Features May 2019

His letterhead still says CIO but Hector Cantu would like to see another letter added, that being a P. That’s P as in process, for the role of chief information officer is evolving, and maybe nowhere faster than at Grupo Villacero Mexico. That’s the country’s largest company dedicated to marketing, transformation and logistics in the […]

Elizabeth Collins remembers the early days of technology at the University of Colorado Foundation, teaching a co-worker how to use a computer mouse by doing the drag-and-drop game of solitaire on some recently installed software. To say technology has changed since then is an understatement. Now savvy students and a legion of researchers walk across […]

Each day, more than 70,000 people traverse the four pedestrian footbridges connecting El Paso, Texas, and Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez. But the biggest link of all might be the one running just beneath the ground below. Namely: miles of fiber-optic cable—and all the terabits of data coursing within—designed to bring organizations on both sides closer than […]

Try to catch Stephen Horton in a down moment. No, really—that’s a challenge. Every morning when the director of IT heads into Dunavant Enterprises Inc., he creates a daily to-do list, and then ticks it off as he goes along. “If I start out the day with 10 tasks, I may only get two of […]

She figured to be in career-changing mode sooner rather than later. Not out of desperation, though. Maria Sanchez was holding down two high-profile positions—general counsel for the New Mexico Department of Information Technology and state CIO. Quite a two-fer for a 31-year-old. Or for anyone. Lest one find that resume too impressive, Sanchez will remind […]

Just five years after receiving her bachelor’s degree, Rocio Diaz Contreras has already secured a highly-coveted CEO post at a thriving Mexican company. The IT engineer’s fast-track career has included building and implementing a health information system for one of western Mexico’s largest hospitals; performing case studies on competitiveness and sustainability in Latin America; and […]

Comfort zones are for slackers. That seems to be the mindset of Dena M. Ghilani, the chief information and technology officer at SESCO Enterprises, a trading and risk-management firm in the Pittsburgh suburb of Greensburg. If Ghilani is comfortable there now—and she seems to be relishing her role which began in October—it’s largely because she’s […]

It’s not an original line, but William McSorley likes to repeat it while giving credit to whomever coined what’s become something of an infotech cliché. “Data is the new oil,” the affable CIO of Monarch Alternative Capital tells Toggle in March from his office in New York City. “I wish I had been the first […]

Recently returned from an info-tech inspection in Tanzania and Kenya, Rizwan A. Jan says he was pleasantly surprised. Even in those sub-Saharan African countries, the systems proved sound enough to support the mission of the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc. (HJF). “There can’t be any more excuses for not […]

It is an intensive three months. From day one, participants dive deeply into specific technologies, IT systems and platforms. Beyond getting into the specs, they perform case studies, analyze real-world data, practice best and worst-case scenarios—all while honing their presentation, negotiation, business and personal skills. And after 12 weeks? “They are promoted to a full […]