before becoming the practice lead for the Midwest Middle Market IT Consulting Services. Bruce earned his BS in Computer Science from Purdue University and a Masters of Management in Marketing and International Business from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.


Eric Offenberg
Eric Offenberg, CIPP and Business Development Manager at IBM, has established himself as a thought leader on data governance, database archiving, enterprise data management and data privacy. With more than a decade of experience across industries, Eric is a regular speaker in live Webinars, industry events, with media and analysts on behalf of IBM. He holds an MBA with a concentration in marketing from Rider University and a BA degree in communications from Rutgers University. He has recently spoken at events such as Collaborate 08, The Privacy Symposium at Harvard, The Symposium on Usable Privacy at Carnegie Mellon and others.


Dave Patzwald
David Patzwald joined Schneider Electric in 2005 as Vice President, Information Technology, responsible for all information systems and services in the North American Operating Division.  Dave joined the company with over 20 years of diverse business and information technology experience. Prior to Schneider Electric, he was the founder and president of smallCo, an IT solution business whose clients included Kinko’s, Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., and Brach’s Confections.  Before smallCo, Dave was Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Emerging Markets within PepsiCo’s Business Solutions Group, where he also led the international integration program following the Quaker acquisition.  Dave also has held senior level positions at Frito-Lay, including CIO for the Asia Pacific region. Based in Australia, he was responsible for IT in ten countries and led the SAP implementation following a major acquisition.   Dave holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computational science from Stanford University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.  Headquartered in Palatine, Ill., the North American Operating Division of Schneider Electric had sales of $3.7 billion (U.S.) in 2006.


Patricia Shafer
Patricia Shafer is President of Compel Ltd., an international consulting and research firm dedicated to Evoking.Courageous.LeadershipSM. She is also co-founder of The Change Leaders, a global network of consultants and coaches on the human dynamics of change. She and her associates specialize in Inspiring Leaders, Mentoring Multinationals, Transforming Technology, and Empowering Women. This work includes keynote speeches/presentations, workshops/seminars, simulations/games, facilitated dialogues, and strategic client engagements. Patricia has provided consulting and coaching services to executives and private sector and public officials in 15 countries and held senior leadership positions in change management and communications at two global Fortune 100 companies. She is author of the forthcoming book Whole Work: Developing Tomorrow’s Truly Global Leaders (IAP, Fall 2008), based partially on the global research “The Whole World at Work: Managers Around the Globe Tell Us What Still Needs to Change in Organizations” (Compel Ltd. 2006). In 2007, in conjunction with WITI, she led a large-scale research initiative on technology workplaces. And she has agreed to serve as chief editor of a book series focusing on Transformative Technologies, including organizational mindsets and behaviors that affect the success of technology initiatives. Patricia holds Ms. Shafer holds an MSc., Consulting and Coaching for Change, Oxford University, UK, and HEC, France; MBA, Northwestern University J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management; MA, Journalism, the Ohio State University; and certifications in numerous individual and team assessment tools.


Jesse Strittmater
Jesse has a BSEET from Devry University and an MBA from Benedictine University. From 1988 through 1991 he was with NEC Technologies and managed a call center of 22 individuals involved in laptop/monitor support. At TUSC he was an Oracle Consultant for two years. He has been at Life Fitness since 1993 functioning as Help Desk Technician, Manager PC/LAN Support, Manager Operation, DBA, eBiz/DW Manager, Director Service Delivery, Senior Director - IT and, starting in 2007, VP/CIO. As CIO he designed and started the first global IT Strategy. His varied sports activities include bowling a 300 game in 2005.


Kim Tracy

Kim W. Tracy was appointed Executive Director of University Computing at Northeastern Illinois University in 2005.  Prior to this, Mr. Tracy held various technology and management positions in the Bell Labs division of Lucent Technologies and AT&T, beginning in 1985.  Mr. Tracy has taught computer science in various Chicago-area universities since 1989 and has co-authored a textbook with another one in draft.  Mr. Tracy received dual Bachelor of Science degrees Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Missouri—Rolla and his Masters of Science degree in computer science from Stanford University.  He is a senior member of the IEEE (and formerly editor in chief of IEEE Potentials magazine) and a member of ACM.  The Executive Director of University Computing provides the leadership and support for all computing, academic technology, and telecommunications for the University.  University Computing Services includes administrative, student, and faculty systems as well as support for all computing infrastructure.


Jim Vaselopulos
Jim Vaselopulos is a seasoned business executive with domain expertise in Financial Services, Marketing, Manufacturing and Service Industries. Jim works closely with many firms to help align business needs and technology for competitive advantage. His many roles include Partner at PSC Group, LLC, interim CIO at several organizations and strategic business consultant to many others. His speaking engagements include regional executive events, various podcasts, industry organizations and technology-centric educational institutions such as the University of Illinois. Jim holds an Engineering degree from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Marquette University.

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