I’m honored to be serving for a fourth year as president of the CIO Association of Canada. I think what gratifies me most is how the character of this community of IT professionals has evolved, and is still developing for the better. The internal support available to CIOs through event-based professional development and peer networking is built into our mission, and we’re seeing some terrific results as our number of members increase across the country. Our member directory allows cross-country contact points within industry sectors. A case in point for our networking: a new CIOCAN member, recently arrived from overseas, reached out on our private social network site to request some mentoring. Almost immediately, six members responded personally with offers to meet and lend support. How great is that? In addition, because of our vendor-neutral policy at CIOCAN, none of these contacts is about sales. A second case: our new “CIO in Transition” Program was designed to allow members to stay involved with the Association while they are between jobs. Several CIOs took advantage of this opportunity to participate in CIOCAN Board and Committee work in areas where they could expand their experience and skill sets, while maintaining their ties with the CIO Community, which is so important for identifying potential career opportunities. We’ll be profiling some of these cases in upcoming newsletters. CIOCAN is committed to finding new ways to serve and add value for our members and the CIO profession across Canada.
