Stories by Mary K. Pratt

The Grill: Rotary CIO Peter Markos

Peter Markos, CIO and general manager for Rotary International, contends with challenges ranging from authenticating a constantly changing list of users who need to access Rotary's systems to enabling applications that work for a vastly diverse membership.

Premier 100 IT Leader: Christine Shimizu

Christine Shimizu, vice president and CIO for the Intelligence, Information and Services (IIS) division of Raytheon, keeps an eye on the future while focusing on what her company and its clients need today.

The Grill: Guess CIO Michael Relich takes on his dream job: COO

As executive vice president and CIO at Guess Inc., Michael Relich oversaw the retailer's global IT strategy and a worldwide IT staff of more than 100 people. His nine-year tenure in the position earned him a spot as one of four finalists for the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium's CIO Leadership Award for 2013. Relich's work also earned him a nod from Guess CEO and co-founder Paul Marciano, who in August named him the company's new COO. In announcing Relich's appointment, Marciano cited his strong operational skills, strategic vision and leadership in retail technology.

The Grill: Rosetta Stone CIO Pradeep Mannakkara makes a rapid move to the cloud

When Pradeep Mannakkara took the CIO position at Rosetta Stone, he encountered an IT infrastructure that was nearly the same age as the 21-year-old language-learning company. So Mannakkara established a plan to not only update, but also transform Rosetta Stone's technology stack and its 70-person IT department. Since starting in 2011, he has shifted much of the aging infrastructure to cloud-based platforms and added more mobile applications and state-of-the-art technologies. He says the changes achieved his goals of enabling a more efficient workflow and fostering innovation, while also increasing the strategic value of the IT organization.

IT hiring goes multimedia

IT job seekers embrace social media, video and graphics to enhance their resumes and set themselves apart from other job applicants.

The tricky balancing act of mobile security

The march toward mobility at Canada's Scotiabank is pretty typical: first laptops to enable alternative work arrangements for employees, now smartphones and tablets to give workers anywhere access to information.

The Grill: Gino Pokluda gains control of an unwieldy database system

Gino Pokluda had a problem: The database system at Presbyterian Health Plan in Albuquerque, N.M., where Pokluda serves as manager of service improvement and innovation, was becoming increasingly expensive and unwieldy, requiring about 80TB of storage for 13 database environments. To gain control, Pokluda implemented Delphix software to enable agile data management and eliminate redundant infrastructure. The 2012 project sliced his storage needs to 35TB, even though his team now maintains 23 environments. Here Pokluda, who manages all production, test and development environments for the company, discusses the database system overhaul and shares other IT management insights.

At last! HR pros who understand IT

Gone are the days of the clueless HR rep. These pros know and understand IT's needs, helping tech departments make better, faster hires.

Data+ Awards: Intel uses BI to quickly contain and remediate security threats

ollowing two security lapses several years ago, Intel executives pushed for an information security overhaul. But at a company with more than 100,000 employees in 63 countries, deploying a system capable of detecting, reporting and responding to suspicious activity meant gaining insight into a massive enterprise IT architecture -- and that was a big challenge.

The Grill: Kathy Moore, CIO, West Virginia Health Information Exchange

The West Virginia Health Information Network was created by the state of West Virginia and charged with building a secure electronic health information system so providers could access and exchange patient data. The goal is to improve the quality of patient information and thereby enable providers to more quickly offer better care at lower costs. Among those leading the effort is Kathy Moore, CIO of the network. Moore is now working with hospitals and other healthcare providers in the state to get them connected to the exchange. "The exchange is now up and live, and we're focused on rollout and bringing on as many as possible," says Moore, a former deputy CTO for the state of West Virginia. Here she shares her thoughts on leading this huge IT project.

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