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Finalists Announced for 2010 Innovation Leadership Award, Winner to be Named at 7th Annual MIT Sloan CIO Symposium

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 28, 2010 — The 7th Annual MIT Sloan CIO Symposium today announced four finalists for the 2010 Award for Innovation Leadership.

This award honors Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Chief Medical Information Officers (CMIOs) for their ability to foster a culture of innovation, while delivering best in class IT services to support the organizational mission.

The 2010 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium Award finalists are:

• Casey Coleman, U.S. General Services Administration. Casey Coleman was named CIO in 2007, after serving as CIO in several divisions within the GSA. Ms. Coleman holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Texas A&M University, and a master’s degree in business administration and finance from University of Texas at Arlington.
• Thomas Nealon, JC Penney Corporation. Tom Nealon joined JCPenney as Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer in 2006. Prior to JCPenney, Tom held positions in Frito-Lay, Inc., The Feld Group, and Southwest Airlines. Mr. Nealon holds a B.S. in Finance from Villanova University and an M.B.A. in marketing from the University of Dallas.
• James Noga, Massachusetts General Hospital. Jim Noga was named CIO in 1997 after serving as Director of Clinical Application. Mr. Noga holds a BS degree in Medical Technology and an MS degree in Biomedical Computing and Information Processing from the Ohio State University. He is also an instructor in Northeastern University’s Graduate Health Informatics Program.
• Christopher Rieder, VITAS Innovative Hospice Care. Chris Rieder joined VITAS as Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer in 2009. Prior to VITAS, Chris held positions at Parexel, Inc. and Kos Pharmaceuticals. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona in Tucson and an M.B.A. in information technology from the American University in Washington, D.C.

The Award for Innovation Leadership ceremony will take place during the 7th Annual MIT Sloan CIO Symposium from 4:45 pm to 5:15 pm in the MIT Kresge Auditorium on Wednesday, May 19, 2010, at MIT, in Cambridge, MA. Dr. David Schmittlein, John C. Head III Dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management, will present the Award.

“MIT recognizes that innovation is more than excellent technology,” said Ellen Quackenbush, Co-chair of the Award Program. “Break-through innovation requires strategic vision and leadership ability to unify people, organizational processes and technology to achieve industry-leading results. Our finalists understand this balance, and the Award for Innovation Leadership recognizes their achievements.”

After two rounds of intense review, a panel of judges that includes CIOs, academic researchers and IT professionals, selected four finalists who exhibit the key traits of a CIO leader:

• A Trusted Advisor to senior executives, incorporating IT into business decision-making,
• A Consensus Builder, reaching across the organization to build support for innovation,
• A Business Leader, intimately aware of the business, its challenges and opportunities, and
• A Proven Manager, delivering core services within budget and staff constraints.

A full list of the 2010 judges is available at MIT Sloan CIO Symposium Web site.

The full agenda of the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is also online.

About the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium

The MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is the premier global event for CIOs and senior IT executives to become better business leaders. In one day, CIOs and senior IT executives receive actionable information that enables them to meet the challenges of today’s changing global economy. The annual event offers a day of interactive learning and thought-provoking discourse on the future of technology, best practices, and business that is not available anywhere else. The MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is organized and developed by a team from the MIT Sloan Alumni Club of Boston, the MIT Center for Digital Business and the Boston Chapter of the Society for Information Management. Visit www.mitcio.com for more information and registration.

To stay connected to the community developing around the Symposium, please join The Global CIO & Executive IT Group (An MIT Sloan CIO Group), which can be found on Linkedin.com. You can also follow Symposium updates on Twitter.

Editor’s Note:
Journalists interested in a press credentials or speaking with any of the Award for Innovation Leadership finalists should contact Rachel Greenstein (rachel@warnerpr.com; +1 617.569.6269) or Robert Minicucci (robert@warnerpr.com; +1 603.488.5856), Warner Communications.