CIOs talk about ‘Mission Critical Computing’ at Leaders’ Luncheon on October 22 (Auckland) and 23 (Wellington)

Major forces – internet of things, big data and cloud – have converged to change the scope of what constitutes mission critical systems. As businesses begin to settle into this new digital era, customer expectations are changing to become more mobile with 24-hour access and a multitude of choice.

Speakers at the CIO Leaders’ Luncheon on October 22 (Auckland) and 23 (Wellington) will discuss through how emerging technologies can be applied to this new environment. More importantly, what are the people and process changes to expect for the future.

The theme of the luncheon is: The new scope of mission critical computing, and is being held in conjunction with Unisys.

It will feature Deane Johns, CIO, NZ Association of Credit Unions; Murray Mitchell, ICT Director (acting), NZ Fire Service; and Steve Thompson,vice president, ClearPath Forward Engineering, Unisys.

They will draw on cross-sector experience to demonstrate how organisations can ensure their infrastructure, operations and people meet new and constantly shifting requirements in this increasingly competitive and digital business environment.

Please click here for the program and to register.

The CIO Leaders’ Luncheon is organised by CIO New Zealand and is limited to CIOs, IT Directors and other senior IT and business executives in non-vendor organisations. CIO reserves the right to refuse attendance to any person not fitting these job descriptions, or from a vendor organisation.

Event details:

22nd October 2014

Sofitel Hotel, 21 Viaduct Harbour Avenue, Auckland

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23rd October 2014

Amora Hotel, 170 Wakefield St, Wellington

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Meet the speakers:

Deane Johns

CIO, New Zealand Association of Credit Unions

Deane Johns joined NZACU three years ago following a broad range of insurance, IT and service delivery roles. The NZACU is cooperatively wned by 17 member credit unions, along with five associate members (other mutual organisations like building societies), that represent over 00,000 New Zealanders. NZACU is the sixth largest transactor by volume in New Zealand banking system, including Eftpos cards, MasterCard debit cards and ATMs. Deane has worked for 15 years for Royal Sun Alliance, starting as underwriter and claims settlements manager. He rounded up his management experience by working for the vendor side, as program manager with Gen-i (now Spark Digital).

Deane Johns will be speaking at the Auckland event.

Murray Mitchell

ICT Director (acting), NZ Fire Service

Murray Mitchell took over the acting ICT director post at NZ Fire Service early this year on secondment from the NZ Police, where he is chief technical officer. Before this, he was with Telecom with roles that included head of application and support and head of resource and integration. He has been working in ICT for more than 25 years in key public and private industries at a senior level, including aviation, telecommunications and the New Zealand Police.

Murray Mitchell will be speaking at the Wellington event.

Steve Thompson

Vice President, ClearPath Forward Engineering, Unisys

Steve Thompson leads a global engineering team in the planning, architecture, development and delivery of the Forward! and ClearPath Forward! programs. He joined Unisys more than 30 years ago working in Continuation Engineering supporting customers. From there, he held a number of roles including hardware engineer, hardware project manager and ClearPath MCP program manager.

Steve holds patents in the areas of task control and IO processing and memory allocation methods. Steve received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University in 1982.

Steve Thompson will be speaking at the Auckland and Wellington events.

Steve Griffin

Country Manager, Unisys New Zealand

Based in Wellington, Steve Griffin is responsible for leading the Unisys business in New Zealand including sales, business development and business operations. He is also a member of the Unisys Asia Pacific senior leadership team. Before joining Unisys, Griffin was the Sales Director for HP Enterprise Services in New Zealand. He has held numerous senior positions within HP and EDS, covering account management, delivery and pre-sales. He was a member of the Royal Air Force for 23 years, starting his career as an engineering apprentice and retiring as a Wing Commander in 1999. Griffin holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management and a Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering from City University, London.

Steve Griffin will be speaking at the Auckland and Wellington events.

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