A: I have been with AITP for over 15 years. Even though I have moved into several different positions at various companies over that period, I have always stayed a part of AITP.  I felt it was important to keep a relationship with the organization and its members.

Q: What has that relationship with AITP meant to you?

A: I became a member initially for the networking opportunities. Networking is such an important aspect of what we do. And, I have to say that both the professional and the social benefits have been of equal importance.

Q: How has that translated into what you do?

A: It’s important to give back. In the past seven to eight years I have been doing more and more mentoring. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to give time to others and share what I’ve learned. For example, we’ve hosted student chapters visiting New York City and talked to them about what it’s like to be a CIO. I’ve served on several CIO panels addressing various topics, and am happy to talk with people afterward about their views and comments.

We have done some really fun activities with the IT community. We’ve gone on winery tours, attended minor league baseball games, and gone to Broadway shows together.

Some of our members will host us at their corporate headquarters for meetings, so we get a view into a variety of businesses and how they are adopting technology to evolve and grow.  We have a great mix of people who are willing to discuss their work and are willing to open the door to help others.

The professional networking has validated what I’m doing in my current role. In talking to my peers, I find many of us are facing similar challenges on the job. Whatever the topic, social networking, mobile security, data security—you name it, we have 150-200 people in the room who are looking at the same issues which leads to some very rich discussions.

We all have limited time in our schedules and need to be thoughtful about where we will spend our time. The meetings I have with AITP are with people local to me, so we get to know each other very well. This makes it so much easier to reach out to someone for a quick discussion or to ask a question.