When Larry Frey grew up in New Orleans, he always envisioned running his family’s meat packing business. After attending the University of Southwestern Louisiana, he expected an office job when he returned to the family business. But his father put him out into the plant – to learn the business.

“The first thing my father told me is you need to take the tie off, roll up your sleeves and get in the plant,” said Frey. “In doing so,...

Originally published in July/August 2005 issue of TechLINKS.

Technology forces colleges and universities to continually reexamine how they operate, collect and distribute knowledge, and teach students, all while keeping business needs in mind. Randall Thursby, Vice Chancellor for Information and Instructional Technology/CIO of the University System of Georgia since July 2000, is exactly the technology leader to have in such...

Originally published in May/June 2004 issue of TechLINKS.

John Seral is no stranger to the role of CIO. In his 21 years with General Electric, Seral has held five CIO positions within GE, including Lighting, Plastics and now Energy. During his tenure, he has witnessed GE grow through acquisition and make a recent move from Massachusetts down to Atlanta.

Despite moves, acquisitions, and rapid technological change, a...

Originally published in January/February 2003 issue of TechLINKS.

The CDC’s James Seligman’s 17 years in information technology make him the ideal choice to develop nationwide accessibility to health information.

TechLINKS recently sat down with James Seligman, CIO of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to find out just how this father of two goes about distributing public health information. His...

Originally published in September/October 2002 issue of TechLINKS.

As CIO of Delta Air Lines, Curtis Robb runs Delta Technology Inc., the airline’s information technology subsidiary. The 2,100 people who work for Delta Technology handle the airline’s IT solutions, development and support.

Originally published in November/December 2005 issue of TechLINKS.

One Monday about twenty years ago in the Army, second lieutenant Gregory Morrison reported to Colonel Thomas Hessler. The colonel assigned the role of project manager to Morrison for ANDVT (Advanced Narrowband Digital Voice Terminal). Morrison asked, “Sir, what’s an ANDVT?” Hessler said, “That’s your job to find out.”

He certainly did. Morrison not...

Originally published in September/October 2005 issue of TechLINKS.

Scott McGlaun’s quiet, comfortable office in the relatively slow-paced city of Columbus belies the power of his employer – a $2.4 billion company as competitive as any other in the financial services industry. Columbus can surprise you like that. “You tend to run into your co-workers in Columbus when you’re away from work,” McGlaun said. “A lot of people who...

Originally published in September/October 2004 issue of TechLINKS.

As Kelvin Mason looks out over a newly manufactured plane roaring through the bright Savannah sky at Gulfstream Aerospace’s landing strip, he reflects how hard manufacturing has been hit in the past few years. “We’ve outsourced the execution portion of our IT services to Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). It’s my office’s responsibility to manage that...

Originally published in July/August 2004 issue of TechLINKS.

In 1932, in the midst of the Great Depression, many Americans were unable either to secure or renew term financing for home mortgages. Local businesses and economies had collapsed, Americans had lost their homes, and few families were able to secure home loans, often because financing was not available or it was too expensive.

In response to this crisis,...

Originally published in September/October 2003 issue of TechLINKS.

Jim Lester has been at the cutting edge of information technology nearly all of his life. As CIO of Columbus-based, Wall Street darling AFLAC, Lester has leveraged his background in computer science, the military and as an entrepreneur into one of the most highly regarded CIO positions in the country.

After earning degrees in mathematics (Emory...

Originally published in March/April 2003 issue of TechLINKS.

Recently, UPS’ CIO Ken Lacy told TechLINKS he wants to be remembered as a good partner and a good team player whose goal is to move United Parcel Service forward. It seems evident that he is both of those things and more.

Mr. Lacy began as a clerk for UPS in 1967 at age 18. By 1975, he became the youngest district controller in the company’s...

Originally published in November/December 2003 issue of TechLINKS.

Chartered on February 16, 1856, to provide 50 gaslights for the streets of Atlanta, Atlanta Gas Light Company is one of the nation’s oldest utility companies. In 1996, a holding company was formed under the name AGL Resources offering gas utility services in Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee as well as other energy services. AGL has gone from a traditional...

Originally published in March/April 2004 issue of TechLINKS.

In 2002, the year Bob Keefe joined Russell Corporation as CIO, its sales were $1.2 billion. But Keefe says this century-old company has plenty of room to grow, both in sales and brand recognition – although it’s hard to imagine how it could eclipse its own brands (Russell, Bike, Jerzees, Spalding and Moving Comfort, to name a few) – some of the most well-known in...

Originally published in November/December 2004 issue of TechLINKS.

The Signal School at Fort Gordon is the largest IT school in the Armed Forces. At the center of it all is Commanding General Janet A. Hicks, the most senior military information technology officer within Georgia. Her challenges rival those of CIOs of the very largest corporations in Georgia, as she oversees approximately 60,000 troops (active and reserve),...

Originally published in July/August 2003 issue of TechLINKS

According to Fran Dramis, the job of the leader of a technical organization “is to be able to get to the person who is farthest away from you.” As the CIO of BellSouth, Dramis suggests there’s a process, the “yin and yang of listening and leading at the same time,” that makes a successful technology leader.

Equally important to Dramis, though, is...

Originally published in May/June 2003 issue of TechLINKS.

James Dallas recently told TechLINKS that one of his greatest fears is resting on your successes. As the new CIO of Georgia-Pacific, he’s using his passion and drive to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Mr. Dallas started out in accounting, because he knew he was going to play professional basketball and wanted to be able to keep track of his money. He joined...

This interview originally appeared in the March/April 2005 edition of TechLINKS.

When Beth Brigdon was a child, her father (a mathematics and science instructor) gave her board games to play. These were not just any ordinary board games – these were math board games used in his classes. “That’s where I got my love of math. It was fun and something challenging,” Brigdon said.

Fast forward to 2005, and as vice...

This interview originally appeared in the November/December 2002 edition of TechLINKS.

As Southern Company’s new CIO, Becky Blalock is responsible for 1,300 employees at five utility companies serving nearly 4 million customers in four states. And she has 10 people reporting to her directly. Disseminating information to all these people, according to Blalock, involves knowing and understanding customers and is all about...

This interview originally appeared in the January/February 2005 edition of TechLINKS.

Once upon a time, Robert Bennett majored in English literature at Ohio University and wrote novels. Although life has whisked him far away from the works of Hemingway, Faulkner and Fitzgerald, Bennett seems aware that there is a narrative sweep to his distinguished career that took him on a journey through the modern information technology...

This interview originally appeared in the May/June 2005 edition of TechLINKS.

Thaddeus Arroyo enjoys discomfort. Not in an unhealthy way, but with an attitude in which he embraces uncomfortable situations that may not necessarily have a clear path leading out. “Seldom have I walked into a role clearly knowing how to meet its challenges,” Arroyo said. “From the creation of Cingular itself and through this merger with AT&T...

At EDS, Don Riley’s leadership success culminated in his winning the company’s coveted “Proposal of the Year.” Little did he know this deal would project him onto the path of becoming a CIO at two major multibillion dollar companies – Kellwood and Mohawk Industries. “EDS was very supportive of my leadership growth,” said Riley. “I’ve always been greatly appreciative of that.”

Riley grew up in a close family, spending his early...

Early in her career, Diana Melick was fortunate to work under the CIO of Pillsbury, as he demonstrated how IT can have a seat at the executive table long before it became commonplace. Melick applied those lessons, along with a talent for project management and building strong IT teams, to her subsequent roles at Siemens Energy & Automation. She focuses on advancing her company from a technology perspective and emphasizes the importance of...

From the looks of her career path, Erin Meszaros seemed destined to become a CMO in the legal profession - even before there was such a role. While she spent much of her early career in pre-law, she wasn’t quite sure she wanted to become a lawyer despite loving all the things the legal industry provides for young professionals. After a stint of marketing a 166-unit condominium complex in Pigeon Forge, she obtained the additional...

When Greg Comrie left the corporate world for a spell to partner with his brother in finding and selling small businesses, the experience revolutionized his view of technology and leadership. He learned that while technology is important, a customer-centric focus is even more important. Comrie brought these experiences into later roles at North Highland and, today, Coalition America. Comrie considers himself a servant leader, and he...

After eight years in the Air Force, Jeff Delaney had to learn the very different world of academia when he became Director of Academic Systems at Middle Georgia College. From there, he has spent a long and varied career learning how IT leadership works within universities. A lifelong learner who currently both teaches as an adjunct professor and works to obtain a doctorate, his CIO role at Savannah State University has given him his first...

Specializing in start up and turnaround environments, Jim Baumann’s career has involved a wide variety of industries and experiences in government, the private sector, financial services, industrial services and software. “Turnarounds are unique,” Baumann says. “You have to build confidence quickly because the organization is looking for fairly rapid change.” His work at the Georgia Student Finance Commission, whose biggest product is the...

After seeing and feeling the power of marketing early in her career when the company she worked for at the time secured a major account with BMW in South Carolina, Judy Sparks realized how much she liked this field. Developing her career with many excellent companies in the marketing space, Sparks joined the Facility Group in 2000 as Vice President of Business Development. Today, as CMO, she says information technology is a key success...

Kathy Lamb built her prestigious career in the fast-paced and competitive world of banking. It was during her time as an operational first point of contact that she initially learned the importance of developing strategic IT frameworks. After more than two decades leading system implementation projects for industry giants like BankSouth and NationsBank she transitioned her wealth of experience to CheckFree Corporation, and eventually to...

Nick Grecco saw dramatic changes in the banking industry during the merger era of the 1990s, as he consolidated the technology among banks acquired by Bank of America. While there, he played a role in Bank of America’s move into Internet banking and the introduction of check imaging. In the present decade, Grecco has overseen the merging of technologies in small and large companies, currently consolidating processes globally for Ceridian...

IT developers amazed Patty Lavely early in her career when they not only did what was asked, but also delivered more than she thought was possible. Opening her eyes to the power of technology, her planned CFO track became a CIO track, leading her through a variety of IT leadership positions at various healthcare organizations and hospitals. Lavely finds her current position as CIO of Memorial Health especially rewarding not only because...

“Two key principles I learned were to lead by example, and to go where the problem is and not be afraid to fill a need,” says Robert Golden. He began filling the needs of Chubb & Son as an operations manager, fitting the available technology solutions to the business needs of branch offices and field personnel. Golden has continued with that philosophy in his present position as head of IT at Insurance House. “So many times I’ve seen the...

Robert Isherwood spoke with TechLINKS about his inspirations and achievements during his career as an IT media specialist, from his independent beginning as a commercial photographer in Dallas, Texas, to his time with DDB and his current position as CTO of 22squared. He talks about what makes a good manager, and that the secret of a fulfilling career is to never put aside your ambitions. “One of the most important things I’ve ever...

Terrie O’Hanlon’s early marketing experiences at AT&T impressed upon her that traditional marketing would not be enough to enhance the business of technology. Through her experiences at The Software Link, Crescent Communications, Dun & Bradstreet, CheckFree and now Manhattan Associates, she developed a specialty for helping market technology companies that previously did not have a strong marketing strategy in place. O’Hanlon is...

Tim Aligheri likes to build processes that last. He learned that skill early on from McKesson and applied that skill to a variety of businesses including MedAssets, Cox Interactive, and Smart Document Solutions. At Cox Interactive, he experienced the lesson of building for the future of IT by watching his architecture withstand 10-12 million hits on 9/11 without going down. Today at Jackson Healthcare, Aligheri not only applies his skill...

Una Newman’s academic background in psychology and business led her to the field of healthcare marketing in her hometown of Miami. After becoming Director of Marketing for a psychiatric hospital there, she moved to the parent company’s regional office, working with the marketing directors of hospitals within the national chain. Newman later worked to turn around and reposition an Atlanta hospital into a regional medical center. In 1997,...

By recently receiving the 2007 Georgia CIO of the Year Award in the Global Category, Shirley Bridges was recognized for her leadership through one of the most difficult times in Delta’s history. Bridges, in the crucial role of Chief Information Officer, needed to harness information technology to help the company weather its bankruptcy period, which meant making some difficult decisions and hard calls.

“I think the reason we got...

Bill McArthur entered the field of technology by way of geography, and his career developed in an equally intriguing fashion. Working with GIS, he worked as a research analyst at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, segueing into work as an Oracle DBA and then into IT management. Growing up in the small, college town of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, McArthur reflects on how that sophisticated foundation affected his upbringing. “The environment...

Bjarke Ormstrup became intrigued with IT after taking a course using Oracle over 20 years ago. An industrial engineer by training, he saw the benefits and opportunities of enterprise data storage and retrieval. Ormstrup’s career took him to the United States from his native Denmark 10 years ago for what was originally a 2-year assignment. “We liked it so much we stayed,” he explains. The differences he saw between American and Danish...

Brooks Robinson started his telecommunications career working at Bell Canada when he was in high school. While earning an electrical engineering degree, Robinson worked in telecom R&D and determined that product development and marketing appealed to him. After college he joined Deloitte Consulting, where he found an opportunity to combine his marketing interests and engineering background. While working in the venture capital industry he...

Debbie Dean entered the field of healthcare while in college as a programmer, immediately seeing the benefits of helping people when nurses used the tools she wrote. In her current role as CIO of Matria, she continues to collect inspiring stories such as saving a diabetic from losing her foot by streamlining file structures. “I share these stories with the IT team so they can see the correlation between their hard work and real-world...

Early in Delores Barton’s career at IBM, two interests came together as she moved into a systems engineer role: seeing products come to life in a customer setting, and working on an education / public sector account. The bulk of her 31-year IBM career focused on technical management, and she worked with many government and higher education accounts. After her retirement, a consulting engagement led to her role as CIO of Spelman College....

Gentry Ganote was first hooked on computers in high school, before the appearance of IBM PCs. He was fortunate to have a neighbor who was a technology innovator—one who offered him information, encouragement, a computer, and eventually a job. Ganote began his career in software development and soon became a successful entrepreneur when he and a friend started Gain Systems, a computer systems company. Several years ago, he became the CIO...

Greg Casagrande built his technology career from the ground up. Beginning in the network operations center for Union Carbide, he eventually wound up at GE for 18 years– working in many roles including GE Capital for 10 years, GE Research & Development (CIO), GE Aircraft Engines (CTO) and GE Corporate (Global Service Delivery). At his current role as CTO of The Coca-Cola Company, he has brought the global infrastructure together as one...

Hilton Sturisky, educated as a mechanical engineer in his native South Africa, came to Atlanta for graduate studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His first U.S. position, at The Coca-Cola Company, introduced him to technology and his career focus shifted to IT. After 5 years at Coca-Cola, Sturisky moved to Pfizer, where he championed the implementation of a satellite-based distance learning system for the pharmaceutical...

While Jim Strickland had plenty of technology experience in the early part of his career – from wiring up cars with eight-track players in high school to exploring UNIX and systems engineering at BellSouth – it wasn’t until his role as a business analyst that he began to truly marry his technology expertise with solving business problems directly. A consulting role with IBM further strengthened that connection, leading to the opportunity...

At Westinghouse, where John Bartz spent the early part of his career, he moved from sales and marketing to technology when he began to realize the business productivity gains that could be achieved with IT solutions. He continued to hone his business and IT acumen through additional leadership responsibilities and consulting, which eventually led to a connection with Sage as they were looking for a CIO. He has so far spent his time at...

During the 1990s, John McGuthry spent time at BellSouth as Director of Product Management for their Internet services group, as part of the team that wrote the business case and helped launched Bellsouth.net, and also launched the BellSouth.net web hosting group. These were crucial experiences that prepared him for his CIO role with Armstrong Atlantic State University. Ironically, he says that he became a CIO by accident, the job never...

As Ken Rabun says, when his minor league baseball career ended, he had his Computer Science degree from the University of Georgia to fall back on! Taking his interest in math and applying it to the burgeoning field of computer science, he developed his technology expertise at Conoco where his team created useful analytics and operations research tools to assist the operating departments of the oil and gas giant. His leadership and global...

For Lance Lyttle, heading the IT division of the world’s busiest airport combines the multiple challenges of keeping a complex system running while developing the talent and leadership qualities of the people in the organization. Lyttle, named 2007 CIO of the Year for the Non-Profit / Public Sector by the Georgia CIO Leadership Association, spoke about his views on the role of IT in an organization and the opportunities for growth and...

Nicholas Farsi was first introduced to computers as a student at The Citadel in the 1970s. That was a long way, geographically and technologically, from his family’s farm outside the city of Tehran, Iran. Farsi has lived in the United States and worked in IT ever since. Beginning as a programmer at Federated Systems Group, Farsi eventually became a vice president there. He subsequently moved into lead IT roles at Cingular, Web.com and...

In such a mission-oriented organization as the Salvation Army, it helps as CIO to connect technology expertise with a deep inspiration guiding one’s work. Rod Parks’ inspiration not only derives from his early technology-oriented experiences in the Marine Corps and McDonnell Douglas, but he also speaks highly of his father who never missed a day of work in 47 years. Having served the Salvation Army for over 20 years, Rod Parks –...

Wes Rhea’s technology background grew from his encounter with software training while working in customer service in the telecommunications industry. Rhea, solidly grounded in business, saw technology as a means of taking a business to another level. He subsequently moved from telecommunications to healthcare, and then to the financial industry. “Understand what the business needs, and then apply the technology to that,” reflected Rhea,...

During the rapid acquisition of Georgia Pacific by Koch Industries in December 2005, Randal Robison (then CIO of Koch Industries) was helping the President and COO of Georgia Pacific find a new CIO. As Robison states, “My wife and I were recent empty nesters, and as I was helping him find someone for the role, I became interested myself.”

Since taking over as Georgia Pacific’s CIO, Robison has been nothing but amazed by Atlanta –...

“It really comes down to people,” says Dave Kardesh when talking about the satisfying elements of his career. Not surprisingly, Kardesh’s roots are in HR. His career took him on a challenging path from HR recruiter to programmer to vice president. During the past 30 years, he has worked for giants in the broadcast, retailing and home improvement industries. Several themes emerge when Dave discusses his career and the role of technology in...

Robert Blair goes above and beyond when he believes in the potential of his team. He relates a touching story from his time at Vital when a member of the IT team had very low confidence in her abilities, but Blair noticed her talent and helped develop her skills. She was quite upset the day he left the company, but he left her with a mission: “You’ve learned the skills, and now you’ve got to continue to push on and mentor other people.”...

To the many people who pay their electric bills online in Georgia, they have Bart Wood to thank. During his tenure as CIO at Georgia Power, he not only drove self-service for external customers but also provided employee self-service for activities such as signing up for benefits. Wood also stresses the importance of learning all aspects of the business, knowing how to influence as a leader, and helping grow community among IT leaders. He...

After many years with Southern Company, Wes McDowell took what some would think was a huge leap. He moved from working on the business side of the company to the CIO position for Georgia Power. However, McDowell points out that today IT in many ways is the business. “One of the things we hear from our customers and partners is that IT doesn’t understand the core business,” McDowell says. “My goal is that IT will know how the business...

Marianne Johnson has led a very rewarding career. When she realized that playing soccer wasn’t going to pay the bills, she took a job in IT and her passion for the profession quickly grew. Today she serves as a Senior Vice President at Equifax, and has received numerous awards. However, the most rewarding achievement was receiving the Equifax Outstanding Leadership Award. “To have that kind of validation from the people I work with meant...

After establishing himself for many years as a solid IT expert, imagine Wade Vann’s surprise when the president of the company that he worked for came into his office and said, “I need you to take over marketing in New York.” However, this marketing experience turned out to be an essential learning experience for his later CIO career – allowing him to have a greater appreciation and understanding about how IT helps the business and what...

To say the airline and travel industries have traditionally refreshed their technologies at a rapid rate is an understatement. At one point in the 1990s, David Lauderdale relates, “One of my colleagues [said] it was like we were all in a bus speeding down the interstate, holding a couple of people out of the windows as they tried to change the tires with their feet.” Despite especially rapid change, Lauderdale has deftly kept up with it...

Unlike many technologists, Rohn Flanders’s passion has always lain with the end product rather than the creation. “There are a lot of IT people whose passion is the ‘doing’ to get there. […] They’re so wrapped up in the actual creation, which is good and I also enjoy that, but my passion comes with the tangible result.” One of his end results, a mobile and wireless solution allowing drivers to receive their pick ups via cell phones during...

Jim Poole is one of those left brain/right brain people. From early on in