Currently, Paul Peabody is the Chief Information Officer at Palomar Pomerado Health. Prior to this position, Paul Peabody was the Vice President of Healthcare Business Development for Oracle Corporation. In that role, he was responsible for developing sales strategies and campaigns for the healthcare technology market. Prior to that, he was with Beaumont Hospitals for 36 years and was responsible for Information Technology as the CIO for 30 years. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Health Care Administration from the University of Michigan.

Some of his major accomplishments include, introducing one of healthcare’s first bedside based electronic medical record systems in 1984, connecting over 2000 Beaumont physicians to the EMR remotely in 1987, generating over $60 million in supply chain savings through process re-engineering and work flow improvement, managing the hospital patient billing services and reducing net A/R to a best ever 43 days and installing Epic in the newly acquired Grosse Pointe hospital in a record 4.5 months. His proudest achievement is introducing Industrial Engineering into IT and establishing a cooperative education partnership with Kettering University, one of the leading engineering schools in the country.

Paul is active in the Society for Information Management and is a past president and on the Board of the Detroit Chapter of SIM. He is a Trustee of the Kettering University Board of Directors. He teaches in the EMBA program, and is a member of the Board of Visitors for the Oakland University School of Business.

Gary Baker is the Director of IT / CIO for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) which is the world’s leading professional society advancing manufacturing knowledge and influencing more than half a million manufacturing practitioners annually. Headquartered on SME Drive, in Dearborn with another office in Toronto, and recently purchased, ToolingU, a provider of over 400 interactive courses for online learning in Cleveland, SME has over 370 professional and student chapters, members in more than 70 countries, and represents manufacturing practitioners across all industries.

Gary is formerly the SVP and CIO of Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, academic institutions, and businesses. Previously, he was the VP of IT Delivery Services at Borders Group, Inc. a retailer of books and music, and in addition to other responsibilities served as the Chief Information Security Officer of this publicly-traded company.  Prior to joining Borders, he was a Director in IT Transformation Services for AlixPartners, LLP, an internationally-recognized firm of corporate turnaround, performance improvement, IT and financial advisory professionals. Before that, Gary was the Process Executive and Managing Director for EDS on the General Motors account leading both Global Purchasing & Supply Chain and Global Business Services, two of GM’s five global process areas. As a Partner in the Advanced Technology Group in Business Consulting for Arthur Andersen, he led numerous client engagements in IT strategic planning as well as application development.  In early 1994, Gary was co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Online Technologies Corporation, one of the oldest ISPs/ASPs in Michigan providing hosting, comprehensive Internet solutions and Web services for businesses.  He sold the company in 1999, however Online Tech continues to be a market leader in its market segment on a regional basis. Listen to Gary now in his 14th year as a co-host of the Internet Advisor radio program on WJR 760AM in Detroit. Gary is an MBA graduate of the University of Michigan.

Charles P. Barnes has been an entrepreneur and business owner for more than 23 years. While attending night school at Walsh College, he started a hydraulic and pneumatic supply business with a partner serving in the role of VP-Sales. He obtained his degree in Finance from Walsh in 1984 and his law degree in 1989. After selling his interest in that first company in 1990, he worked for a Bloomfield Hills law firm, in addition to forming a small custom clothing company. It was at this juncture that his eduation and experience allowed him to counsel entrepreneurs on new business start-ups and franchises.

Charlie left the daily practice of law and served as a business broker/advisor for Colliers International. At Colliers, he was instrumental in obtaining funding and capital as a broker to facilitate the sale of manufacturing and middle-market sellers. In 1999, Charlie, along with three other partners, bought the assets of Paramount Boring & Machine and converted those operations into a production facility Tier IVII supplier. During his tenure he served in the roles as CFO and General Counsel. In 2008, Charlie sold his interest in Paramount.

David Behen is co-founder and Chief Business Officer for InfoReady Corporation, an Ann Arbor based SaaS company. InfoReady Corporation is a spinoff from Ann Arbor based GDI InfoTech where David is the Vice President and CIO and has the responsibility for the Public Sector and Health IT practice. He is a member of the executive team responsible for the design and implementation of business plans and growth strategies for the both companies. Additionally, he has oversight for all sales and marketing, personnel management, financial management and public relations.

Prior to joining GDI and InfoReady David served as the Deputy County Administrator and Chief Information Officer for Washtenaw County, Michigan. Under his leadership in a number of key roles in the organization, Washtenaw County was named twice to the prestigious CIO 100 list of the top 100 IT programs by CIO Magazine, and six times as one of the nation’s Top Ten Digital Counties by the Center for Digital Government with the National Association of Counties (NACo).

In 2007, Mr. Behen was named to influential Crain’s Detroit Business “40 Under 40” list for outstanding professional achievement before the age of forty. Mr. Behen is the past co-chair of the CIO Council for Public Technology Institute (PTI), the national non-profit technology research and development organization based in Washington, DC. He was named on of the region’s “Top 50 Digital Innovators”, by The Great Lakes IT Report and WWJ Radio.

He is presently serving on the several Boards including the Washtenaw Area United Way Board of Directors, Midwest Technology Leaders Executive Board and the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

He lives in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan, with his wife Rosalie, and three children: Isabel, Joshua and Olivia.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson appointed Phil Bertolini as Deputy County Executive/CIO for Oakland County in January 2005. Prior to that, Bertolini served as Oakland County’s Director of Information Technology. He began his career with Oakland County in 1988 with the Equalization Division.

Bertolini is a vocal advocate for enterprise solutions in government, cross-boundary resource sharing, and inter-jurisdictional cooperation. He has overseen the development of unique government technology programs and created successful models that can be implemented by other governments interested in improving operations while containing costs. Bertolini has traveled extensively to speak about eGovernment best practices and has authored a growing collection of resources to help other organizations modernize IT within today’s rapidly changing technology landscape. He has promoted his philosophy of “Build it once, pay for it once, and everybody benefits” to many other government agencies, including those within the U.S. and others as far off as Australia and Dubai.

Leadership/Awards:

• Oakland County placed first in the 2009 Digital County rankings, a nationwide survey conducted by the Center for Digital Government
• Oakland County placed first in the 2008 Best of the Web County Portal rankings
• Honored as the 2010 Outstanding Alumni for the College of Communications, Arts and Sciences at Michigan State University
• Member of the Harvard Policy Group for Network-Enabled Services and Government at the JFK School of Government, Harvard University
• Named among the 2007 “Top 25, Doers, Dreamers and Drivers” by Government Technology, along with Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson
  Named as the 2004 CIO of the Year for Automation Alley

Bertolini received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Telecommunications from Michigan State University. He resides in Oakland County with his wife and two children.

Karlin Bohnert is CIO of RGIS, which provides global inventory services to multiple industries in 48 countries. She has extensive experience in creating business value through IT innovation for major corporations like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Prudential, Nationwide Insurance and others. She has been able to apply a unique IT perspective across the multiple industries, drawing on the vast and deep experiences gained from each company.

During her thirty-five years of experience, Karlin has held senior IT positions for major corporations where she has been a catalyst in the IT development for global expansions, the IT strategy for mergers and acquisitions, and the technical company transformations to support company growth and strategic advantage.

Karlin has also held IT Advisory Board positions at Ohio State University, University of Oregon, and the University of Arkansas. She is a frequent guest speaker at CIO Bootcamps, and other professional seminars and sessions.

She is a tireless advocate serving on non-profit Board of Directors and offering her time and efforts to support various non-profit initiatives. She can often be found swinging a hammer on Habitat for Humanity and/or Rebuilding Together events.

Her philosophy is voiced best by author George Matthew Adams, “There is no such thing as a ‘self-made’ man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success.”

Keith W. Cooley, engineer, strategist and corporate executive for more than 40 yearsis a community leader now focusing his talents on developing policy, creatingstrategies and working collaboratively to stimulate innovative regional activism for the revitalization of Detroit and its environs. His diverse background in corporate, university, not for profit and government settingscombines a formal training in scientific method and facts based analysis with years of real world know-how building and leading teams, empowering others and fostering innovative risk taking.

Cooley, currently CEO of advisory firm, Principia, LLC, was most recently President and ChiefExecutive Officer of NextEnergy, an accelerator for alternative energy businesses and technologies. There at the request of Michigan’s Governor Granholm, he led the creation of asorely needed and robust sustainability plan; helped the organization reconnect to vital fundingfrom the foundation community; and hosted Vice President Biden’s announcement of a $1.3billion award to Michigan business for vehicle electrification before expanding his interests toform Principia.

Prior to joining NextEnergy, Cooley was the Director of the Department of Labor & EconomicGrowth (DLEG) and a cabinet member to the Governor. In this capacity, he directed theactivities of more than 4,000 employees in 35 agencies and managed a $1.4 billion budget. Hisprincipal objective was to “up-skill” Michigan’s workforce to compete in a global communityand provide opportunities for economic recovery.

His professional activities and affiliations include membership in the Engineering Society ofDetroit and service with The University of Michigan Engineering Advisory Council; the Michigan Environmental Council; the Michigan Strategic Economic Investment and Commercialization Board and the Public School Academies of Detroit. Previous Board Service includes the Bioscience Research & Commercialization Center. He has been recognized in Who’s Who in the World, named a Tau Beta Pi Eminent Engineer, and received the GeneralMotors President’s Council Honors.

Cooley received a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering physics and a Master of Sciencedegree in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan in 1967 and 1972, respectively.As a graduate student, he founded the Minority Engineering Programs Office, College ofEngineering. In addition, he was a gymnast; the first African-American to compete in that sportat the school and was a member of U-M’s 1966 Big Ten Championship team.

John Crary was named vice president of Information Technology for Lear Corporation in January 1996, when he joined Lear, and is responsible for all information technology functions within Lear worldwide including electronic commerce, business computing, product lifecycle management, network operations, data management, information security and desktop services.

Before joining Lear, he was CIO for AlliedSignal Automotive in Southfield, Michigan. He also served as the CIO of ITT Automotive and as the Director of Business Systems Management at ITT Corporation in New York.

Crary earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Rutherford, N.J. Crary is a member of SIM (Society for Information Management), a member of ISEF (Information Systems Executive Forum) at the University of Michigan and serves as a member of the Board of Visitors in The School of Business at Oakland University.

After graduating from Wayne State University with an MBA in Finance in 1966, Terry Cross entered the machine tool business in Detroit, Michigan, with The Cross Company, (publicly traded) the world’s leader in Automated Machine Tools. From 1964 through 1968, Mr. Cross worked in many departments of The Cross Company, learning the business from the ground up.

In 1969, Mr. Cross co-founded, CP Systems Company specializing in high-speed, small parts, automated assembly machinery, and built it up to an annual revenue base of $ 10.0 million. In 1972, Mr. Cross sold CP Systems Company to Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company, a NYSE listed company.

Mr. Cross entered the securities business in 1972 through a training program with Eastman Dillon Union Securities. In 1974, Mr. Cross joined Kidder, Peabody & Company in their Detroit, Michigan office and remained there until 1985 when he was transferred to Kidder’s flagship Park Avenue office in New York City. In 1985, Mr. Cross was elected a Senior Vice President and shareholder of Kidder, Peabody & Company. In 1988, Mr. Cross was a transferred to Kidder’s San Francisco office and remained there until 1998. During his years in San Francisco from 1989 until 1998, he focused almost entirely on the companies and venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. In 1995, Kidder was acquired by PaineWebber. Mr. Cross left PaineWebber in July of 1998 to pursue private investments and then joined Highland Capital Management, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor where he specialized in technology investments. Highland managed portfolios on a discretionary basis for high net worth individuals and was the manager of The Drake Passage Fund, LP a private investment partnership. In February 2000, Mr. Cross co-founded Sonoma Photonics, Inc in Santa Rosa, CA where he served as CEO and Chairman until he resigned to return to Michigan in August 2002. During his tenure, Mr. Cross spearheaded the development of the business plan and raised $ 10.7 million in venture funding from domestic and European investors. Sonoma Photonics was sold to Lockheed-Martin in 2008 for a significant return. In August 2002, Mr. Cross returned to Michigan and is currently the founder of Windward Associates, a venture consulting business.

Mr. Cross’ past board memberships include: G2 Networks, Inc. of Los Gatos, CA, Safari Technology Inc. of Lawton, Michigan, GCB Technologies of San Jose, CA, InGenius Technologies of Kalamazoo, MI., Wordenglass Inc. of Kalamazoo, MI., Machine Vision International of Ann Arbor, MI, and Inivest of Detroit, MI, and Triumph Resources of New York City.

Mr. Cross was a founding investor of three companies resulting from MIT’s Technology Transfer Department: Intellitec, Axiomatics, and LNL Technologies. He served as a board member for Axiomatics and Intellitec. He was also a member of MIT’s Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity. He has served as a financial advisor to Triscend Semiconductor of Mountain View, CA, Macropore Corporation of San Diego, CA. and All-American Semiconductor of San Jose, CA.

He currently serves as an Advisor to Municipal Financial Consultants, Inc. of Grosse Pointe, as a Director of Monarch Antenna, a Delphi Corp spinout, as a Director of RealKidz of Ypsilanti, Mi., as Chairman of MIST Innovations, Inc. of Detroit, MI., as a Director of Fisher Coachworks, Troy, MI, as Chairman of Pure Entropy, LLC of Rochester Hills, MI., and as an advisor to ArdentCause L3C.

Mr. Cross was named The Distinguished Alumni in 2005 by The School of Business Administration at Wayne State University where he is also their first Executive in Residence-Entrepreneurship. He also serves on the Business School’s Board of Visitors and on The Critiquing Committee for their Entrepreneur Course relating to business plan development. He also administers the prestigious Adams Family Fellowship for Entrepreneurship at Wayne’s Business School.

In September of 2007, Terry was named to the Task Force for a World Financial Center by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, one of Korea’s most prestigious educational institutions.

He is a past Board member of Great Lakes Angels, a founding member of Michigan Venture Capital Association, a Board member of Automation Alley’s Entrepreneurial Initiative of Southeast Michigan, a former Trustee of Mariners’ Church of Detroit, and a former trustee of The Professional Children’s School of New York City.

Hans Erickson is CIO and senior vice president of information technology for the Detroit Regional Chamber. He is responsible for the deployment and maintenance of all technology based products and services used by the chamber’s staff. In addition, Hans acts as a liaison to the technology community, interacting with security, educational, government and industry groups on technology related matters for the chamber and the region.

During his tenure at the chamber, Hans was a co-founder of CreateDetroit, a non-profit dedicated to the revitalization of Detroit by focusing on the important role that the creative individual plays in today’s economy, and providing focus, assistance and support for initiatives that draw this talent to the city. Hans was elected to the first board of Michigan Infragard. Michigan Infragard is a joint effort between the FBI and private businesses to protect critical infrastructure by sharing information and knowledge.

Hans has worked in the IT industry since 1981, where he was a lead developer for the Marine Corps West Regional Automated Services Center (RASC), left the Marines in 1985 to join EDS after being awarded a Navy Achievement Medal by the Secretary of the Navy. Hans joined EDS, and within 2 years was supervising production releases for GM service department diagnostic software nationwide. Hans ran his own startup software development firm while providing application development, system selection and technical support to local companies and employing a small staff. Hans returned to Detroit in 1990 to rejoin EDS, taking a lead role in the startup of a service parts imaging business that grew from zero to more than 1,000 customers in 38 countries in the first three years of operation. In 1995, Hans left EDS to work in consulting and joined the Chamber in August of 1996.

The president and chief technologist of the Xede Consulting Group here in Southeast Michigan, Ken Faw has also held roles as President and Executive Vice President for Pillar Technology Group, a company he co-founded in 1997, and national responsibility as Director of Integration Strategies for Perficient, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRFT), a $300M systems integrator.

A hands-on technical leader and executive, Ken has developed and refined unique approaches to designing SaaS implementations and service oriented architectures, in addition to a custom approach to agile development promoted at Pillar as “Speed-to-Value”. Ken has developed integration and program strategies for Forddirect.com, Owens Corning, TeamDetroit, Unitedhealth Group, ITT Educational Services, Luxottica Retail, The Finish Line and many other organizations across the nation. He has also led program turnarounds and agile implementations for many organizations including GM Onstar, DOW Chemical, TeamDetroit, Entertainment Publications and Budco.

Ken’s focus is on producing more flexible and adaptive business systems by mapping their organizations, processes and technologies to the capabilities that are constitutive of their businesses. As a result of his work, Ken’s customers have streamlined business processes, refactored and rationalized application portfolios, reduced IT maintenance and licensing costs, improved quality and throughput for IT initiatives, enhanced monitoring and analytics and increased real-time information, event notification and multi-channel access to improve workforce productivity.

In addition to his executive role at Xede, Ken is Program Chair for the Detroit Chapter of the Society for Information Management, leads a regional discourse of Certified Business Professionals and serves as a coach for the Great Lakes Entrepreneurs’ Quest and a “curbside consultant” for the FastTrac Programs at WSU TechTown. He also serves on the curriculum advisory board for the computer science department of Wayne State University.

A Michigan native, Ken has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from Oakland University and served as chemist in the US Navy submarine force for six years.

A graduate of Princeton University (A.B.), Rishi Jaitly has extensive public interest experience at the intersection of the public, private, and non-profit sectors.

In 2010, Rishi co-founded Michigan Corps, the local and global network of leaders and corporations advancing education and entrepreneurship in Michigan.

Michigan Corps’ Founding Corps Members include: Google Chair and CEO Dr. Eric Schmidt; Emmy Award-winning Sportscaster Dick Enberg; CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta; Pulitzer Prize-winning Author Jeffrey Eugenides; Former Digg CEO Jay Adelson; Skoll Foundation President Dr. Larry Brilliant; and Sun Microsystems Founder and Former CEO Scott McNealy.

Rishi’s leadership of Michigan Corps has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Associated Press, and numerous other local and national media. In January 2011, Michigan Corps was named a Semifinalist for the prestigious Echoing Green Fellowship for social entrepreneurs worldwide.

From July 2009 through March 2010, he was Director of Strategic Partnerships and Public Policy at College Summit, America’s premier non-profit organization partnering with low-income schools nationwide to increase college enrollment rates. There, among other things, he brought together a coalition of cross-sector leaders, including the CEOs of PepsiCo, Google, Deloitte, and Princeton University, to ensure college proficiency is a success measure for the American K-12 education system.

Prior to joining College Summit, Rishi lived in New Delhi, India where he was Head of Government Affairs and Public-Private Partnerships for Google across South Asia. There, he conducted public policy advocacy, overturned Internet censorship in Pakistan and Bangladesh, mobilized India’s top political parties to use the Internet for the first time, and led the development of Google’s first ever election-transparency and citizen-empowerment product.

Previously, while based in Silicon Valley, Rishi supported Google’s worldwide public policy advocacy efforts from Lansing to Paris, led Google.org’s philanthropic work with the United Nations, and supported communications for Google’s CEO.

Earlier in his career, Rishi has served as Coordinator of Public Policy and Government Affairs at College Summit, Trustee of Princeton University, and Commissioner of the New Jersey State Commission on Higher Education. In November 2010, Rishi was appointed to Michigan Governor-elect Rick Snyder’s economic development transition team.

Marcy Klevorn is director, Global IT Operations at Ford Motor Company.

Klevorn is responsible for end to end customer service for all application support and all aspects of infrastructure across the global business. She maintains responsibility for overseeing Ford’s business applications, technical infrastructure, architecture, data centers, web-hosting requirements, engineering, and infrastructure services.

In addition, Klevorn is responsible for influencing future technological innovations through an employee focused program called Digital Worker. She is also responsible for establishing Ford’s IT Global Service planning and delivery.

Klevorn was named director of Global IT Operations in March 2009. She has led Ford’s IT Infrastructure organization since May 2006. Klevorn reports to Nick Smither, group vice president and chief information officer, Ford Motor Company.

Klevorn began her career at Ford in September 1983 in Telecommunications Services. She held a series of IT-related positions within Ford IT and Ford Credit through August 2003 including: leading the Treasury Systems department, launching comprehensive securitization system to diversify company funding for Ford, While managing the Customer, Branch and Dealer Systems department at Ford Credit, Klevorn led the Compass Replacement project, which entailed rewriting one of the largest client server applications world-wide to a J2EE application, and supporting the launch of eight new Ford Credit Service Centers and associated technologies (the largest migration in Ford Credit history).

In late 2003, Klevorn became the consulting program manager for the purchasing business systems initiative eVEREST, leading the analysis and decision that drove the migration back to legacy systems. In 2005, she was appointed global director, Product Lifecycle Management, spearheading a business process change in data and information management across product creation. In 2006, Klevorn was selected as director for Enterprise Defragmentation, leading the strategy and implementation of infrastructure defragmentation, data center consolidation and overall systems management at Ford.

For more than 10 years, Klevorn has been involved in the Ford Professional Women’s Network (PWN) and is now an executive sponsor. In 2006, she joined Nick Smither as Ford corporate liaison to The Henry Ford. In 2008, Klevorn completed the Global Leadership Summit, championed by Ford Motor Company’s President and CEO, Alan Mulally. She was also nominated for Leading the Way at the Ford 2008 Global Diversity & Inclusion Summit. Klevorn is the executive sponsor for the following Ford IT initiatives: the IT Diversity Action Team (ITDAT), the IT Executive Shadowing Program, and the IT Leadership Program (ITLP) recruiting at the University of Michigan.

In 2009, she was recognized by the Profiles in Diversity Journal in their annual “Women Worth Watching” edition. Also that year, Klevorn was nominated Foundation President for the Michigan Council for Women in Technology (MCWT). In 2010, Klevorn was named MCWT President with foundation and council responsibilities. She has been newly elected to the Lawrence Technological University Board of Trustees.

Klevorn earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan – Stephen M. Ross School of Business.  She lives in Farmington Hills, MI, with her husband and son.

Jason A. Lambiris is Chief Executive Officer of Apex Digital Solutions, a leading provider of Managed, Traditional and Green IT Services based outside of Detroit, Michigan. Lambiris founded Apex in 1998 with a vision of building a company that is committed to excellence, personal and professional growth, and shared success through innovation, integrity, respect and teamwork.

Mr. Lambiris is responsible for the management of Apex’s overall strategy and technology direction. In addition, he actively plays a role as a trusted advisor and virtual CIO/CTO for many of his clients and focuses on achieving the proper balance of people, process and technology with their business goals. He believes strongly that through proper education technology can drive innovation within an organization and should not simply be viewed as a commodity.

Jason joined the Macomb-Oakland University INCubator as a Corporate Partner and Advisory Board Member in early 2009 and is passionate about helping out a community that has given so much to him. In September of 2009 he was selected as Corp! Magazine’s Entrepreneurs of Distinction and also served as a panelist on challenges facing entrepreneurs during tough economic times. In 2008 he led Apex to earn Corp Magazine’s Best of Michigan Businesses award for Technology Companies. He is a former Board Member of Marketing and Sales Executives of Detroit from which he was a Finalist for their Platinum Award for Sales and Marketing Success in 2005. As a member of the Distinguished Clown Corp, Jason leads an independent effort each year to raise funds to send underprivileged children from the Detroit area to America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade each year.

He attended Macomb Community College where he earned an A.A.S. in Construction Technologies. He then attended Oakland University to pursue a B.A. in both Computer Science Engineering and Management Information Systems.

Joseph F. Sawasky is the Chief Information Officer and Associate Vice President for computing and information technology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan (http://wayne.edu).   Wayne State University is a large urban research university with the largest single campus medical school in the United States. In his role as CIO, Mr. Sawasky is responsible for the university’s computing and networking facilities, datacenter operations, enterprise software applications, learning management environments, high-performance research computing, voice services, information security, and information technology support services.

Mr. Sawasky is also an active board officer of Michigan’s Merit Network, Inc. (http://www.merit.edu), one of the nation’s premier providers of advanced regional optical network services.

Mr. Sawasky has broad IT leadership experience in higher education, healthcare and manufacturing.  Prior to joining Wayne State, he worked at the University of Toledo and University of Toledo Medical Center as Chief Information Officer and associate Vice President for information technology (http://www.utoledo.edu).  During nearly 22 years with UT, he served in a series of increasingly responsible positions, focusing on IT strategic planning, organizational leadership, project portfolio management, and customer satisfaction/quality programs.  In a unique and highly publicized event, the University of Toledo merged with the Medical University of Ohio on July 1, 2006.  So, in addition to leading the information technology division of a research extensive institution of higher learning, he was given the opportunity to also lead IT for the University of Toledo Medical Center hospital and clinics.  Merger activities involved team integration, ERP integration, infrastructure integration and launching a transformational Digital Hospital initiative.

Mr. Sawasky and his IT organization are presently helping drive Wayne State forward to support its urban research university mission, by working with the campus to provide a superior technology experience to students, faculty, researchers, staff and other constituents. 

Mr. Sawasky is a University of Toledo graduate and a Michigan native.  His e-portfolio may be found at http://www.epsilen.com/jsawask.

George Surdu is Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Comerica Bank. He is responsible for supporting Comerica’s business applications on a national basis and for leading more than 850 technology professionals in the areas of:

• Business Technology Services including application development and production support
• Infrastructure and Engineering Technology Services including network, mainframe, server and storage operations, desktop/laptop management and end-user engineering
• Corporate Information Security Services
• Information Services Strategy including technology architecture and strategy, and emerging technology research
• Enterprise Project Management Office

He has over 30 years of experience in the field of information technology. Surdu joined Comerica in early 2006, where he has led the IT Transformation and Strategy focused on implementing simplified and standardized technology solutions while increasing cost effectiveness and speed of delivery. As part of this strategy, he has introduced innovative technology to meet business operations and customer needs and improved risk management and disaster recovery capabilities for the bank.

As a representative of Comerica Bank, Surdu also serves on several technology advisory boards, including AT&T, Midwest Technology Leaders, CSC and BITS/FSTC.

Prior to 2006, Surdu served in numerous senior executive positions within Ford Motor including CIO for Ford Parts Distribution Systems and the Office of the General Counsel, head of Global Application Development Services and Global IT Infrastructure, and Strategic Planning Manager for Ford Credit. While at Ford, Surdu developed the IT strategy to support the business as it consolidated operations throughout North America. He also reengineered efforts for Product Development and implemented a global simplification and defragmentation strategy to reduce operating costs.

Among his professional affiliations, Surdu serves on many charitable and technology boards including: The Detroit Science Center, Financial Services Technology Consortium and the AT&T Technology Advisory Board. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science and a master’s degree in Pure and Applied Mathematics, both from Eastern Michigan University. George and his wife of 40 years, Margaret, live in Novi, Michigan. They have two children and three grandchildren.

Jane Sydlowski has more than twenty years experience in the telecommunications industry. As an engineer for Ameritech in the trunk engineering switched access department, Jane published opinion papers directed to the Federal Communications Commission and wrote methods and procedures for handling new services. Additionally, Jane coordinated the enhanced 911 circuit quantities for the City of Detroit. Jane’s experiences as an engineer, a consultant and a manager give her a unique blend of skills, which ultimately make her an effective leader in the technology field.

As President of AMI Strategies, Jane is responsible for assembling a dynamic and experienced team to design, build and manage her client’s technology infrastructure, while finding ways to lower their cost of communications. Jane has created a vision for AMI that includes 100% client satisfaction, profitable growth, and respect for the individual and employee empowerment. Additional responsibilities include: developing strategies for the creation of tools and processes that allow her to monitor AMI financial process, client communications and satisfaction, project performance and forecasts, sales and marketing and employee satisfaction. She also created an AMI volunteer organization, All Hands Matter, to foster community relationships and good will.

Under Jane’s leadership, AMI was recognized among the 2003 Deloitte Fast 500 public and private technology companies, 2002 and 2003 Inc 500 fastest growing private companies, and 2003 Crain’s Best Places to Work.

Jane has a Bachelors of Science in Applied Engineering from Michigan State University and a MBA from Wayne State University. She successfully completed the marketing program of Thomas Learning Center and is a Dale Carnegie graduate for both the Human Relations and Sales Courses.

Jane speaks to graduate students regularly for the Wayne State University entrepreneurial program and she serves on three boards, Michigan Council of Women in Technology and Greenpath, Inc and the Board of Visitors for Wayne State University.

Personal Achievements

• Michigan State University Applied Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award (2005)
  MSU selects one alumnus per discipline as a tribute to their program(s).
• AWC Award (2004)
  The Association of Women in computing selects a 5-10 women each year who are setting the bar high for women in the technology industry.
• Michigan’s 100 leaders (2004)
  Detroiter Magazine selected Michigan’s best and brightest for this notable award
• Leaders & Innovators (2007)
  Lawrence Technological University, WWJ Newsradio 950, The Great Lakes IT Report and Grant Thornton LLP celebrate Innovation and Leadership.

Mr. Douglas R. Wiescinski, a Partner in Plante & Moran and the Technology Consulting & Solutions practice, has more than twenty years experience in information technology. Mr. Wiescinski’s background includes systems design and development, technology planning, technology selection and contract negotiations. He serves a diversity of clientele in providing strategic technical assistance in initiatives such as business process redesign, outsourcing analysis, client/server migration, network planning and integration. He has assisted several clients in the assessment and tactical planning for emerging technologies such as electronic data interchange (EDI), imaging, bar coding, e-Commerce, and data warehousing. Mr. Wiescinski is a member of the Society For Information Management (SIM), the Association for Systems Management (ASM), and a Board member of Automation Alley. Prior to joining Plante & Moran, Mr. Wiescinski was in charge of the business systems consulting services for Ernst & Whinney (now Ernst & Young) in western Michigan. Mr. Wiescinski holds a BS degree in Management Information Systems from Ferris State University. In addition, he is a Certified Systems Professional (CSP).