Features March 2019

Cesar Cabada is no fashionista—but he is focused on the technical side of beauty. The experienced retail leader joined the multinational Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) two years ago, and notes that, “I didn’t know a thing about makeup, skin care or any of those products. For me, it was whatever product was in the bathroom, […]

It’s time for that most loathed of citizen rituals: spending an entire afternoon watching that digital red counter as you wait to renew your driver’s license: 17, 18, 19, at a rate of roughly one tick every three minutes. By the way, you’re number 72. If you happen to live in the State of Kansas, […]

If you ask Liza Klumpar to describe the impact of Franklin Pierce School District’s (FPSD) 1:1 initiative—aimed at outfitting every student with a personal laptop—prepare for a beaming barrage of numbers: 3,600 student devices in elementary schools by the end of 2018; a total of 7,800 across the district by the end of 2019. Or […]

Within weeks of arriving at the University of Richmond (UR) in August 2016, when the verdant beauty of the campus still felt new and slightly surreal, a barely unpacked Keith McIntosh faced his first major test: what to do with the school’s aging enterprise resource planning platform (ERP). Some faculty, staff and administrators wanted to […]

A military hospital’s primary mission being the treatment of soldiers and veterans, it must stretch every dollar and can’t afford inefficiencies. Certainly not in the operation of physical facilities. So reminds Jeff Smedley, the CIO and vice president of J&J Worldwide Services, the Austin, Texas-based company that’s the largest privately held operations and maintenance contractor […]

In 2006, three years into his role as warehouse logistics manager for Frialsa, a Mexican-based refrigerated storage and distribution provider, Gustavo Equihua began paying close attention to the company’s warehouse management system (WMS). Back then, all inventory was recorded and tracked on paper. Accounting errors were commonplace, and enterprise resource planning platforms (ERPs) belonging to […]

After nine hours of bathroom breaks and arguments over which kid gets to use the iPad, you’re finally here: a beautiful beachfront rental house on Florida’s St. George Island. A four-digit key code quickly gets you in the door, where you’re instantly greeted by automated lighting. Too drained to figure out the sleeping arrangement, you […]

How refreshing, Eric Frisch thought upon moving into his new position as director of IT at Corsa Coal Corp. last March. A chance to revisit some hard info-tech skills he had honed while working as a director for his previous employer of five years, Rice Energy Inc., just across town in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. In due […]

It’s where the next version of the Oracle Database will be developed, and a popular destination Jalisco, Mexico, has proven to be for a workforce that’s ballooned from five in 2012 to around 1,000. Northwest of Mexico City and not too far from the Pacific Coast, the capital city of Guadalajara has taken on somewhat […]

When Roger Brunelle arrived at Naperville Community Unit School District 203 (NCUSD) in 2010, after a successful run in the private sector, many in the district weren’t sure what to expect. For some, the assumption was that the new CIO would test the waters of change cautiously, one toe at a time. Instead, Brunelle went […]