9am: The formation of CIPS and IT Professionalism in Canada (Panel Discussion): There are many IT Professionals, but they have not formed into a "profession". Saying someone is an IT Professional may say something about how she works, but it will tell you almost nothing about what she does, or what she knows. These distinguished panelists will discuss the evolution of IT and whether there will ever be an “IT Profession.”

Panelists:

Steve Driz - an information Technology Executive with over 16 years of experience in innovative oversight of business operations, teams and information systems and technology. He has a strong focus on innovation, systems architecture and security, early adoption of new technologies and operating cost reduction. Recently he spent over 6 years as a top IT executive at March of Dimes Canada.

Robert Fabian, Ph.D- a management and systems consultant with more than 45 years of professional experience. He has held senior academic, consulting, and management positions in Canada and the United States. His articles appear frequently in the trade press and he is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars.

Calvin Carl “Kelly” Gotlieb, Ph.D, (Order of Canada)- a pioneer in the computer science industry, Kelly started his illustrious career as one of the founding members of the University of Toronto’s computation center and went on to found the nation’s first graduate department of computer science. Among his lengthy list of distinctions, Kelly was awarded the Order of Canada in 1996. Over his career, Kelly has studied hardware, computer applications and software and is currently studying the socioeconomic implications of computer technology.

Mers Kutt (Order of Canada) - the inventor of the first Personal Computer, the MCM-70, Mers Kutt is unquestionably a pioneer of the IT industry. A past president of CIPS, Mers is also the creator of several other IT inventions such as "key edit", a data preparation system which succeeded the IBM "punch card". His exceptional contributions to the IT and Canadian society were recognized in 2006 when he became a member of the Order of Canada.

Richard Wilson- the Executive Vice President of Resolver Inc., Richard oversees the operations and client services divisions. An expert in Fraud Risk Management, he is a trusted advisor to a lengthy and impressive list of clients seeking to build risk management and compliance capabilities- having designed and managed online fraud risk assessment for more than 2000 participants.

10am: How Op-Mark and Punch Cards Made Us Better Programmers: Where once it took up to one day, the turnaround between submitting a job to reviewing the output is now almost instantaneous. Brent Rogers will discuss the implications of this change on the development process. Exploring the question: are we not developing or exercising skills we once did?

Brent Rogers- Before the term was even invented, Brent Rogers was working on client/server systems. He has spent his close to 30 year career designing and developing software for PCs. An expert in his field, Brent currently works as a Senior Consultant with SS&C Technologies where he participates in the design and development of "Reporting Solutions" for clients in the Investment community.

11am Topic: The Advent of Personal Computing-But What Next? Mers Kutt will discuss the evolution of our digitized world. Examining the down fall of the punch card, the introduction of the Personal Computer and the charging up of the PC to meet the global challenge of the Internet.

Mers Kutt, Ph.D, (Order of Canada)- the inventor of the first Personal Computer, the MCM-70, Mers Kutt is unquestionably a pioneer of the IT industry. A past president of CIPS, Mers is also the creator of several other IT inventions such as the “key edit,” a data preparation system which succeeded the IBM “punch card”. His exceptional contributions to the IT industry and Canadian society were recognized in 2006 when he became a Member of the Order of Canada.

12pm: A Culture of Innovation, An Imperative for the Future of IT: You can’t pick up a business magazine or book lately without seeing the word ‘innovation’. We all know it’s good, we all say we want it. But how are companies really innovating? In her presentation, Lisa Shepherd will review practical innovation approaches from North America’s leading innovators. Evaluating the tools they use, how they implement them and what impact they see in their business.

Lisa Shepherd- the CEO and founder of Mezzanine Consulting, one of Canada’s fastest growing companies. Lisa is an expert in market intelligence. She is a frequent speaker and commentator at marketing industry events and in Canada’s leading publications. Prior to Mezzanine, Lisa lived and worked in Europe and Asia. During which time she created and sold her first business in Japan. An avid traveler, by the age of 30 Lisa had traveled through over 30 countries and lived on three continents.

1pm: Best Practices in Mobile Marketing: A Case Study: Mobile is tipped as the next frontier for marketers. In Canada we’re trailing when it comes to mobile marketing, but many experts expect that to change in the coming year as prices fall and phones become "smarter". Sympatico’s David MacPhie will provide insights and analysis into what is working well within mobile and what we can learn from and apply to the new opportunities in this evolving space.

David MacPhie- as Team Lead to Mobile Network Partnerships, David MacPhie heads Sympatico’s mobile advertising network. In this role David is responsible for strategy in the development and distribution of Sympatico mobile content and for bringing leading national and international publishing brands to the Sympatico ad network.

2pm: Green It: Reduce Your Info System's Environmental Impact While Adding to the Bottom Companies are making lots of noise about Green IT, but very few actually define quantitative goals and measure its positive impact. Toby Velte will look at a tool his company, Avanade, has created which measures the concrete impact of virtualization projects on costs and energy use. Sometimes the results are surprising!

Toby Velte, Ph.D- Business Development Director of Avanade and an internationally bestselling author of business technology articles and books, Toby has recently published: “Green IT: Reduce Your Information System’s Environmental Impact While Adding to the Bottom Line.” Toby is part of Avanade’s North American practice working with large organizations to create Green IT roadmaps that are business focused and practically implemented.

3pm: Location Based Services: How to Find Cheaper Gas: AskKinjo has developed technology to deliver Location Based Services to mobile users for free, in a manner that would by-pass previous pitfalls and achieve mass volume. Stéphane will present the story of their technological journey. From the first wave of location based services, to their current implementation of technology- putting an IT infrastructure at the service of the users.

Stéphane Attal- the CEO of Ask Kinjo, Stéphane is a business leader with extensive experience in VC financing, building management teams, developing and commercializing technology products and driving revenue growth on a global basis. Stéphane has served as the President of numerous high-tech firms. Notably, leading two start-up companies, Nephrologix and Navtel Communications (which he founded), to successful acquisitions.

4pm Topic: Introduction to Business Process Improvement: The Path to Excellence: Many companies have difficulties in adjusting to new conditions and to keep pace with the competition. The Management by Process paradigm has been born and developed to equip companies with the necessary techniques and tools to succcessfully adapt to these challenges. The goal of Peter's presentation will be to show that process improvement is a very powerful; and attractive alternative for everyone. Peter will be giving a practical overview of the available technologies from Lean to Six Sigma.

Peter Plenkiewicz-Peter is the president founder of PMQG Solutions providing consulting services in Process Improvement, Quality Assurance Management and Project Management. He gained his expertise working in a variety of industrial sectors: avionics, space, robotics, mutlimedia, medical devices, helath and IT having worked on the Canadarm project.

http://www.cipstoronto.ca

CIPS holds many exciting events throughout the year, please join us!

October: Virtualization and More at MaRS

Register at: http://cipsatmars.eventbrite.com/

November: The Toronto Career Climate at the Groundhog Pub. Register at: http://careerclimate.eventbrite.com/

January: Starting a New Technology Business In Toronto at The Groundhog Pub. Register at: http://newbusiness.eventbrite.com

And be sure to attend our monthly Business Continuity Management SIG meetings (http://cipsbcm.eventbrite.com/) held at Ryerson Business School, and our monthly IT Management SIG meetings held at Metro Hall. (http://itmanagementoctsession.eventbrite.com/)

Metro Toronto Convention Centre - South Building Rm 703
255 Front Street West
Toronto, Ontario M5V 2W6
Canada

Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 9:00 AM (ET)

CIPS Toronto Section, IT Management SIG

The Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS) is Canada's association for IT professionals. CIPS works to establish IT standards and IT best practices that will benefit Canada, the Canadian IT industry, and the Canadian IT professional.