CIO Boot Camp Speakers
Learn from successful CIOs at billion dollar organizations—industry leaders with insight and experience to help you land and excel in IT's job.
Chairperson:
- Thornton May, Futurist, Executive Director and Dean, IT Leadership Academy
Posse Members:
- Bruce Barnes, CIO Emeritus, Nationwide Financial Services
- Karlin Sue Bohnert, Chief Development Officer, VP Emeritus - Abercrombie & Fitch
- Louis Gutierrez, CIO Emeritus – Commonwealth of Massachusetts; CIO Emeritus Harvard-Pilgrim Healthcare
- Joe Puglisi, Vice President and CIO, EMCOR Group, Inc.
Chairperson: Thornton May
Futurist, Executive Director and Dean
IT Leadership Academy
Thornton May is America's leading CIO career doctor, tirelessly researching the environmental and psychological diseases that destroy IT leadership careers. On the road over 250 days a year making 'house calls' with leading CIOs, Thornton has assembled one of the world's most respected medicine chests of empirically tested job-saving, business-growing remedies in the IT business today.
In addition to career doctoring, Thornton teaches Executive Education at four major universities, writes columns on technology for two leading publications, advises major organizations and government agencies on how to think differently about the future, all the while conducting seminal anthropological field research into technology use behaviors of the various tribes comprising modern society.
Thornton brings a scholar's patience for empirical research, a second-to-none gift for storytelling and a scathingly honest sense of humor to his audiences. His exuberance is infectious. After prolonged exposure you go home and wring the personality out of your clothes. Most importantly you will be refreshed, revitalized and re-armed to win the career wars in front of you.
Bruce Barnes
CIO Emeritus
Nationwide Financial Services
Mr. Bruce Barnes has over thirty-six years of experience as a senior level officer in the technology arena, including very influential roles in Fortune 100 companies. He has received numerous industry accolades, including having been recognized by the industry press as one of this country’s most noted CIOs. He is a recognized voice at national industry events and in major industry publications. He is an ongoing advisor and retained coach for a number of successful senior level corporate leaders.
Currently, Mr. Barnes is the founder and CEO of BOLD VISION®, a senior management consulting consortium comprised of “C Level” executives, which operates as a trusted advisor and consultant to a number of noted CIOs and other I/T leaders, as well as to several large I/T product providers.
Prior to this current role, Mr. Barnes served as the Vice President of I/T Strategy and Planning for the Nationwide Enterprise, a $200B international insurance and financial services company. There, he was responsible for the overall technology strategy, I/T architecture, information security, and I/T governance processes for the global enterprise.
Prior to that, Mr. Barnes served as VP and Chief Information Officer for Nationwide Financial Services, a $100B international financial services company, where he oversaw all facets of technology services and operations within that publicly-held organization.
Prior to that, he served as Chief Information Officer for Ohio’s largest privately owned HMO, and he also held various management positions with an international library/information services company, the Washington (DC) office of a major technology vendor, and as an officer in the United States Army.
He is a co-founder for the nationally acclaimed "CIO Solutions Gallery" at The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.
He is a graduate in five sciences from The Ohio State University.
Karlin Sue Bohnert
Chief Development Officer, VP Emeritus
Abercrombie & Fitch
Karlin has over 25 years IT experience that includes CIO, CTO, and CDO (Chief Development Officer) roles. She has deep retail experience having worked at Wal-Mart, Home Depot, The Limited, and Abercrombie and Fitch. She also has worked in other industries including Energy, Telecommunications and Financial Services (Insurance and Mortgage).
Karlin’s broad IT experience includes international expansions, IT lead on multiple merger and acquisition activities/integrations, SAP implementation, Oracle ERP, POS expertise, extensive applications development, data warehousing/business intelligence, establishment and management of off-shore IT support with multiple companies in India, and much more.
Karlin is a tireless advocate serving on non-profit Board of Directors and offering her time and efforts to support various charities. Often can be found swinging a hammer on habitat for Humanity builds. She has also served on IT Advisory Boards for Ohio State, University of Arkansas, and Oregon State.
Her philosophy was voiced best by author George Matthew Adams, “There is no such thing as a ‘self-made’ man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success.”
Louis Gutierrez
CIO Emeritus – Commonwealth of Massachusetts;
CIO Emeritus Harvard-Pilgrim Healthcare
Louis Gutierrez was Chief Information Officer of the Information Technology Division (ITD), the department that oversees information technology operations and planning for executive branch agencies of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Before becoming CIO of the Commonwealth, Gutierrez was Chief Technology Strategist at the Commonwealth Medicine Division of UMass Medical. While at UMass Medical, Gutierrez directed a team that provided technology support during Operation Helping Hand, the state assistance effort for Hurricane Katrina evacuees who came to Massachusetts.
Prior to working at UMass Medical, Gutierrez was Chief Information Officer for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (HHS), the largest state secretariat with 23,000 staff and more than $12 billion in annual spending. While at HHS, Gutierrez led the development and implementation of the state's Virtual Gateway, an online portal that integrated the web presence of 16 agencies into a user-friendly format that improved service delivery and reduced costs.
Joe Puglisi
Vice President and CIO
EMCOR Group, Inc.
Mr. Puglisi is Vice President and Chief Information Officer for EMCOR Group Inc., the world's leader in specialty construction, facilities services and energy infrastructure. Mr. Puglisi is responsible for technology strategy and direction for over 70 operating companies throughout the US, Canada and the UK.
Prior to joining EMCOR in 2000, Mr. Puglisi served as Vice President and CIO at Chartwell Re, a major insurance and reinsurance company where he managed both technology and administration for the company.
Before that, he was Corporate Director of IT for Lehrer McGover Bovis, one of the largest Construction Management firms in the world. While there, he advanced the use of technology at the New York headquarters and regional offices, from disparate word processing and spreadsheet applications on disjointed computers to a unified systems structure. The standards were adopted by the parent company in London and later imposed on the other Bovis companies in the US and around the globe.
Mr. Puglisi started his business career as a partner of a small marketing consulting company. While there for over 14 years, his responsibilities ranged from cold calls to presentation, contract negotiation, product development and installation, as well as training, support and consulting.
Mr. Puglisi received a BS and MBA from the Stern School of Business at NYU where he has served as Adjunct Professor in Information Systems at the Graduate level. He also serves on several advisory Boards and the Board of the local SIM chapter.